Salem: The Home of Halloween

On Friday, October 13, two JWU buses full of students went to Salem for the day.The day started off with students leaving the JWU campus at 10:00 from Harborside and 10:30 Gaebe Commons. The bus ride took about an hour and a half to two hours. After being dropped off in Salem Commons, the students were allowed to roam freely around Salem until going back to the meeting spot at 5:45. Between 1:00 and 5:45, students toured around Salem, having a great time. 

On the bus ride to Salem ,I asked a few students at JWU why they decided to go. Gavin Hoy responded to me saying, “I just came here to have a fun time and hang out with my friends. I’ve never been, so I wanna see what it’s like. Experience the whole Massachusetts thing.” I also asked student Evan Keeler, and within the same vein, he said, “I’ve never been to Salem, and I live in Massachusetts. I wouldn’t have gone if nobody else had gone. But since everyone else is going, I’m excited.” But that wasn’t all. Student Xander Mills told me he was most excited for “The food, going to Red’s Sandwich Shop […] I’m excited for the Halloween festivities around the area, the witches we might see.” With all of this excitement bubbling up on the bus when we arrived, we immediately stepped off and started to look around, amazed at the place we arrived in. 

The cold breeze flew by us, and the leaves spiraled off the branches of the trees. We first started off our trip by walking to the Ropes Mansion and Garden, where you could walk to the back of the house and see a beautiful garden and get beautiful photos. While there, we were able to see a wedding happening right in front of us at this Mansion. Secondly, we decided to go get food as most of us had yet to have food at this point. So we decided to stop at this lovely brunch restaurant called Red’s Sandwich Shop. If you are able to go, I would 100% stop at this place to get some food. Their food was very filling, and they had good pricing for the portions. 

After we all had our stomachs filled, we were able to get a move on to some more shenanigans. We walked down Essex Street, which was closed off for people to roam the streets to go into all the shops. We decided to go into multiple stores, including the Witch History Museum and World of Wizardry, all with a plethora of jewelry and items to buy, as well as pop-up shops lined out in the middle of the street. If you are not able to go and purchase items, that shouldn’t stop you from walking around, seeing all of the Halloween decor the townspeople put up, and going to places such as the Pioneer Village: Salem 1630, where you could see a reenactment of how Salem lived back in the 1630s with actors and all. 

Sadly, the day came to an end with us regrouping at the Salem Common, where we could sit down and enjoy the greenery. Though sad to be going, we all gathered looking at the items we bought and photos we took of the places we had gone. Overall, it seemed everyone who had gone enjoyed their time coming back with bags filled with goodies to bring back to JWU and memories to remember. Even if you cannot go to Salem on a JWU trip for a while, I would highly recommend going in your free time.