The house was like a retired steampunk set designer’s dream. It was like Frankenstein’s Monster’s hobby shop workroom. Everything you can imagine from a Flash Gordon episode and Wild America were thrown in a blender and stuck on the wall. It was all sort of cool…in a strange way. I swear the ray gun on the ceiling actually worked. I think I saw a cat, but after I tripped over something and hit this button there was a screech and I never saw the cat again.

When we talked to the owners of the house, I think they mentioned they used to live in Salem MA, but they were asked to leave. That is saying something. If you are ever in the area, check them out. Hopefully, you get to stay longer than we did. My mother did not feel comfortable using the john with a stuffed bobcat holding a laser gun at her mounted on the wall.

The house is 10 minutes from downtown in the suburb of Swissvale in Mr. Arm’s and Velda Von Minx’s house. They have given tours to over 3,000 people since 2010. It is open by appointment only, unless someone needs the bathroom, and tours are donation based.

Visit at trundlemanor.com
Trundle Manor
7724 Juniata St
Pittsburgh, Pa, 15218

 ~Tyler

To find out more about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy Tyler’s latest book “Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida” on Amazon.com. Keep checking back often for great cheap vacation ideas that might end up surprising you and becoming the best vacation you ever had! Red proved to be always full of surprises…  

Watkins Glen State Park is in western New York, in the village of Watkins Glen, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. 
 ~Tyler

To find out more about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy Tyler’s latest book “Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida” on Amazon.com. Keep checking back often for great cheap vacation ideas that might end up surprising you and becoming the best vacation you ever had! Red proved to be always full of surprises…  

Benjamin Webb Jr. was a tavern keeper and Apothecary. He had an apothecary on Herbert and Essex Streets. His tavern was on the site of the Salem Five Bank on Essex Street. When William Gray bought the property, he tore down the tavern and it opened in a new location where the Bowker Block is now used as the Peabody Essex Museum’s offices on the corner of Liberty and Essex Streets. His son Jonathan continued the tavern in the new location. It was originally called the King’s Arm and after the Revolutionary War, it became the Sun Tavern. It was in this tavern that Richard Crowninshield Sr. insulted Joseph White upon their mutual loss of 3 ship in Naples at the removal of the Embargo Act he favored; this would cost his son his life in an elaborate murder plot implicating his son Richard in the murder of Joseph White for revenge of this insult. Richard Crowninshield Jr. was found hanging in his cell from a low window with his knees almost touching the ground, the jailers slit his throat to see if he was alive, and he died from exsanguination. This murder is the murder behind the Parker Brothers Clue.

His home here was at 98-100 Bridge Street. Later he would own the Sage-Webb-Wilkins House across from Daniels Street at 52 Essex Street. Both homes are connected to tunnels.

He was a member of the Salem Common Improvement Fund which disguised the tunnel project behind a large public work. They filled in 5 ponds and a river in the Common to hide tunnel dirt. He also was an incorporator with many of subscribers in the Merchant Bank and the Salem Savings Bank. John Hodges, also a subscriber, shared many ships with him and George Hodges marries his daughter Elizabeth. George Hodges was surveyor of the port of Salem from 1809 to 1817. The Custom House where he worked also has tunnels leading from it. The Hodges were the founders of the East India Marine Society who founded the Peabody Essex Museum. Every location the museum was in was connected to the tunnels as well.

Benjamin was a fireman who drove the engine Reliance which was housed at the corner of Hardy and Derby Streets.  His grandfather John Bray and his uncle Daniel Bray were also subscribers. The father was a shoemaker with his shop on Hardy opposite Essex Street. Bray was a consultant to the Salem Savings Bank.

Benjamin was connected in many ways…

Take a look at the tunnels:

You can see the Basement entrance from outside. At the time when the house was built, they had no use for an external entrance. These come later by taking the roof off the tunnel and putting a staircase to block the tunnel from entering the house. The idea was to use a hole in the foundation that exists already. You can see the long hall leading from that entrance which was part of the tunnel. The tunnel might have actually turned to the right across the back of the house also.

There was another entrance through the floor of what could have later been used as a place to store coal. The house was built prior to coal furnaces. In fact, only smugglers had full basement in Salem. You only needed a full basement after boilers were made. Also, later furnaces would utilize spots the tunnel was connected to. You can see the difference in brick between this spot and the rest of the foundation.

Keep coming back to find more tunnels in Salem and how this all shaped American history!

Also, read Salem Secret Underground: The History of the Tunnels in the City and Sub Rosa to get all the dirt that is under the streets of Salem available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com; and in Salem at Remeber Salem, Jolie Tea, The Witch House, and Artemesia Botanicals.

