We talk about the location (in close proximity) of Red’s (London Coffee House) Diehl-Marcus building (oldest extant bank building in Salem) and the 1803 Customs Building.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

This is where we touch on Salem’s history of spice trade, her motto (and why we have it), point out where the old ship building yard used to be (near where the Adirondack chairs are located at the far end of the open space) and then discuss the mansions visible from near Derby Wharf.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

We discuss the witch trials and the Pickman House.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

We point out the Hocus Pocus location (the old school) but then talk about how Salem Common evolved, from a series of marshy pools and unusable ground in the 17th and early 18th centuries, to the manicured pleasure park of the 19th century, and how it became the new fashionable district starting in the mid-to-late 19th century, Salem’s last gasp of wealth and mansions, with Second Empire and Greek Revival style buildings.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

This is a discussion of Georgian architecture, and how this simple building reflects the burgeoning wealth and power of Salem and New England merchants as a whole.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

We talk about how First Period buildings were modified and adapted to reflect current trends and tastes over the centuries.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

a perfect way to show how 17th century (First Period) architecture could be (and was) added to and modified to enlarge it.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

We touch on the unique religious heritage of Salem.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Discussion of the Peabody-Essex Museum, and its origins, and showing how one side of Essex Street retains its 19th century appearance (mostly) and how the Witch City Mall shows the attempt to “modernize” Salem during the destructive period of the 1960s.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included