Salem, MA is a funky, fun spot. We were blessed with relentlessly good weather; every day, rain was predicted and every day, it stayed sunny and 78 degrees.
Honestly, I recommend just walking the coast or through any of the numerous parks to watch the sun rise:
I’ll stop skirting the obvious: The town is notorious for its witch trials and executions of citizens in the 1690s. I expected history, and reminders of brutality and societal failure, and like … a pretty old cemetery.
But Salem is a joyful place! Witches are CELEBRATED, so are pirates, and all manner of mythical creatures and magic. Those trials FAILED, on every level, in perpetuity!
We took one single kitschy witch pic, with the statue of Samantha from “Bewitched”
Beyond that, we ate SO MUCH LOBSTER in Salem:
Most of this post will be the EXCELLENT modern art at the Peabody-Essex Museum. Seriously. Do not miss.
Anila Quayyum Agha
Our first night in town I read a few fairytales from a Hans Christian Andersen collection but had a solid night of nightmares so …. had to put that down.
Truly, I honored the full moon, the Strawberry Moon, by getting OBSESSED with this strange and wonderful book:
And I woke up this morning to publication acceptance of another vampire story. So much for pivoting to essay.
Laura Eppinger 