The Salem Insider

Insiders guide to food, entertainment & living in Salem Massachusetts for tourists and residents.

List of history Posts

Peacemaker in Salem

By Glen Hughes on Be the first to comment
Categories: family, history, tourism

Tall Ship, Peacemaker, is currently docked at Central Wharf in Salem, MA. The Peacemaker is open to the public for free from August 10 to 22, 10am to 7pm on weekdays, and 10am to 9pm on the weekends. It’s a great opportunity to go aboard a working barquentine vessel and get a feel for how [...]

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Old Town Hall Salem MA

Salem Old Town Hall

By Glen Hughes on 3 Comments
Categories: community, history

For almost 200 years the Old Town Hall in Salem’s Derby Square has been a central fixture of this historic seaport city.   The  Federal style municipal building is a joy for students of the Federal period as it exhibits features of Salem’s number one architectural son Samuel McIntire and his contemporary Charles Bulfinch. (As an [...]

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Then & Now: Salem

Then & Now: Salem

By Glen Hughes on 4 Comments
Categories: art, history, literature

From time to time people send us stuff to talk about, some of it makes the cut while the rest gets “recycled”. Today we have a gem that anybody who lives in might be interested in. Then & Now: Salem Author:  Jerome M. Curley, Nelson L. Dionne Publisher:  Arcadia Publishing (February 16, 2009) Amazon link: [...]

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McIntire Fireplace in the Pierce Nichols house

Smells like winter

By Glen Hughes on Be the first to comment
Categories: history, winter

One of my favorite things about living in Salem MA during the fall and winter is the wonderful aroma.  I’m not talking about the great smells coming from restaurants as you walk around town but the unmistakable smell of people using their fireplaces. The first apartment I had in Salem was a little one bedroom [...]

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Great Salem Fire

Fall Walking Tours

By Glen Hughes on Be the first to comment
Categories: family, history

In perhaps the worst email to make its way past my spam and junk filters all year I received a message containing no copy, no words, no communication. Like most people I have my images turned off in my email client so I didn’t see anything at all. On my way to press the delete [...]

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Reading is fundamental

By Glen Hughes on 1 Comment
Categories: art, history, literature

Ed Asner said it in the 70s “reading is fundamental“, and with everyone plugged into their iEverything, watching HD talking heads and txting their BFF there is no better time to pick up some pulp and start flipping the pages. Salem is home to a few great bookstores, bunches of library’s both public and private [...]

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ye olde pepper companie

Ye Olde Pepper Companie

By Glen Hughes on 3 Comments
Categories: business, history

Ye Olde Pepper Companie 122 Derby Street 978.745.2744 Much of the information regarding Salem shops here on TheSalemInsider.com has to do with new businesses in town or changes happening, today we’re jumping in the way back machine and telling you about a fantastic little gem that started 202 years ago and is still going strong [...]

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Old Town Hall

Salem’s Old Town Hall

By Glen Hughes on 2 Comments
Categories: community, history

If you spend any time in Salem you will notice that various events are held at the Old Town Hall. This beautiful federal structure has stood in Derby Square (aptly named as the land was donated by E. H Derby) since 1816. Today in the Salem News an Op Ed piece talked about the possible [...]

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Maori businessman

Tattoo art in Salem

By Forrest on 4 Comments
Categories: art, community, history, tourism

In this post local photographer and theSalemInsider.com contributor Forrest Frazier tells us about a new photography exhibit at the PEM. No this isn’t an article about the Purple Scorpion or the soon to open Witch City Ink, it’s about some beautiful photographs, the Peabody Essex Museum and moko. (c) Hans Neleman Body Politics — Visions [...]

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