LocationsMassachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem Willows
Twenty-five acres of coastline at the top of Salem Neck, a park since 1888, long and narrow and lined the whole way with the willow trees it is named for.
Researched from this park's own sources. Nobody's walked it yet.
Read this bit out
This has been a park since 1888. That is a strange thing about a piece of ground — somebody decided, before your great-great-grandparents were born, that this particular stretch of coast should belong to everybody instead of to anybody. The willows were planted. The path along the water was made. And it has just gone on being a park ever since, while nearly everything else around it changed.
One of your three free places, or the Explorer Pass. What that costs
Before you go
- Time there
- Plan on about an hour and a half at the park.
- Parking
- The park is on Fort Avenue at the top of Salem Neck. Salem runs a parking sticker scheme for its recreation areas, so check the city's page for what a visitor pays.
- Underfoot
- Long, narrow and flat, running along the coastline, with a pier at one end and an avenue of old trees down the middle.
- Stroller
- A stroller is fine here.
22 challenges written for this place
A game deals seven to fifteen of them, so no two visits are alike.
Every game includes this one
Find The Willows
This park is named after its trees. Find one and stand under it.
A few of the others
Out On The Pier
Walk out along the pier as far as you are allowed.
Down The Avenue
One photo looking straight down the line of old trees.
With The Sea Behind
One photo of everybody with the water behind you.
Their Turn
Hand the phone to the youngest. They take one picture of whatever they want.
A Park Since 1888
This has been a park since 1888. Work out how many years that is, and how many great-grandparents ago.
Somebody Planted These
These trees did not choose to grow in a line. Work out how long ago somebody put them there.
The rest are a surprise — that's the whole point.
Play this at Salem Willows
Free. Works with no signal once you're there.