LocationsMassachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Winter Island
A peninsula at the mouth of Salem Harbour with a lighthouse on the end of it, the earthworks of a fort begun in 1643, two beaches and a path running the length of the west side above Cat Cove.
Researched from this park's own sources. Nobody's walked it yet.
Read this bit out
The fort here was started in 1643. Not the building — the shape of the ground. Somebody piled up earth into banks that made it hard to attack from the water, and those banks are still the shape they were made, nearly four hundred years later. Everything else has come and gone: guns, buildings, a Coast Guard station, aeroplanes. The earth somebody moved by hand in 1643 is still exactly where they put it.
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 at 50 Winter Island Road. Salem runs a parking sticker scheme for its recreation areas, so check the city's page for what a visitor pays before you drive over.
- Underfoot
- A 54-acre peninsula with beaches, a boat ramp and a pier. An accessible multi-use path runs along the west side above Cat Cove.
- Stroller
- A stroller works on some of it.
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 Lighthouse
Get to where you can see the lighthouse properly, out at the end.
A few of the others
The Shape Of The Fort
Find the banks of earth the fort was built from. Walk along the top of one.
With The Light Behind Us
One photo of everybody with the lighthouse behind you.
Out Across The Harbour
One photo looking out at the water with as much harbour in it as you can get.
Their Turn
Hand the phone to the youngest. They take one picture of whatever they want.
Older Than Almost Everything
This fort was begun in 1643. Work out how many years ago that was, and what else was happening.
Why Build It Here?
Stand on the earthworks and work out what the people who built them were watching for.
The rest are a surprise — that's the whole point.
Play this at Winter Island
Free. Works with no signal once you're there.