Salem Motor Tour--Part One
Nov. 18th, 2011 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
earlgreytea68OMG. DON’T FAINT, BUT…HERE IS A 1937 BOOK POST. I KNOW!
Yes, yes, it’s been almost a year since I did a 1937 post. It was a busy year for me, okay? But I’m trying to catch up now, and I’m going in chronological order, which means I’m starting with the Salem Motor Tour, which happened basically a year ago, when Kristin-who-won’t-get-an-LJ visited![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arctacuda and me.
I did the Salem Foot Tour basically a year before that, and, if you’re interested, it is recounted here and here. If you don’t feel like going back to read all about my earlier adventures in Salem, all you really need to know is this: The author of the 1937 book has a huge crush on Nathaniel Hawthorne and no interest in the witch trials.
On to the motor tour!
17. (the numbering is continuous from the foot tour) Hawthorne Monument
There you go. Does what it says on the tin, pretty much. Nathaniel Hawthorne was actually decently attractive as a young man. It’s just so sad that I find his prose so incredibly dull…
18. Narbonne House
Built before 1671, which you can apparently tell based on the “steep pitched roof and great central chimney.” The 1937 book refers to “the Dutch door of the lean-to,” which was apparently “the entrance to a ‘Cent Shop,’ as described by Hawthorne.” Not being a Hawthorne scholar, I have no idea what the book is talking about. However, here’s the door to the lean-to. I think.
19. House of the Seven Gables
According to the author, this is “perhaps the most celebrated spot in all historic Salem.” It makes sense he would think this, since it is “the supposed setting of Hawthorne’s novel by that name.” However, the author is here to tell you that he is disdainful of that theory: “Unfortunately for sentiment, there is some grave doubt whether this house is actually the one described by Hawthorne.” He claims the building isn’t even authentic, because it was “greatly restored in 1910,” with “a good deal of imagination.” Whatever, I think he’s just angry he doesn’t own the House of the Seven Gables, or something, because it admittedly has seven gables. The house was probably built around 1668 and “shows strong medieval influence.”
It’s part of a little complex containing two other 17th-century buildings: the Hathaway House (1682) and the Retire Becket House (1655). In 1937, you could get into the complex for 25 cents. It is considerably more than that today (and I’d already toured the house once when I was in high school, and I am not a big enough fan of Hawthorne to do it twice), so here is a photo of the complex taken from outside the gates where they make you pay. You’re welcome.
20. J.C.B. Smith Swimming Pool
This one gave us trouble. Partly because it’s not, technically, a swimming pool. It is “a large and inviting salt-water cove made by damming the head of Cat Cove.” We tried very hard to locate this on the map, but there were no obvious clues (and the 1937 book gives TERRIBLE directions). By basically driving around a general area, we thought we may have found it.
However, arctacuda was dubious because of the obviously man-made sides of this pool, which the 1937 book led us to believe would not be there. So, in the interest of accuracy, we actually—yes, this is true, we did this—tasted the water in the pool.
But we couldn’t really tell if it was salt-water or fresh-water. So we had to go over to the ocean (which wasn’t very far away) and taste the ocean for comparison.
And once we’d done that, it became immediately apparent that the pool we’d been at was freshwater (I’m always surprised by just how salty the ocean is). So that was not the pool.
History’s mysteries, solved! (In a manner of speaking. I’m putting a positive spin on it.)
We think we eventually found the J.C.B. Smith Swimming Pool:
Doesn’t that look like a dam out there? And this looks more like a natural cove, and it’s in the right general area. So there. History’s mysteries, solved! (For real, this time.)
21. U.S. Coast Guard Air Station
Another one that gave us trouble. The only description the book provides is “a modern, completely equipped depot, which includes airplane hangars.” I took a photo of a random, abandoned building, figuring we could pretend it was the right building if we didn’t find a better candidate.
However, then we found this building, and this one seemed likely. More of history’s mysteries, solved!
Now, you may ask, how did we find this building? I will tell you how. We were led there by the TREE OF WOE.
You think I make these things up. I do not. I swear, you see the strangest things on motor tours…
22. Richard Derby House
Built in 1762, this is “the oldest brick house in Salem.” In 1937, it was owned by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. The style is apparently American Georgian, as indicated by the “dentiled cornice, pedimented doorway, and four-end chimneys joined in pairs.” However, the house has a gambrel roof, evidently atypical of the style. From what I can glean of the poetic description of the house, Richard Derby was the first in a line of merchant princes.
