Hart Family Vacation 2024 (Day 4 - Salem, MA and Portland/Freeport, Maine)

After an ugly ending to Day 3, Matt and I discussed a few options with the kids on how we wanted our next few days to look. After talking through things, we changed up day #4. Our original agenda had us driving from Quincy, MA to Boston to Salem and ending our day in Bedford, NH. We would have spent the majority of our day in Boston.

Our new plan included scratching Boston from our agenda and starting our day in Salem. 

We had *very* limited knowledge of the history on the Salem Witch Trials, so we read up on that while heading to Salem. I had looked into a handful of stops once in Salem so we had a short list of stops and photo ops. We weren't planning to spend much time here but still ended up spending a bit over an hour walking around.

Ropes Mansion & Garden. The location of Allison's House from Hocus Pocus. The blue sign on the fence mentions the ongoing restoration of the house - they are currently working on the shutters.

The First Church in Salem (built in 1836) is located on Essex St, right next to Ropes Mansion. The church history dates back to 1629 (England). This church (congregation, not the building) is one of two that were involved in the Salem witch trials. 

Bewitched statue - Samantha, the beloved witch from TV (1964-1972) (we had to explain who she was to the kids).

Lady(ies) of Salem - a public art display of 17 maritime figureheads adorned to lightpoles along Essex Street. 

Some more Salem history tidbits...

We walked along Essex Street down to Derby Square - enjoying the quiet of the (Sunday) morning and the beautiful buildings around us. Below is Town Hall, built in 1816.

We loved the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall - beautiful old buildings, brick walkway and fun shops (most of which were still closed). 

Walking back to the van, we stopped to take a few more pictures. One stop was the The Witch House at Salem. This house is the one of the only surviving structures linked back to the Witch Trials. It was the home of one of the judges (Jonathan Corwin) and is now said to be haunted by the spirits of those "witches" who were indeed innocent but were executed for their presumed witchcraft. The Witch House is now a museum and offers tours.

On the corner of Essex and Summer Streets, you will find the Captain William Driver Park. A small, quiet corner park with a large stone and a few plaques commemorating him. Captain Driver was a ship captain whose famous quote, "my ship, my country, and my flag, Old Glory". He was credited with giving our flag the nickname of Old Glory.

The flower boxes were pretty and the architecture of the buildings was amazing!

We finished our time on Essex Street by touring the Ropes Mansion Gardens.

Kaitee was listening for the Who(s) down in Whoville!

This is a screenshot of the Ropes Mansion Gardens on Google Maps. Impressive!

Our last stop in Salem was the Witch Dungeon Museum, which houses the Witch Gaol Plaque. Gaol is where those awaiting trial (those accused) were held - essentially a jail. 

We left Salem and headed north to Cape Elizabeth, Maine (via Hwy 1). First stop was Fort Williams Park to see Portland Head Lighthouse. This particular lighthouse has been on my bucket list for years but has always been just out of reach to add to our trip(s). The park and lighthouse did not disappoint - honestly, it was better than we could've imagined! We found a parking spot (lucky for us - a beautiful Sunday which happened to be Father's Day!), walked around the park a bit and then spent the rest of our time at the park down on the water.

Our first glimpse of the Portland Head Lighthouse. In the distance, you see Ram Island Ledge Light Station. 

We spent most of our time climbing the rocks, finding different spots to view the lighthouse. Will climbed down to the water to take pictures. 

I saw someone sitting out on the large rock and immediately thought of Ariel's rock pose. Matt told me that he would re-enact it if I wanted him to. We all passed on the offer, ha!

Thumbs up from Will!

We headed into the gift shop and then walked around the base of the lighthouse & keepers house. 

I found this card and loved that it matched my shirt!

We drove around the neighborhood a bit as we decided on lunch plans. Thought this stairway was pretty cool!

We enjoyed Five Guys for lunch - ate outside as the weather was gorgeous! After lunch, Maddie & Kaitee walked to Five Below to shop. 

After lunch/shopping, we drove back to the coast and explored Bug Light Park in northern Portland.

Back in the van, we discussed options and the kids said that they wanted to head north to Freeport to the LL Bean Headquarters. Good choice!

Along the drive, we passed this Grist Mill (Rt 88 in Yarmouth) and pulled in to the parking lot to get out and see the Grist & Royal River from the bridge.

Once at LL Bean, we walked around outside and played some bags - Kaitee and I beat the twins in a nail-biter! 

Lots of photo ops and fun things to see...

The hammocks ended up being a comedy relief act. Maddie got on her hammock and she twisted and ended up on the ground - underneath the hammock! 

Kaitee fought her hammock and won!

Will looked like he'd been hanging out for hours on his!

To finish our time in Freeport/LL Bean, we enjoyed some Ben & Jerry's. 

I opted to be good and pass on the ice cream - this is how I felt about passing on it...

We ended our day with a late dinner as we drove to our hotel (about a 2 hour drive). Father's Day 2024 was a huge success! We all enjoyed the day's activities. A good choice to scratch Boston and head north to enjoy the Maine coastline for the day!

Favorites for Day 4

Matt - Portland Head Lighthouse

Becki - Portland Head Lighthouse, Salem

Kaitee - Salem, Portland Head Lighthouse, Corn Hole

Will - Corn Hole, Salem

Maddie - Portland Head Lighthouse, Cornhole, Five Guys