? Witchy Salem ?

I knew that we were on a tight schedule but I couldn't resist stopping by Salem since the town is less than an hour from Boston. Salem is somewhere I've dream t about visiting since I was a child. I always thought of Salem as being a witchy little town with a few hundred years worth of history. My mom is a witch fanatic and a Halloween nut so I suppose my fascination was somewhat bred into me.
I am extremely glad that we didn't drive far out of our way to get there. I try not to get too excited about anything simply because I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment. I couldn't help but get a little worked up about finally getting to see Salem Mass. When we arrived my stomach sank. As I looked around and realized that what used to be an amazing little settlement town has since been turned into another version of Disney World. The natural historical draw which brought me there was used to create wax museums, recreated dungeons, and witchcraft reenactments. To my dismay there was no longer any historical draw. It saddened and disgusted me. The lives of 19 people were taken in the most unpleasant ways for something that they didn't do and now corporations are profiting from treachery by selling witch t-shirts, fake brooms, and what amounts to year round Halloween decorations. I wanted to leave.


We walked around the town of Salem for maybe half of the day. I spoke with people who lived in the town as well as national park service employees and they all gave me the same story. What I didn't realize was that the state was so ashamed of how they had treated the innocent people that were accused of practicing witchcraft that they began to destroy the town of Salem instead of preserving it for historical purposes. If I would have known this we wouldn't have gone. Even as late as 1992 the state legislature made apologetic comments about the 1692 hysteria.


I must say that there were a few things about Salem that I enjoyed.


We took a stroll through one of the old cemeteries to admire the gravestones. We also toured the only building that remains from the time period (1692). The location of the town is amazing, I wish that I could have experienced the town about a hundred years ago. We enjoyed a beautiful lunch while looking out at the bay. We grabbed a latte at a LOCAL (if you can believe that) coffee shop and we hit the road to Niagara.


This small field trip was a learning experience. I realized that you should never set your expectations too high or you'll just set your self up for disappointment. I also learned that our country is one big disappointment. We've completely commercialized everything that is pure about what we have here in America. I hope that the other destination points we have on our trip don’t turn out to be tourist traps.