Salem Massachusetts Before and After
Literary Tourist in Salem
This is a before and after story.
Before: We'd first visited Salem some years ago primarily to check out The House of Seven Gables. It's New England's oldest wooden mansion, and inspired.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1851 novel of the same name. Hawthorne's cousin, Susanna Ingersol, had inherited the property from her wealthy sea captain father in 1804, the year Hawthorne was born. Later on, Nathaniel used to visit the house frequently between 1845-1849 when he was a surveyor at the nearby Custom House. During this time he wrote his first critically acclaimed and best known work, The Scarlet letter.We learned all of this, and a lot more, from our tour guide. She was terrific, and made all the difference. I'm kind of ambivalent when it comes to writers' houses. Many of them can seem fake and contrived. Tourist traps. If, however, the guide is informative, animated, and funny, the experience can be really enjoyable. This, as I say, was the case with ours.
Gift shops are always fun. And this place has a dandy. It sells lots of funky literary stuff, including literary tea pots. Salem is also home to an evocative cemetery where Nathaniel's ancestor John Hathorne is buried. And yes, Nate changed the spelling of his name to avoid any connection with the old judge, the only one involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions; plus there are some truly beautiful old ships docked here,
beside which you can
Anyhow, getting back to before: when we were first in Salem I took great pleasure in browsing through the Derby Square Bookstore.
It's one of the most overstuffed floor-to-ceiling shops I've ever visited. Not that the stock was all that interesting. It wasn't. And even if it was, there's little chance of being able to pull much out, without taking down the entire stack.
Hard even to see who you were paying your money to.
For presentation alone however: Most memorable!
Now, however, after, when we visited last month, the store is much changed.
Bookshop, Salem
I was pleased to see that the building was still occupied by a bookshop, but it's nowhere near as remarkable.
***
While my companions followed the scarlet brick road (okay line) around town - no double inspired by Hester Prynne's walk of shame - I decided to do some writing/surfing at this fine local, dog-friendly,
dog-motiffed
coffeehouse. The service was spirited
So was the coffee. Lots of electrical outlets, wooden floors, good music, artisan beer - the perfect writers' hangout. As for the name,
Gulu, Gulu, romantically, "Marie Feldmannova and her husband, Steve Feldmann, named their quirky place for the cafe in Prague where they met."
For advice on what to do and when to do it - Halloween and witches cast a spell over the place in October - check out Salem Tourism's website here.