Yes, yes, it’s been almost a year since I did a 1937 post. It was a busy year for me, okay? But I’m trying to catch up now, and I’m going in chronological order, which means I’m starting with the Salem Motor Tour, which happened basically a year ago, when Kristin-who-won’t-get-an-LJ visited
arctacuda and me.I did the Salem Foot Tour basically a year before that, and, if you’re interested, it is recounted here and here. If you don’t feel like going back to read all about my earlier adventures in Salem, all you really need to know is this: The author of the 1937 book has a huge crush on Nathaniel Hawthorne and no interest in the witch trials.
On to the motor tour!
17. (the numbering is continuous from the foot tour) Hawthorne Monument
There you go. Does what it says on the tin, pretty much. Nathaniel Hawthorne was actually decently attractive as a young man. It’s just so sad that I find his prose so incredibly dull…
18. Narbonne House
Built before 1671, which you can apparently tell based on the “steep pitched roof and great central chimney.” The 1937 book refers to “the Dutch door of the lean-to,” which was apparently “the entrance to a ‘Cent Shop,’ as described by Hawthorne.” Not being a Hawthorne scholar, I have no idea what the book is talking about. However, here’s the door to the lean-to. I think.
19. House of the Seven Gables
According to the author, this is “perhaps the most celebrated spot in all historic Salem.” It makes sense he would think this, since it is “the supposed setting of Hawthorne’s novel by that name.” However, the author is here to tell you that he is disdainful of that theory: “Unfortunately for sentiment, there is some grave doubt whether this house is actually the one described by Hawthorne.” He claims the building isn’t even authentic, because it was “greatly restored in 1910,” with “a good deal of imagination.” Whatever, I think he’s just angry he doesn’t own the House of the Seven Gables, or something, because it admittedly has seven gables. The house was probably built around 1668 and “shows strong medieval influence.”
It’s part of a little complex containing two other 17th-century buildings: the Hathaway House (1682) and the Retire Becket House (1655). In 1937, you could get into the complex for 25 cents. It is considerably more than that today (and I’d already toured the house once when I was in high school, and I am not a big enough fan of Hawthorne to do it twice), so here is a photo of the complex taken from outside the gates where they make you pay. You’re welcome.
20. J.C.B. Smith Swimming Pool
This one gave us trouble. Partly because it’s not, technically, a swimming pool. It is “a large and inviting salt-water cove made by damming the head of Cat Cove.” We tried very hard to locate this on the map, but there were no obvious clues (and the 1937 book gives TERRIBLE directions). By basically driving around a general area, we thought we may have found it.
However, arctacuda was dubious because of the obviously man-made sides of this pool, which the 1937 book led us to believe would not be there. So, in the interest of accuracy, we actually—yes, this is true, we did this—tasted the water in the pool.
But we couldn’t really tell if it was salt-water or fresh-water. So we had to go over to the ocean (which wasn’t very far away) and taste the ocean for comparison.
And once we’d done that, it became immediately apparent that the pool we’d been at was freshwater (I’m always surprised by just how salty the ocean is). So that was not the pool.
History’s mysteries, solved! (In a manner of speaking. I’m putting a positive spin on it.)
We think we eventually found the J.C.B. Smith Swimming Pool:
Doesn’t that look like a dam out there? And this looks more like a natural cove, and it’s in the right general area. So there. History’s mysteries, solved! (For real, this time.)
21. U.S. Coast Guard Air Station
Another one that gave us trouble. The only description the book provides is “a modern, completely equipped depot, which includes airplane hangars.” I took a photo of a random, abandoned building, figuring we could pretend it was the right building if we didn’t find a better candidate.
However, then we found this building, and this one seemed likely. More of history’s mysteries, solved!
Now, you may ask, how did we find this building? I will tell you how. We were led there by the TREE OF WOE.
You think I make these things up. I do not. I swear, you see the strangest things on motor tours…
22. Richard Derby House
Built in 1762, this is “the oldest brick house in Salem.” In 1937, it was owned by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. The style is apparently American Georgian, as indicated by the “dentiled cornice, pedimented doorway, and four-end chimneys joined in pairs.” However, the house has a gambrel roof, evidently atypical of the style. From what I can glean of the poetic description of the house, Richard Derby was the first in a line of merchant princes.
