On a cool, crisp Wednesday in November, the juniors got to take a field trip to Salem. After the hour-long bus ride, we made it to the House of Seven Gables which initially housed the Turner family back in the mid-1700s. This mansion overlooks Salem Harbor, showcasing many beautiful views from the windows. 

The first part of the field trip was a tour of the House of Seven Gables. The interior was just like how it was back during the 1700s with similar paint colors and furniture. The craziest part was how low the ceilings were. As someone who isn’t short, I found myself having to duck to get through a few of the doorways and having to walk sideways through the narrow doorways, too. During the tour, we also got to learn more about the history behind the house. My favorite part was when we got to walk up a secret staircase which was behind a secret door in one of the closets. The staircase had a very low ceiling and was very steep and narrow. As each step creaked, I almost felt like I, or one of my classmates, were going to fall right through it. Thankfully, however, we all made it up safely. 

After our tour, we got to see the harbor from the House of Seven Gables’ grounds. The water was a crystal-clear blue, and we could see all of the boulders that were at the ocean’s floor. To our left, there was a long dock with many boats parked at it, too. Behind us, there was a garden which was right next to the house. 

After eating lunch overlooking the beautiful view, we began our journey back to Montrose. Due to the nationwide bus shortage, we had to head back to Montrose early and hang out in Medfield, instead of in Salem. However, once we returned, we were given the freedom to go to Starbucks, Dunkin, Brothers, etc. Personally, I took on the crazy task of hitting all three of those stops in the twenty minutes that we had as I just couldn’t decide what I wanted. I don’t even know how it was possible, but I went all the way from Montrose to Dunkin, then to Brothers, and then to Starbucks, all in twenty minutes. It took a lot of power-walking, and even some jogging, but it happened. For the rest of what was left of the school day, we got to all hang out at a park area near Starbucks. Overall, it was a very fun day… we got to see some beautiful scenery, learn about the history behind one of the books that we’ve read this year, The Scarlet Letter, and we got to get out of classes for the day! 

Kristina Klauzinski, Co- Sports Editor

kklauzinski@montroseschool.org