Trip to Salem National Park

1) Share information you learned about Salem from the NPS from your reading, from your fellow peers teaching you, from the ranger, and from the place itself.

This past Monday, our class took a trip to the Salem National Park on Derby St. Our ranger was able to teach us about the many different components that made up Salem back in the day, such as the Polish Immigration wave, the Maritime trade, and the middle class. The reading I had to do involved the Maritime trade and how vital it was the Salem's economy at the time since Salem had little to no agricultural land. The two other groups in my class were able to teach me about the Polish immigration wave and the custom officers/international trade.

4. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/maritime/commerce.htm

5.

A. I think it always cool to be in old and preserved houses such as the Narbonne home. It is amazing to think that hundreds of years ago in that same spot, technology and way of life in general was so much different than what it is today. 

B. By going into the different old homes and structures and seeing the actual artifacts that have been preserved or dug up added to the feel of what life was the centuries ago. Our knowledgeable park ranger was very helpful in giving me a vision of how trade, maritime, and life was years ago.

6. The only question I had is what the red line I seen around downtown Salem is. Where does it lead to??

Option 1:

 If you did the homework on Monday before Jim and Kylie came, how and in what ways did preparing help make the talks more interesting?  Did it help? 

The homework allowed me to learn some information about Jim, more so then Kylie. I learned some of his background before he came in to talk to us and his contributions to Salem. Overall, the homework prepared me more for Jim than Kylie.

What meaning did the speakers have for you personally and your sense of place and beginning college?  What made the speakers effective?  What could have been better?

For Jim, he talked about his personal experiences and how he made his connections around town which was cool. I liked how he told us stories about the different friends he made and how many people became family to him. For Kylie, it was interesting to hear what Salem is like from her point of view, but I thought it was difficult to hear her at times. 

Last, how did it impact your engagement?  Also, what did you rate yourself as far as engaging with our resource experiences?  1-5 1 being totally engaged and 5 not, and explain your rating.

Jim I rate him a 5 since I found him more engaging. I thought his stories and him telling us about his life experiences made him personable. 
Kylie I rate 3.5. I understood most of what she was saying, but she seemed hard to follow at times. 

Sense of Place and Story

On Monday we had Jim come in and talk to us about his time and life here in Salem. I learned about how he moved up to Salem to go to SSU and how he began to get to know everyone in town which was interesting. He told us about Red's Sandwich shop and its reputation and legacy in Salem.

Someone asked the location of Red's which I would have looked up on google, but the directions he gave were simple to understand, so now I don't need to look it up.







I learned what Derby Street was (were he lived for awhile) and how it is like Salem's second main street.


US Customs House, 178 Derby Street in 1818
Photograph courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum
http://www.salemweb.com/guide/arch/ddistrict.php