(musings on our trip to the Bay State-Part II)
Salem, Massachusetts is northeast of Boston on the coast. The highlight of our trip there was the Peabody Essex Museum (pem.org). The museum has something for everyone, from Asian contemporary art to native American art to a natural history exhibit (with live bats). There is a snack bar and we took a museum tour break there to fortify ourselves. Our small family group only had time to sample some of the museum’s treasures. Here are a few photos:
Yin Yu Tang Home Outer Wall
This house was the familial home of the Huang family in Huang Cun, Anhui Province. It was built in the 1790s and was the home to eight generations. The name Yin Yu Tang means “The Hall of Plentiful Shelter.” It was last occupied in 1982. The whole house was dismantled and shipped to the U. S. as part of a “cultural exchange agreement.” About 40% of the objects inside belonged to the Huang family.
Kitchen Outside Courtyard
Image On Courtyard Wall
Interior Room
View Of Upstairs From Courtyard
Visitors can go upstairs and visit the rooms in the upper floor.
Interesting Chinese Statue In Hall Adjacent To The Old House
“Magic Crow” by Rick Bartow (2014) In The Native American Art Exhibit
“All The Flowers Are For Me”
Art projected on walls of museum room by artist Anila Quayyum Agha
Although I only took “mind photos”, one exhibit keeps coming back to me. A small room showing many examples of illustrations from the book Moby Dick. From early editions to comic books. One was a book of t-shirts, each illustrated with single lines from the novel. The exhibit is called: Draw Me Ishmael: The Book Arts of Moby Dick.
The creativity of artists never ceases to amuse me and fill me with hope.
Within walking distance of the Peabody Essex Museum is the historic Charter Street Cemetery. The oldest burying ground in the U. S. is what the brochure says, but that ignores the burying grounds of the Indigenous People….just saying…. There is the grave of a person who came over on the Mayflower and other early townspeople. Nearby are monument memorials to the victims of the 1692 Witch Trials.
All of these victim memorials had offerings of flowers, fruit, coins and other tokens. The victims are honored and remembered.
If you ask people what they think of when you mention Salem, Massachusetts, they are likely to say “The Salem Witch Trials.” There is a whole museum dedicated to this history and if I get back up there I will check it out. So many things to see, so little time.
This is a fitting place to end for today. Happy Halloween!
(Photos by B. McCreary)
Natural Musings 