Drive In
Salem Harbor, February.
Most mornings I park near the Custom House and walk toward the harbor.
In the summer the stretch between Pickering Wharf and the ferry fills up early. Tour groups. Witch hats. Lines outside the restaurants along the water.
In February it's quiet.
I live close enough to walk, but I usually drive down instead. It's cold and I hate the cold.
Custom House
The Custom House sits just above the waterfront on Derby Street.
Built in 1819, it once handled the paperwork for ships moving through Salem during the height of the city's trading days. At one point Salem was one of the wealthiest ports in the country.
Now the harbor outside is full of recreational boats and the Mahi Mahi cruising the waterfront.
The building is still there watching over it.
Derby Wharf
Derby Wharf runs straight out into Salem Harbor in a long line of granite.
Two hundred years ago this was one of the busiest places in the country. Ships left from here for ports most people in Salem had never seen. China. India. The Baltic.
Standing there in February it is hard to imagine.
The walk to the end is always longer than you think. But it is generally quiet with the exception of screeches from the gulls and the sound of water hitting the granite along the sides of the wharf.
At the end sits a small lighthouse. The light has been marking the harbor since 1871.
The Sail Loft
Near the base of the wharf sits the Pedrick Store House.
People just call it the sail loft.
The building dates to around 1770 and originally stood in Marblehead during the height of the cod trade. It was later dismantled and rebuilt beside Derby Wharf.
In winter the shingles turn almost black against the snow making it look older than everything around it. In Salem, that is saying something.
The Ferry Terminal
A little farther down the harbor sits the Salem ferry terminal.
For most of the year the place is busy. Boats running to Boston. Tourists stepping off the ferry and looking around like they just discovered Salem. Some head toward the restaurants along Pickering Wharf. Others stop at The Landing if it is open. In the summer there is usually a line forming for the tiki boat or one of the schooners working the harbor.
In winter the ferry stops running.
The crowds disappear with it.
The parking lot sits empty except during a snowstorm, when people move their cars off the street before the plows come through. Salem is old and the roads are narrow, there is no where to put the snow and generally no where to park your car.
Winter Island
Beyond the ferry the harbor opens up toward Winter Island.
At the entrance to the harbor sits Fort Pickering Light. The light dates to 1871 and marks the channel where Salem Harbor opens toward Baker's Island and the Misery Islands.
Just behind it is Fort Pickering. The site goes back to the Revolutionary War when Salem needed coastal defenses to protect the harbor. The island was used again during World War II as part of the harbor's coastal defense system.
For a period in the early twentieth century the island also served as a seaplane base. Aircraft used the harbor as a runway and tied up along the shoreline.
In the summer the island fills up. Campers along the water. People fishing from the rocks. Sailboats moving through the channel.
The winter is a different story.
Many days the only activity comes from birdwatchers along the shoreline.
Occasionally the large offshore wind installation vessel comes into the harbor and suddenly everything else feels small.
But in the winter it is just the harbor again.
