August 22, 2026 Salem, Mass.

 Sat. and Sun. August 22-23, 2026   Boston Mass to Salem Mass.  24 miles and 2.9 hours

More tight maneuvering to get out of our slip at Constitution Marina but we made it out without damage to us or anyone else. Always a good start to the day.  Weather isn't ideal.  Overcast, chance of light rain, winds from the NE.  Slow out of the no wake zone of Boston Harbor.  Follow aside a container ship out the harbor for a bit until he takes a turn to starboard out the main channel. We make a slight turn to port and head straight into a bit of short period swells. Knew it would be a bit rougher but thankfully a shortish run up the coast to Salem. 

Passing the megayachts on our way out at the downtown Boston marinas

Ever Fond veers off headed south for her next stop - per AIS, it's Baltimore

Get to the harbor which has a mostly NE facing opening so not flat calm but doable.  Call the marina for our mooring assignment and they send a skiff out to take us through the mooring field to our assigned spot.  Would never have found it ourselves as markings are pretty small.  Decent spot a bit further back in the harbor.  Get settled in, short nap and call the launch to run us into town.  Late afternoon so some things like the National Parks buildings are already prepping for closure.  Little walkabout and then sample flights at the two breweries in town.  Nothing overly impressive.  Back to the boat for dinner.

In the 1800's Custom Houses like this one collected tarrifs on imported goods.
 

Derby Wharf stretches over 2,000 feet into the harbor.  At one time
 it was lined with warehouses holding imported goods waiting
 to be counted or weighed by Customs employees.

The Narbonne House was built in 1675 and is one of 12 buildings
on the Salem Maritime National Historical Park property. Families lived
here until 1965 when it was sold to the Park Service

Into town Sunday for serious tourist duty. Seems like there are 2 distinct factions in town.  The history buffs and the witchies.  For history buffs this is the birthplace of novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne of "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of Seven Gables" fame.  Both these houses are now museums.    Lots of other history as a shipping port, seafood port and industrial center. Salem Maritime Historic Site is a National Parks area which includes numerous buildings, a wharf, the sailing ship Freedom. Good job describing the heyday of Salem when it was a major import center of goods for the West Indies Company during the 1700's. 

The house of seven gables. 

Statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Interestingly, he was shunned and left Salem
 to never return after publication of "The Scarlet Letter" where his
 first chapter gave a scathing portrayal of members of the Custom House
 where he was employed for several years.

Town turned to textiles in the mid 1800's and had a good run until the great fire of 1914 burned several mills down and displaced over 20,000 residents.  Most famous mill was the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Mill which made Pequot brand sheets sold worldwide. They rebuilt the mill and continued operations until the 1950's.   Building has been repurposed and still sits on the waterfront.  The textile industry never fully recovered as the business was transitioning to the south.  The Peabody Essex Museum is part history museum and part art gallery with fascinating displays. Started by several of the West Indies merchants to display artifacts gathered from the many cultures they crossed - especially in the orient.  These merchants were some of the first ones to gain access to Japan.  The museum has an actual 1700's Chinese merchant families compound on site - The Yin Yu Tang Home. Buildings, walls, courtyard - everything. The building was painstakingly disassembled in China, shipped here and reassembled.  Unfortunately, it was closed for some renovations, so we didn't get to see anything but photos.  Other exhibits included the history of Salem, the witch trials, Japanese Art room, and Korean Art room.  They also own and maintain numerous historical homes in town. 

Museum has a bit of everything such as this original N.C. Wyeth illustration 

And this Norman Rockwell painting

The Maritime Room was loaded with figureheads and other seafaring items

Town is obviously famous for the witch trials of 1692-3. For the witchies there's the Salem Witch Museum, Museum of Torture, Monster Museum, Dungeon Museum, Salem Witch Village, etc.   All great for tourism but just seems to undermine the actual atrocity of that period where 25 innocent people died. 

A sampling of the witchy crowd...you get the idea

The old burial grounds and the witch's memorial had plenty of visitors
 but was already closed for the day as we passed by

Back to the boat once we got chased out of the Peabody Essex Museum at closing time.  Walked through town snapping pictures of their city art works.  Whereas Plymouth had those seals, here they are a figurehead mounted on light poles around town. 

I actually find her face rather unnerving
no matter how she gets painted - it's the eyes!

 Dinner was leftover Chicken Marsala from La Famiglia Giorgio's with fresh veggies from Haymarket Market in Boston.  Followed that up with a decent sunset as rain and clouds finally started moving out.

Journey for August 22, 2026