Staying at Winter Island camp grounds on Salem Harbor, definitely the most unusual camp ground to date. When we drove in, the first impression was a large car park and an abandoned hanger and a few scattered RV's around the shore line. We were wondering if we had the right place! so off to talk to the office folk who explained how the RV park and camp site work, it's not a car park but it is open to the public to launch their boats and park their trailers. The park is surprisingly large and covers the whole island, it has a deep and long history dating back to late 1500's with French and Russian fur traders who traded with native Indians. Winter Island has been in use since the early settlement of Salem in the 1620s. It was first used as a fish drying and shipbuilding area by early colonial settlers, (they 'wintered' there, hence the name Winter Island) in the early 18th century it was considered a strategic defensive point for Salem, which was by then on its way to becoming an economically important port. Winter Island was the earliest center of Salem's flourishing fishing industry and is also the home of Fort Pickering which was built in 1643 and frequently rebuilt and repaired over the centuries. Originally known as Fort William, the fort was renamed in 1799 and was manned during the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, and the Civil War. Fort Pickering Light House was built in 1871, and the military use of the island was eventually transformed into a Coast Guard station. In the 1970's use was discontinued and the island was turned over to the city, which established Winter Island Marine Park.
We are a stop on the Salem Trolley tour, now that is strange, being checked out by the tourist!
We didn't spend too much time in Salem, mostly it was a base for Boston as there are no RV parks within an hour of the city. Salem is old and strangely fascinating with the history of the witch trials and the puritans. We had booked a walking tour called "Hocus Pocus" (for the movie which is loosely based on Salem stories) but didn't end up making it as it was raining and being Anneka's birthday we decided to stop for dinner. Next time
So onto Boston. We spent 2 days exploring. on day one we started to walk the Freedom Trail which is largely a self guided tour of Boston telling the story of the lead up to the revolution and the declaration of independence. About half way, it rained and I mean it really rained, you could not see. so we took shelter for lunch then tried again, we gave up and stayed at Quincey's Market for an hour till it stopped. Boston is about an hour from Salem and the coast road is lovely to drive, old houses, small towns and a lovely coast with beaches and marinas scattered along the way.
On day 2 we explored Boston commons for a while, drove around Harvard University and MIT then drove down to the Boston wharf district for lunch at No Name restaurant on fisherman's wharf. It was not as good as what we had read, really rather disappointing to be honest.
