#20 MASSACHUSETTS

When I think of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts I think of the Red Sox, the Kennedy’s, Plymouth Rock, Harvard and Cape Cod. All of that with a sound track in my mind of the Bee Gees singing Massachusetts. To the best of my knowledge the Bee Gees have absolutely no connection to the state aside from this song but I still hear it go round and round. To blend (somewhat) with the native population you have to know when to skip over perfectly good letters in order to properly pronounce the names of towns like Gloucester (Glos-ter). It’s part of the experience. And if you do get a sidelong glance for not dropping your r’s, so what?

This visit to the Bay State found me North of Boston. We stopped in Salem and then headed up through Essex, Ipswich and Newburyport. The area is encompassed in the Essex National Heritage Area. The NPS brochure tells us “It’s where beaches sing, mills hum and your heritage whispers”.

Salem was the capitol of Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1626-30. The name Salem was known to traders worldwide at one time but most tourists today think of the Witchcraft Trials of 1692.

We wanted to learn more and entered the Witch History Museum, our destination was the Salem Witch Museum but the witchery was at work because we were unclear which of similarly named “Witch” museums we were in until after we paid our admission. No worries – we enjoyed what we saw and the tour and displays filled in a few blanks about the history of the witch trials. One would think that it is all ancient history and could never happen again but the other day I was disturbed to read “Kenya Mob kills 11 accused of being witches” on SFGate.
.
Nathanial Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables, hails from Salem. We walked past the Salem Maritime Historical Site and viewed The House of Seven Gables to glean a greater understanding of the area’s offering and step back in time while avoiding the new-age sorcery shops. Salem was one of the most significant seaports in early America. It boasts the first National Historic Site designated by Congress, Salem Maritime National Historic Site, which protects Salem's historic waterfront.

Essex, founded as a shipbuilding center, was later a port for New York-bound steamboats, and is now a tourism and clamming area. There are opportunities for hiking, canoeing and kayaking plus ample bird watching. We did none of those but we did have a TERRIFIC lunch at Woodman’s of Essex thanks to the Road Food recommendation. We had fried clams on a platter accompanied by both French fries and onion rings. As Road Food puts it “It’s a deep-fried pig out beyond description!” The story goes that on July 3rd, 1916, Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman fried up a few clams at his roadside stand in Essex as a joke and started the venerable New England summer staple of fried clams. The next day during the 4th of July Parade, Chubby and his wife, Bessie, presented their fried clams to the citizens of Essex and the Yankee appetite has never been the same since! I can personally attest that the clams are delicious. This is not where you go for an elegant dining experience. You place your order at one counter, head to a second to order drinks and hopefully locate a table in the cavernous space. We were there before “the season” and scored a table just outside of the main room. I suspect in the summer all bets are off. When your number is called you are presented heaping plates in a cardboard box and dig in with plastic forks. I would go back in a heartbeat (eat too much food like this and the heart has a more difficult time beating!) There is a separate building where we could have purchased Woodman’s apparel but I contented myself with a photo.

Next meal is in Maine.