Spring break. Yes, I am behind in my blogging adventures!
The day after Easter our family piled into the van and drove up North. I had been wanting to visit Salem, Massachusetts ever since I learned I was related to Susannah North and several other people that were involved in the Salem Witch Trials. I didn’t want to go in October when I knew it would’ve been packed with people who were there for reasons other than ancestry.
In April, we were still slightly too early for their tourist season so a lot of things were closed but we still enjoyed our time.
Cape May
We followed the coastline up from North Carolina to Massachusetts. I was surprised there were way more trees than I had imagined and we really couldn’t see much coast! We took the ferry to Cape May, New Jersey. The same ferry we had taken years ago after my husband graduated from Boot Camp in Cape May. It was fun! It was a really nice break from sitting in the van all day and we saw lots of birds and some dolphins in the distance. The kids were rather bored though and kept trying to hide from the wind while staring at their phones. Typical teens!
Our family stayed the night on Staten Island.
The next morning, we got up early to experience sunrise at Liberty State Park. The kids got to see the Statue of Liberty. It was her backside, but still… We walked a little while on the pier and then headed over to see the Empty Sky Memorial, New Jersey’s 9-11 memorial. It was really cool! The engineer did an amazing job! The mirrored effect was beautiful and it was a corridor pointing right to the World Trade Center across the river.
I hope to get back to New York City to show the kids around as the last time we were there, our oldest was just a baby. Naturally she remembers nothing! However, NYC wasn’t our destination on this particular trip so we skirted around trying to beat the heavy traffic and made our way to Salem by the afternoon.
First impression was that drivers in Massachusetts are crazy! People seem to follow their own rules and either don’t pay attention or really don’t care about anyone else on the road! They just pull right out in front of you! We observed people driving through red lights or being stopped during green. I found it interesting that most of Salem’s school busses are actually mini vans! It does make sense because the roads are narrow. It’s probably safer. We saw one bus during our time there that drove up over the curb and you could see where it had repeatedly carved out the side of the yard on the corner! Drivers are so bad there that we actually had a few locals ask us if we had experienced it yet and what we thought!
We visited a book store first and then found the memorial that includes my 9th Great Grandmother’s name! What a feeling to know that you are walking where your ancestors once walked. The memorial is basically in the cemetery and has a stone slab for each one of the hanged. The trees within represent each person who died in prison while awaiting execution. Sadly no one actually knows where Susannah Martin is buried.
