Salem Massachusetts on Halloween. It's something I've always wanted to experience and had high expectations for, and as part of my New England road trip in 2018 I finally did it. What did I learn? that once is enough. Salem itself is a sleepy ocean-side town about 30 minutes northeast of Boston by car or by commuter rail line. Speaking of the rail line, it is the best way to get to Salem during the Halloween season. There is an app called MBTA mTicket that allows you to buy tickets in-app, see service alerts, maps and rail schedules. This is also helpful because not all stops have ticket kiosks; I used this app and had zero problems.

Another word of advice: book your hotel one year in advance. Everyone else does, and if you don't, you won't be staying in Salem or any of the surrounding towns. Literally, on November 1st book. Especially if you're trying to stay at the Hawthorne Hotel which throws the biggest Halloween party in Salem. I was on a budget that didn't allow for the Hawthorne Hotel, and after looking at other hotels in Salem I decided to stay in North Beverly at the Beverly Garden Suites which is about a 17 minute ride from Salem on the commuter rail. If you ever decide to go to Salem on Halloween and are on a budget I highly recommend Beverly Garden Suites. I had a great experience and their reviews on Tripadvisor are 100% accurate.

This is going to be pretty lengthy, so I've broken it out into two sections: Halloween in Salem, and everything else in Salem.

Halloween Night

There appeared to be three main areas that everyone was walking back and forth to: Salem Common, Essex St. between Washington St. and Hawthorne Blvd, and Washington St. near Bridge St. Salem Common had live music, beer and carnival food like funnel cakes, Essex St. was closed off to cars and people were hanging out and walking around, and Washington St & Bridge St. had a midway carnival with rides and more carnival food.

When it came to costumes, anything went. People of all ages dress up; yes, kids were there and there were many. Surprise #1 for me. I wasn't sure about how witches were thought of in Salem and if it would be insulting to dress up as a witch of any kind, but it turned out it didn't matter. While there weren't dozens of witch costumes there were quite a few and it didn't seem to be a big deal.

Surprise #2 was that there didn't feel like very much was going on celebration wise. I had researched parties and events in advance and didn't find very many, but I did think that once I was there it might be different. It wasn't. People were literally just walking around in costumes. There was hardly anyone at Salem Common, and the festivities were to end around 10pm which felt kind of early to me.

Salem

Salem is a small town and is quite walkable. Most all of the area is flat which is convenient for walking, wheelchairs and strollers, and it feels like a quintessential New England town. As you might imagine there are a LOT of things to see and do that are witch related, but there are some other things that shouldn't be overlooked when exploring Salem. For example, the House of the Seven Gables and the Ye Olde Pepper Companie.

House of the Seven Gables is also the name of a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne and it was inspired by this house when he lived there. It's one of the oldest timber framed houses left in America and parts of the house date back to 1668. The main house and surrounding buildings are all open to the public for tours. Unfortunately, only the grounds are wheelchair accessible. The house has a lot of stairs and may be difficult for some people as well. Also worth noting, photography is allowed inside the house except if you visit in October. I know, I scratched my head too. My assumption is that it's due to the influx of visitors during Halloween time. Across the street you'll find the Ye Olde Pepper Companie, the oldest candy co. in America and home of the VERY delicious Gibralters, which also happens to be the first commercially made candy in America. Gibralters come in two flavors, lemon and peppermint and they are both good and you should get them both!

Now on to witchy things.

My must-see stop in Salem that's witch related is the Witch House. It was Jonathan Corvin's house (one of the judge's involved in the Salem Witch Trials) and it's the only structure still around that's directly related to the trials. Much of the interior and furniture is all original too. The first floor of the house is wheelchair accessible but the second floor isn't. Also, about two houses down is the Ropes Mansion which was Allison's house in Hocus Pocus. You can read more about that here.

As you make your way down Essex St. back towards Salem Common you'll pass the Bewitched statue. Episodes of the show were filmed in Salem and the statue commemorates it. It's a cute (and crowded) photo op, but that's it.

Another spot worth checking out is the Salem Witch Trial Memorial. The memorial is in a nice park setting and has 20 benches with the name of each of the 20 accused witches and their execution dates on them. The memorial backs up on the Burying Point Cemetery which is also worth checking out. It's one of the oldest cemeteries in the U.S. and some of the buried include two of the trial judges and Eleanor Hollingworth who some suspect was the model for Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Both are accessible.

The last place I had to check out, and maybe most infamous of all for tourists is the Salem Witch Museum. It's located right next to Salem Common and is very popular. Its also accessible. In October they offer timed ticketing so that you can get in faster, which was nice. For the life of me I don't understand why it's so popular though. I thought it was very lackluster and not worth the time or money. I can't show you why because pictures aren't permitted inside but in my opinion I would pass on this. It looks cool from the outside, so snap a pic and then move on.

There were some other places I didn't check out, like Proctor's Ledge and the Witch Dungeon Museum, and other places around Salem that aren't witch related, but I don't feel like I missed out since the purpose of this trip was everything witch and I feel like I accomplished that. You could easily spend a weekend in Salem and not be bored, even if you aren't 100% into the Salem Witch Trials or Halloween. All in all I'm glad I went to Salem for Halloween to see what it was all about. I don't think I'd go back though. To Salem itself I would, but not for Halloween.

I found this helpful accessibility services list that's worth taking a look at if you're planning on visiting Salem.

#northamerica #massachusetts #salem