Ipswich, Salem, and a Whole Mess of Clams

We are winding up our second day in Ipswich MA and are having a great time. We left CT yesterday morning and slowly made our way down the road. Our first stop was in Mystic where we had no choice but to pay a visit to the legendary Mystic Pizza, as made famous by the classic film.  As is the joint's slogan, both in the movie and in real life, it was A Slice Of Heaven.  Oh yeah, and they messed up our pizza order and, without our asking, re-made our pizza but gave us the original pie as well, so we ended up with a bonus.  The offending mistake?  They put pepperoni instead of sausage on my half of the pizza.  How dare they!  No, they were both delicious.  We pizzaed it up and went on our way, noshing on the second pie while on the road later.

 

On our way out of town, we stopped by the Mystic Seaside which is a quaint little area which also has a maritime museum.  We were going to check out the museum but decided that $24 per person was a bit too steep, especially since we will be spending much of the next five months in actual Maritime fishing communities.  So off we went.

Our next stop was in Newport RI and that is one of the quaintest most excellent Ye Olde Townes I've been to.  One of the main reasons for our venture there was to stop at the White Horse Tavern.  Opened in 1673, it is the oldest continuously running restaurant in America.  Being that we had just eaten two small pizzas, we opted out of ordering food and just got a drink instead.  The bar is really tiny, as 17th century rooms often are, but you can just feel the history seeping out of the walls there.  I wish I could drink there every day for the rest of my life.  Krissy got their signature drink, the "Dark & Stormy" - ginger beer with a very healthy splash of dark rum on top.  It knocked her on her ass.  I got their house brew, an IPA which was okay but nothing to rave about.  It hit the spot.  After that, we spent an hour or so walking around Newport and deciding that we should definitely come back when we can spend more time and money.

The bar inside the White Horse Tavern.  Very impressive collection of Scotches.

The White Horse Tavern from the outside.  I am a sucker for that 17th century architecture.

This was a church on the village green in Newport.  

We made it to Ipswich by dinner time and spent a great evening around the dinner table with Vicki, drinking beer and wine and yapping on just about everything.  It was so great to see my old friend and Olsson's colleague after so many years.

This morning we woke up and went for some of the best cinnamon rolls at a bakery in Manchester On The Sea.  We took them down to the beach and while the water was frigid - oh my words it just about turned my ankles blue - it was a perfect day for the seaside and I felt a sense of peace I hadn't felt in a really long time, a million miles away from the bank and DC commutes and all that comes with it.

Seaside, beautiful Seaside

Hans finds peace

My last dollar.

From there, we went into Salem to chase down some witches.  Salem is a weird place.  We were expecting something more like a spooky old New England village but really there is all that but a city built around all of it so there is hustle, bustle, bad traffic, and all kinds of craziness thrown in.  So sometimes you really have to look for the historical parts.  There is a nice little memorial to all the victims of the trials but perhaps I was looking for more.  I dunno.

We took a somewhat kitschy tour of "witchcraft" which was actually a lot more informative and interesting than it probably appears to be.  It traces witchcraft back to the Inquisition, through to the famous Salem Witch Trials, debunking myths along the way, and comparing wicca to popular conceptions of witchcraft and such.  Again, on the surface it was pure kitsch but I was not upset at spending $8 for that tour.  Unfortunately we did not get any photos, because we were actually paying attention.  That was about the extent of the witchy business.  Again, Salem is a weird place and you just don't feel that energy there.  Whether it's good or bad, basically just read a book.  You will learn a lot more and save the hassle of parking.

On a far more positive note, however, we did pay a visit to the House Of Seven Gables, as made famous in the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and that was a fantastic glimpse into life in the 17th-18th centuries.  No photos were allowed inside but we got some good shots outside.  Likewise, we also visited the Hawthorne birth house, which was relocated right next door in the 1950s.  That was, again, a fascinating look at the humbler beginnings of one of America's most important writers.

The House Of Seven Gables.  You can see five of the gables in this photo.  I want this house.

The birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne.  This was originally about five blocks away and was almost torn down in the 1950s, for a parking lot.  Instead, it was moved to this location.  Thankfully.  This place is awesome.

The old Salem town cemetery.   The graves here date from the 1670s-mid-1800s.  There is a Mayflower passenger in this lot as well as at least one of the judges in the Witch Trials.  There are a lot of ghosts on this land.

Ooooooooh, witchy woman.

That is about it.  This evening we went with Vicki to a place in Essex called Woodman's, which is a 100-year old hole-in-the-wall clam house.   It was amazing but we ate way, way, way too much.  Tomorrow we shall take our leave from here and make our way to the White Mountains in New Hampshire for the first "rough" part of our trip.  The next blog update will probably be after we leave there and get up to Bar Harbor.  Wish us luck!