October 26, 2022 – Salem and Gloucester

I feel asleep last night at 11pm. Unfortunately, I woke up at 3:45am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Breakfast opened at 7am so I was there when the doors were unlocked.
We met at 9am and boarded our bus. It was a full size tour bus for the 12 of us plus George, our tour leader. It was pouring rain. The rain seemed to get harder the closer we got to Salem. We picked up our local guide and we had a bus tour of the Salem area while being told the history of the witch trials. Turns out no witches were burned. All but one were hanged. The odd one was crushed to death by rocks. We finally got off the bus and walked to Salem cemetery where there is a memorial for each of the 20 ”witches”.
We dropped off our Salem guide and picked up a Gloucester guide and took back roads toward Glouster. By now the rain had stopped. The guide told us the peak fall leaf color was only a few days ago so we saw quite a lot of colorful trees as we rode on the bus. Along the way we saw many houses built in the 1700’s. We also saw a lot of mansions that were built as summer homes and used only 3 months a year. We had lunch in Gloucester. I had a delicious clam chowder with a burger.
We stopped to see a medieval castle built in the 1920’s. We could only view the outside since reservations are required to go inside. It was built by John Hays Hammond Jr. Who invented the first electronic remote control.
We continued riding around Gloucester. We stopped at the Fishermen’s Memorial. They have plaques with the town’s fishermen lost to the sea. Under 1991, are the names of the 5 sailors lost on the Andrea Gale. The story was made into the book and movie “The Perfect Storm”.
We ended the tour in Rockport with a walk through the town to see Cape Ann.
Tomorrow is a day on our own. If the weather is clear I may just walk around the Common.
Sorry about photos, I had to take many from a moving bus.