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The Good Life Mr. Curmudgeon: The Good Life In my last newsletter, I posed three questions that I believe we should ask ourselves throughout the course of our lives. In this issue, I am going to address the first of the three questions: What does it mean to live a...

 Frank Cousins, Almshouse on Salem Neck, c. 1890. Digital Commonwealth, Phillips Library.The Pickering HouseSunday, March 14 at 5:00 p.m.Jen Ratliff: Unheralded and Unknown, They SleepSalem's Forgotten Almshouse Burial GroundSalem is often celebrated for its...

Starting seeds indoors is a great way to get into gardening and can be a really rewarding and satisfying hobby. You also can do it fairly inexpensively, right in your own home, and enjoy the benefits for months. This post shares some tips and tricks for getting...

Of all the plants we are hoping to grow this year, onions have to be started the earliest and they became the first seeds sown for the 2021 OCHM Garden. We decided to grow onions because they were one of the earliest introduced crops to our area, first arriving here...

Sometimes the idea of planting seeds and growing a garden can be daunting—we get that! Do I have the right soil? How much light does a plant need? Am I watering too much? Too little? When do I start this type of seed? Why is my new plant dying?! So if reading a blog...

Shopping small this holiday season is a great way to support local businesses and find that perfect gift for  the history lover in your life. Salem is filled with shops, museums, and restaurants that all add to the city's unique and magical character. Here are...

 Shopping small this holiday season is a great way to support local businesses and find that perfect gift for the history lover in your life. Salem is filled with shops, museums, and restaurants that all add to the city's unique and magical character. Here are...

25 Carlton Street (Built c. 1803)MACRIS SAL.3296In June 2015, my then soon-to-be husband and I made the move from my childhood home on Cape Cod to the “Witch City.” At that point, I had been visiting Salem for eight years and like many, had fallen in love with the...

Materializing Race: An Unconference on Objects and Identity in #VastEarlyAmericaAugust 24 and 25, 20201 PM EST both days (Zoom)Proposals due by August 1, 2020Organized by Cynthia Chin and Philippe Halbert In a commitment to fostering nuanced interpretations of early...

Photograph in Charles Knowles Bolton, The Private Soldier Under Washington, New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1902, p. 162 and detail from The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, October 16, 1777, Yale University Art Gallery. The following post is a guest post...

7 Curtis Street, 1985 (MACRIS SAL.2569)Historic Salem, Inc. House History - 7 Curtis StreetHoratio B. Perry Gunsmith and his wife Sarah Ashton Built c. 1856The address of Seven Curtis Street is first listed in the city directory in 1857, when it was owned by Horatio...