Salem - Not Just Witches

I found Salem far more interesting than I thought it would be and it is much much more than a witch town. I visited the House of the seven gables built in 1692 ( and yes there really are 7 of them - I climbed the house and ventured into them all) famous as the setting for Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel. On the same property, is the home of his birth moved there some years ago to save it from destruction and other buildings associated with Hawthorne's work in US Customs at Salem. I then visited the Visitor Centre there to see a film on the area - best Visitor Centre I have been to - it is housed in the old Salem Armory - magnificant building with a superb park alongside it. I did a walking tour of the town which was extraodinarily wealthy during the age of sail. The shipping merchants built themselves beautiful huge houses in Chesnut Street - one of these has been opened to the public as the Phillips House and Museum - the lavish lifestyle, furniture and antiquities from all those overseas voyages were on display - just superb. I did visit one witch trial site - the home of one of the men involved in prosecuting the so-called witches. I walked back via the cemetery and a magnificant memorial constructed in memory of the ninteeen victims. Arthur Miller (who set The Crucible based on the trials) and Ellie Wiesel opened the memorial. The town developed a Human Rights Award in 2001 to warn against intolerance. I could have spent far more than 6 hours in Salem.