I am so psyched, I am such a kid when it comes to halloween and historical places like Salem. I mean what better place to celebrate halloween than the place of witch trials and old puritanical evil? I know dopers like Cal Meacham and others live near to Salem, can someone recommend a good bookstore, or place to eat or a place not to miss. I’m so psyched!!!
I know I’ll probably drag my wife to the Custom House of Nathaniel Hawthorne and some other historical places…but what else is there? It’s been a while since going up there.
There are a lot of restaurants there, but I’m not sure I can recommend a good one anymore. There’s a lot of good plebian food – try Brothers restaurant, or the Hot Dog Company. I haven’t tried the Brewing company.
Salem used to have lots of bookstores, including some excellent used bookshops. Then they all vanished except one, on the Mall, which is still there (and perpetually Going Out of Business. But if they were serious, they wouldn’t keep buying new books) a couple of years ago they actually opened a new one – Cornerstone Books, which is pretty good.
There’s a HUGE amount of Halloween Honky-Tonk going on. Don’t get completely swallowed up in the press. You might want to leave some of the tyhings until a more reasonable time. I’m sure the Witch Museum will be packed. The With House and the Witch Dungeon are a little more off the path. Do see the Salem National Park Vistor’s Center inside the remains of the Armory building (It’s Free, has some nice exhibits and gifts, and clean restrooms)The Peabody-Essex museum is worth seeing. The House of the Seven Gables really is the House described by Hawthorne’s book (and has a shop set up, as described in the book), and they’re apparently putting on a dramatic skit based on the book. Afterwards, you can go across to the Pepper Candy Company across the street and pick up some Gibralters – it claims to be the oldest operating candy company in the US, and they have a jar with Gibralters over 100 years old.
Do have a look at the honky-tonk. The wickie-poo’s (as one guy called them) in their New Age Shops and the ephemeral Hallowween haunted houses and the street hawkers. There’s a psychic fair going on, and there are three competing Ghost Tours, and the Duck Tour, and someone’s doing Ghost Hunting 101 this weekend (Pick up a copy of the Haunted Happenings brochure, which lists what’s going on when. Or check online. I think there’s a parade).
The Salem Witch Memorial and the Graveyard are free, as always. So is the statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stevens.
The down side – parking is much more restricted on weekenfds. They charge in a lot of places that ordinarily wouldn’t. One guy was getting $10 for parking, which is outrageous. There’s a municipal parking garage near the Institute, and another nearby. There’s a lot in the center of town, where 107 comes through, with meters that don’t count on Sundays.
If you want that Salem/Halloween spirit from books and films, read Chadwick Hanson’s book or Boyer and Nissenbaums. Then reflect that the witchcraft trials and stuff didn’t happen in October. Watch “Three Sovereigns for Sarah”, if you can find it (I think the Witch Museum sells it). Rebecca Nurse House, where some of it was filmed, is nowhere near downtown Salem. If you watch “The CRucible”, remember that it’s great drama but unreliable history. The Disney film “Hocus Pocus” was filmed partly in Salem, but not mostly. You’ll realize this quickly when you see how cramped and narrow Salem’s streets are, and how tiny the cemetary is.
You can read Hawthorne’s “House of the Seven Gables”, or Lovecraft’s “Dreams in the Witch House” or “The Shadow over Innsmouth”, which I’m convinced are inspired, at least in part, by Salem.
Auschwitz? Other than places like this, I guess there isn’t many. Other than Transylvania perhaps.
Haunted Happenings webpage and brochure:
And here’s a Salem Vistors’ Guide with a section on restaurants:
I am so psyched, my wife has been reading Hawthorne’s books and is very excited to go. Thanks for all the great info!
Salem is awesome. The touristy area is pretty compact and self-explanatory. You can eeasilly walk to everything you would want to see.
I live in a tiny village east of Salem, so I can validate Cal’s excellently researched and presented recommendations. I’d also like to add a couple of my own. In ir within walking distance of the madness, try Red’s for breakfast (any time). O’Neill’s Irish Pub has an excellen Guinness Stew, and Rockafella’s has a fantastic supper menu, including a tasty Cheese Fondue - good steaks, I hear, and I can vouch for the seafood selections - especially the seared tuna.
In the middle of the madness, Salem Beerworks livesup to their name with a shitload of really good beers. Their food is ok, I guess. I don’t really remember. Steer clear of ‘Capn’s’ restaurant - the food sucks and it’s peicey to boot. Victoria Station is lovely, though on the expensive side. We’ve had many good meals and memories there. I hear Finz is good. Let me know what you think if you try it. We haven’t yet. Strega was good but fell short of our expectations. Brothers Deli is great food on the cheap. If you want really great food really cheap, head down to Salem Willows (free parking!) and get a Chop Suey sandwich for two bucks, then go to the end of the line and get the best popcorn you’ve ever had in your entire life (four bucks).
Hawthorn Hotel is great for drinks and apps, but they fucked me dinner-wise once, and I’ve never forgiven them so can’t recommend them.
Please avoid the psychics. Cornerstone books is ok like Cal said. The haunted houses are what they are. Look for horse drawn carriage rides and be the most romantic man ever.
