A busy day in Salem

By TOM DALTON

Essex County Newspapers

SALEM _ You are here for a day and you are wondering what to do and where to begin.

Well, the answer depends on you. What are your interests? How much time do you have?

If you want cultural and maritime history, you might start at the National Park Service's Salem Visitor Center on New Liberty Street for an overview. This is also a good place to pick up every imaginable brochure on what's happening in Salem.

If you want witch history, a good stop is the Salem Witch Museum on Washington Square, the city's most popular tourist attraction.

The Salem Witch Village, which is right behind the Salem Wax Museum on Derby Street, is actually staffed by practicing witches. Or, at Old Town Hall, you can be part of an interactive drama recreating the Salem Witch Trials; the audience always votes at the end on whether to convict the "witches" based on the evidence presented.

Or you could walk over to the Salem Witch Trials Memorial off Charter Street, which was dedicated in 1992 _ the 300th anniversary of the Witch Trials _ to the innocent victims of that mass hysteria.

If you don't know where to begin and want an overview of Salem, the Salem Trolley is a good idea. It is an open-air, one-hour, narrated bus ride through the city. Tours leave from the Visitor Center.

If you are a serious tourist here for a living history lesson, you will want to stop at the Peabody Essex Museum on the Essex Street mall, one of the country's great maritime museums. Don't let all the construction workers scare you away. The museum's expansion is Salem's "Big Dig" and will be done in a few years. In addition to Salem's great maritime heritage, the museum features art and treasures from the many lands visited by Salem merchants in the age of sail.

Another "must" is the The House of the Seven Gables on Derby Street, the house made famous by Salem's most famous native son, author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Make sure to catch Hawthorne's birthplace, a small house on the grounds.

Then there's Pioneer Village, a recreation of a 1630 settlement. It's across the harbor in Forest River Park. Although tiny compared with Sturbridge Village, it is interesting and worth a stop.

One of the great, often unseen treasures of Salem is Chestnut Street, a grand boulevard with magnificent homes on the edge of the downtown, which rivals almost any street in America. In fact, you'd probably have to go to Newport, R.I., to beat it.

You also don't want to miss the waterfront. The ocean, after all, put Salem on the map as a major seaport. The Salem Maritime National Historic Site, which includes the Salem Custom House and the original shipping wharves, is another "must."

Today, Salem has a Whale Watch, and tour boats that leave from Pickering Wharf and Salem Willows. The Willows, by the way, has an arcade that the kids will love. And you'll want to tour the Friendship, a replica of a 1797 merchant ship that is docked at Central Wharf at the Maritime Site.

There's lot of fun stuff here for children, including several more witch museums, the Salem Wax Museum, haunted houses, haunted tours, and even a haunted restaurant _ the Crypt Cafe.

Every visit to Salem must include eating. The city is filled with good restaurants _ too many to name here. There are several seafood restaurants on Pickering Wharf and Derby Street; upscale restaurants like the Grapevine, Finz and the Lyceum; two Thai restaurants; an Irish pub; a new Mexican restaurant; several good little Italian restaurants; and lots of excellent American restaurants. Red's sandwich shop is a Salem institution.

With so much to see and do, anyone here for one day should really spend a few days. If you need a room for the night, check out the Hawthorne Hotel, The Salem Inn, or any of the city's bed-and-breakfasts.

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