Salem Maritime National Historic Site

After we finished up touring the Charlestown Navy Yard we headed out of town.  Salem Maritime Naval Historic Site on our short list of parks to visit but realized that we might not have time to visit the next morning as we had originally planned, so we decided to see if we could visit in the evening before going back to our campground.

Established on March 17, 1938 as the first National Historic Site in the United States, the site consists of nine acres of land and twelve historic structures along the Salem waterfront, as well as a downtown visitor center. The site includes the Custom House, Public Stores, Scale House, Hawkes House, Derby House, West India Good Store, Pedricks Store House, a lighthouse and three historic wharves.
--from Salem Maratime NHS website

We first visited the main information center in town.

Inside were a few nautical exhibits.

This is a model of the brig Leander, which was built in Salem.

The kids had fun with the photo prop.

 We left the visitor center and headed out to the ocean-side portion of the park on foot.

 This statue in the middle of town was "erected by the followers of very reverend Theobald Mathew Apostle of Temperance."

 Our first stop was at the Waite and Peirce store, which also serves as a second visitor center for the park.  Due to the lateness of the day we also knew we'd better hit the store before it closed while we would have longer to wander around outside.  The original Waite and Peirce were a merchant outfit that commissioned the original of the ship Friendship that is usually docked at the park (sadly it wasn't in port the day we visited).

The park consists of a series of several buildings and three wharves jutting into the water.

The wharves were once busy commercial areas bustling with ships and cargoes being loaded and unloaded.

This store house (originally located elsewhere) was first built in 1770.

This is where the Friendship of Salem normally moors.

The older kids and I walked all the way to the end of Derby Wharf.

 Once we got out there we could take a closer look at Derby Light.

The lighthouse was built in 1871.   It isn't much to look at compared to other iconic structures, but it was fun to take the walk all the way to the end of the wharf.

Once we walked back we crossed the street to look at the Custom House.  Nathaniel Hawthorne was actually posted here from 1846 to 1849 as the port's surveyor and we have this posting to blame for the genesis of his novel The Scarlet Letter.
Inside this impressive building were the offices of United States Customs Service collectors, inspectors, and other officials.  It was here that ship's captains and owners paid duties on imported goods and conducted other business.  Before the passage of the Federal Income Tax Act of 1913, customs duties on ship's cargoes provided most of the money to run the Federal Government.  Between 1789 and 1840, duties collected here earned the Treasury more than $20 million--a substantial amount in those days.
--from exhibit signage

Next to the Custom House is the Hawkes House, built in 1780.

Next to the Hawkes House is the Derby House, the oldest brick house in town that dates from 1762.

Behind the Derby House we found a garden area.

There were many beautiful blooms to be discovered.

Behind the Custom house was the Public Stores building used to store goods destined for another port or awaiting payment of duties.

The sites of several other structures were visible behind this area as we continued walking away from the ocean and closer to our car.

As I recall we got back just a few minutes before our paid parking expired--or maybe parking in the later afternoon/early evening was free and we'd ended up in that time period.  Either way we wasted no time but packed up and headed back to the campsite as we had a good drive the next day as we headed north into Maine.  All of my pictures from this site are visible in this album.

~Matt