If you want to be authentic you can drive to Danvers, ten minutes west, where all the “witchcraft” business really took place, but there won’t be anything to see/do there. 
If you’ve got the time (ten minutes to drive here from Salem) and you’re inclined, come to Marblehead and have a meal at The Barnacle. The food isn’t great, but it’s one of the World’s Best Restaurants, nonetheless. For better food but not-as-great atmosphere, try The Landing.
I’ve lived around here most of my life, but I could still spend a whole afternoon wandering around Pickering Wharf in Salem any time of year - Halloween just makes it better.
Say “hi” to my 9 x great grandma, Sarah Averell Wilde, while you’re there.
She was hung for Witchcraft there in 1692.
I enjoyed visiting all her old haunts there!
The Stanley Hotel? Where they filmed The Shining? Yah, not quite the cachet of Salem, but spooky neverless.
Have a hauntingly good time!
One of Pepper Mill’s ancestors was hanged here, too. And we’ve got two black cats. And a broom hung over the kitchen archway.
Phlospher – we might be in Salem that day, too. Any interest in meeting up?
Sure - Let me talk to Mrs.P and see what time we will be leaving CT. I’m guessing Saturday morning around 8-ish we should be leaving, putting us in Salem around 10-ish. We’ll be spending the entire afternoon and evening there, we’re staying with friends in Marblehead Neck - not sure how far that is from Salem, but they said it was only a short drive. I’ll email when we firm up times. Sounds fun.
Well then, I guess the Dinsdale’s are of the common folk, because we enjoyed our meal at Brothers. Nothing fancy, but good basic food for a good price in a diner atmosphere if you like that kinda thing.
I always love hearing what parking costs elsewhere. $10 wouldn’t even buy you your first half hour in downtown Chicago…
I hate to be a party pooper, but I’m not a fan. Meanwhile, I’m so into Halloween, I tell my kid’s friends’ parents “We’re the Halloween House” and no further directions are needed. The Dungeon and the Witch Museum are cool but I kind of feel like the locals have a deep, deep resentment for the reasons the town is touristy. Plus, you could accidentally bring the kids into an attraction that’s more about Wicca and that’s not what they were hoping for at all. It’s just a creepy, weird place, but not in a good way
I spend a fair amount of time in Salem (I live just a bit south of it, and some friends live downtown). Pretty much everything I can think of has been covered by Cal and Winston, but there are a couple of things I can add.
The Brew Works has decent pub food, and, of course, beer. I also have to second the Cheese Fondue at Rockafella’s.
One place I don’t see mentioned that we like is the Pig’s Ear down Derby from the House of Seven Gables. The food is good, the atmosphere is funky, but the place is a bit small. Check out the ceiling if you go.
If you liked Midnight In The Garden Of Good & Evil, Savannah, Georgia might be nice.
Have a great time, you’ll have a blast. You’ll probably mostly be doing Seven Gables, historical houses and Halloween things, but the Peabody Essex Museum is really awesome, if you have time.
Salem Beerworks has decent burgers and killer onion rings (plus, of course, all the great beer). If you are into seafood, definitely check out Finz. I only ate there once, but it was an excellent meal and the service was top notch.
I have to disagree with Winston about Victoria Station. When I went the service was awful and the food was just meh. On the other hand, my parents went and they said it was good.
While, I also don’t recommend the Hawthorn Hotel for dinner, they have a chocolate cake that is to die for.
If you want a walking tour take the Haunted Footsteps tour. Yes, it’s a “ghost tour”, but those ladies that run that tour know all kinds of facts about the history of the area and the houses - it’s fascinating.
Don’t miss the tour of the House of the Seven Gables.
sigh I love Salem. This is the first year in I can’t remember how long that I didn’t get there. I would move there in a heartbeat.
Just a quick bump, because Phlosophr wrote this:
I e-mailed him, but haven’t heard back. If you’re interested in getting together, Phlosophr, send a response via my contact info (or this thread). Otherwise, I’ll assume it’s off.
– CalMeacham
I hate to be a party pooper, too, but I’m also not a fan.
My 12th great grandfather had settled in Marblehead by 1623 and moved to Naumkeag soon after (before they changed the name to Salem), and his daughter, my 11th GG, served as a witness against a witch during the trials. Intriguingly, a descendant of that “witch” (I mean the term as a legal status) has written a book about her persecution, and I often daydream about writing a complimentary book about my grandmother’s calumny. I’ve read much about the area, toured and explored, even looked at a pew an ancestor uncle constructed for the town - it’s the oldest documented piece of woodwork in the New World.
What it mostly seems to be about is a very sad time of religious excess and cruelty, just monstrous injustice. Somehow these got to be very horrible people.
There are very beautiful and interesting graveyards and museums around this area. And, the Peabody Essex museum is certainly a fascinating place to spend a few hours. It is stirring to think about these olden times while walking about the places. But it is also hard to do so around all the carpetbaggers selling cheap plastic trinkets.
Casper the Friendly Ghost is just an imaginary touchstone. There wasn’t a Casper the Friendly Dead Kid to create him, and you might say that Casper Holloween costumes haven’t any blood on them. But dancing bears and jugglers are just offensive around the graves of those poor young women who were hanged before jeering mobs.