Salem, MA: Daughters of Darkness Night Market

This past weekend, two of my girlfriends and I visited Salem for the exclusive purpose of attending the Daughters of Darkness Night Market at the Hawthorne Hotel. I want to tell you about the Night Market because it was fantastic and plans are already in the works for another one for next year. I want to make sure you have this in your sights - no date for 2020 has been announced yet. Head over to the Daughters of Darkness Festival page on Facebook so that you'll get updates when the next market or event is posted.

We waited too long to book a room at the Hawthorne Hotel (sold out!) so I jumped on Airbnb and found a wonderful listing that had a third floor (attic) apartment in a historic house just blocks for the Witch House and the Night Market. It was clean, bright, and very comfortable. We were able to park our cars off the street and walk everywhere. 

Before the Market, which started at 5pm, we made a stop at Rockafella's for a cocktail that turned into two because it was so delicious. We were drinking their Rosemary Gin Fizz and now I need to try to recreate the recipe.  We figured the rosemary would be good for protection if we needed it and dropped the sprigs into our purses. (Jess later put her's under her pillow that night.)

Giddy with excitement we walked over to the hotel to be confronted with a line that wrapped the building! Fortunately it moved fairly quickly because it was windy and a bit cold.  Once we made it into the warm and elegant lobby, we paid our $5 admission fee which was going to charity and were greeted with THREE floors of vendors. The place was packed with people, but you were still able to make your way to all of the vendors. Fortunately there was a bar on every floor in case you needed a little refreshment. There were so many great vendors- several of whom I've featured on the blog- it was hard to choose what to buy. I collected lots of business cards and made my purchases with a cocktail in one hand.

Of course the next morning, we made the almost required visit to the Witch House for a picture or two. It's a bit shocking when you first see it, because most photos would have you believe it's located on a quiet neighborhood street. Not the case at all as you can see the "reality" picture. Sorry to burst your bubble if you didn't know that already.

It was a beautiful morning so we also walked around Broad Street Cemetery (they're about to do some major restoration there so it may be closed for a bit soon.)

After pictures we headed to another sponsored event which was a Death Café where there was a panel of women whose work focused on death. It was a question and answer kind of session and interesting. The shop it was hosted in, Hive and Forge, is worth a visit and they even had a donut vendor on site. Speakeasy Donuts had a coffin donut with my name on it.

It was a wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it again next year. I thought it was much nicer visiting Salem outside of October when the crowds can be overwhelming. You can visit shops and restaurants without long waits and the cemetery was nearly empty.

This week I'll be featuring the vendors where I made purchases. Stay-tuned for more!