Historical Downtown Salem During Halloween

Date:  10/28/13
Location: Salem, MA
Written by: Joey

TAKE NOTE: This post was written while DJ & Joey were on their RV roadtrip across America. Sadly, their trip ended before it really got started. No worries, Shelly & Lucia are taking the Connextions Out n About Roadtrip to new heights, exploring one RV park at a time!

Our Visit to New England was amazing; you can sense the New England-y feel.  I was expecting stone-faced people who barely looked at you let alone say hello.  I was wrong; everyone was friendly!  Maine was beautiful, with Ogunquit and Perkin’s Cove being my favorite.  They are both picture book towns and I wanted to stay.  I think I found our new home when we are ready to settle. Now we are off to Massachusetts.

After we left Ogunquit, we headed to Portland, Maine but never made it.  We opted to stick around Scarborough to get caught up on work, and boy did we have a lot to catch up on.  We had to be at DJ’s sister around the first of November but we wanted to see Salem and Boston since it was on the way.  An opportunity arose so we had to take a detour to Syracuse, NY.  I told DJ that since we were planning on coming back to the area, we can hit Boston later but I definitely wanted to see Salem before we left the area.  It has been on my to do list for as long as I can remember.

We announced on our social media sites we were going to be in Salem for Halloween and almost immediately we received a response from someone offering to host Priscilla.  We accepted the gracious offer and headed to Salem to meet our host Drag Queen Marquessa Gigi, the official Queen of Salem.  We arrived at Marquessa Gigi’s home that afternoon, met her husband Jimmy and parked Priscilla (yes, in that order).  Parking Priscilla was a little of a challenge since the parking lot housed 4 town houses who shared 1 parking lot.  After a good 30 minutes, Priscilla was safe and sound snuggled against the landscape.  DJ did manage to shave a branch off a tree and run over a boulder, but I digress…

Even though it was mid-afternoon, we didn’t waste any time getting to Historical Downtown Salem.  We were walking on Essex Street where there were shops of all sorts.  Magic stores (the witchcraft type), palm readers, candy stores and of course souvenir shops.  One of my first stops however was to a specific statue.  I had a smile from ear to ear looking at Samantha Stephens herself sitting on a broom and Crescent Moon.

A few quick stops here and there found us running into the Police Chief (who said we could blow Priscilla’s horn in town without getting into trouble).  Gigi wanted to introduce us to the Mayor, Kim Driscoll but she was in a meeting.  As we were standing in City Hall speaking with Kim’s assistant Kristian, I turned and noticed a 6 or 7 foot portrait of George Washington.  I am not sure why, but upon seeing the portrait, I realized how much history was right there in front of me.  I snapped a few photos of City Hall, which used to be Essex Hotel back in the day.  Apparently even the Marquis de Lafayette visited back in 1820-something-or-another.  I don’t have the full date because my photo didn’t quite come out.

Gigi introduced us to a few of county clerks, Renis at the Chamber of Commerce, Kevin with Go Out Loud and a ton others.  After the brief introductions, a few visits to novelty shops like the Harry Potter Wand Store (sorry, no pictures allowed. And yes, we spoke a few Harry Potter curses/spells), we headed over to Salem Common.  We were in mid-conversation when I blurted out “Oh My God! That’s not a real building right?” and Gigi said “yes, it is.”  Oh My God was all I could manage and I don’t know why.  Here in the middle of town was this most MASSIVE structure named Salem Witch Museum.  A few steps away stood Roger Conant, the first leader of Salem.  Both overlooking Salem Common.  I was enthralled with Roger and his absolutely commanding presence.  These 2 structures were perfectly placed as I stood speechless and stared while Gigi and DJ walked on.

Our heads were swimming with everything going on and with the City preparing for Halloween, which was just a few days off.  I think we are going to be in store for a whopper of a Halloween…

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