Day Trip to Salem-Part 1

 Hi everyone. I hope everyone has been having a great first week of 2024.  My husband, who is starting off his  new year with covid, is doing well, and he's been busy working from home. I on the other hand  was hoping I'd stay negative, but now I'm positive too.  I hope I perk up and feel like myself quickly, but right now covid has also caused a major hive flare (not my bees, red itchy welts on my skin), and that itch is driving me crazy. 😳

Last week my daughter took a vacation from work, and she came home for a couple of days after Christmas. We'd already seen her Christmas weekend, so this really was a bonus. ❤ One day we decided to take a roadtrip down to Salem, Massachusetts. Sadly we had a lot of rain that whole week. The rain definitely put a damper on our visit, but not enough to stop us from having fun. 

Here are some views from our day. There are some faces for Nicole's  Friday Face Off . I'm also linking up to Gillena's  Friday Face Off .

We visited the Salem Maritime National Historic site. Most of the buildings were closed for the season or under renovation, but we were able to walk around the site. I'd been here before, but it was new for my daughter.

Salem, Massachusetts was an important city for international trade in early America. A lot of  that trade was with China, the Caribbean and Europe, and the goods were transported on 3 masted ships like you see in the photo below. Salem also became a wealthy place  due to  that early American trade. 

I like how the Park Service had some holiday spirit.

After we got pretty wet during our walk around, we then walked some more and went a little ways down the street to the House of 7 Gables. This house was made famous in a novel of the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne, for those of you who may not know this name, is one of those big authors of American literature. He was born and lived his life in Salem, but he died on a trip here in New Hampshire in 1864.

On our walk down to the House of 7 of Gables, we spotted this cool holiday dinosaur.

A gable is a triangular point on the roof.  In this next photo you can see 3 gables. There are 2 on the full face of the house and one on the right hand side. The triangular piece over the entrance porch is called a dormer. Many homes have 2 gables, one on each end of the house. Having 7 was a sign of wealth. 

This house was built in 1668 by a sea captain and his wife. It was smaller at that time than what you see now.

The House of 7 Gables is not part of the National Historic Park, but it is an interesting home to visit. Hawthorne never lived there, but he had a cousin who did. His book by that name is a fictional novel, and he created some interesting architectural features that the house did not originally have. However, the owner of the home in the early 1900s spent money to restore the house and added in some features from the book, like a hidden staircase. It was a fun tour, and since it was raining, it gave us a chance to dry off a little bit too. 😏 

Here is a portrait of Hawthorne as a young man that hangs in the visitor's center.

To keep this post from getting too long, I'll wrap it up by mentioning Hawthorne's wife. This is the portrait of Sophia Peabody Hawthorne that hangs in the house.

Here in New England we pronounce her last name pea-buddy (in 1 syllable) not pea-body.

She was a very distinguished artist, and this is one of the few paintings of hers that is still in known existence. It also hangs in the House of 7 Gables. 

I think that's enough for today. I'll share more another post. 

Have a great weekend.