Above you can see the basement entrance converted from an old tunnel. These entrances were not historical and just utilized the entrance the tunnel used instead of poking a new hole in the foundation. For years I have been looking at elaborate sump holes in basements that were all brick lined and finished, this is the first one that proved there were tunnel entrances. You seen pictures of that as well above

For now check out Salem Secret Underground: The History of the Tunnels in the City which is in its third edition! Available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and your local booksellers. In Salem, it is available at Remember Salem, Jolie Tea, The Witch House, and Artemesia Botanaicals.

Its your favorite child travel adviser, Tyler,  once again bringing you the best in last minute vacations. Your road trip planner for the weekend getaway to the coolest and strangest places in America. How do I know about them all? My parents are contract workers in the software industry and keep moving the family every 6 months….

This was an interesting stop we had traveling in Pennsylvania. Near this spillway in Linesville is a horde of carp who are fed bread all day. Their school is so thick it has been rumored that ducks walk over them to steal the bread. This place was creepy, but amazing. I could only imagine if they were barracudas down there. If I had a little brother, I might of been tempted to see what happens if he fell in. Good thing I do not…

We threw in this Salvador Dali loaf of bread in. It took five of us to walk it to the water. All standing behind each other. We got it from Seaside Heights, NJ. That is another strange place I will never mention in this blog. When we threw it in the fish were jumping out of the water on top of the group and started squirming their way to get their lion share of it. It is amazing how when there is a huge surplus of food to see all of these fish still fight for it.

It is said the only thing in Pennsylvania that gets more visitors is the Liberty Bell. There was so many fish I wondered if this is how Jesus walked on water?

~Tyler

To find out more about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy Tyler’s latest book “Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida” on Amazon.com. It is now available in paperback at most bookstores. Ask for it by name.Keep checking back for great cheap vacation ideas that might become your best vacation ever!

Walter Crane (15 August 1845 – 14 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children’s book creators of his generation^[1] and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child’s nursery motif that the genre of English children’s illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the latter 19th century.

He was a fluent follower of the newer art movements and he came to study and appreciate the detailed senses of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and was also a diligent student of the renowned artist and critic John Ruskin. A set of coloured page designs to illustrate Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott” gained the approval of wood-engraver William James Linton to whom Walter Crane was apprenticed for three years in 1859–62. As a wood-engraver he had abundant opportunity for the minute study of the contemporary artists whose work passed through his hands, of Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, as well as Alice in Wonderland illustrator Sir John Tenniel and Frederick Sandys. He was a student who admired the masters of the Italian Renaissance, however he was more influenced by the Elgin marbles in the British Museum. A further and important element in the development of his talent was the study of Japanese colour-prints, the methods of which he imitated in a series of toy books, which started a new fashion.

Crane’s work featured some of the more colourful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children’s stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children’s books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international Socialist movement.

Gallery

For more info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Crane

~Cheers,
Chris

I took over the bank my father inherited from George Peabody. They plotted the creation of a third national bank to hand our economy to the British. They failed, but I succeeded in 1913 when I had the Federal Reserve created and in time stripped all species from it’s banking.

I am JP Morgan. My bank has been fined for creating the 2008 Financial Collapse. In fact starting in 1837 Peabody & Co.and JP Morgan & Co. (JP Morgan Chase) have been crashing the economy on purpose every 20 years and choosing which Banks get bailed out.

I am the man the Parker Brothers based Rich Uncle Pennybags on in their game Digg and Monopoly.  The man who founded my father’s bank was George Peabody who owned the railroad Boston & Maine bought and was a major investor in the B&O Railroad. For creating the 1837 Panic, Peabody passed Go and never went to jail. I followed his plan in 1907 and was praised for saving America. In 2013 my bank was fined for creating the 2008 Financial Crisis. They followed the same plan that has been happening every 20 years like clock work.

For more info read Sub Rosa to find out how Salem shaped America and your lives! Available at Remember Salem, Jolie Tea, Wicked Good Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com. Also to learn more stories like this first hand, book a tour with the Salem Smugglers’ Tour!

Salem House Press
http://www.salemhousepress.com

I first came to Salem to advise a rope maker on the advantages of hemp. Once in town I met John Quincy Adams and became his Secretary of State. Before that we settled the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 that was created in response for the First Bank of the United States loosing its charter which gave 70% of our treasury to the English. I also met Daniel Webster who was one of the Triumphant of senators with me. We plotted and got away with assassinating 3 presidents trying to make the third national bank after Jackson ended the Second National Bank of the United States in 1836 for giving 70% of our treasury to the English.

For more info read Sub Rosa to find out how Salem shaped America and your lives! Available at Remember Salem, Jolie Tea, Wicked Good Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com. Also to learn more stories like this first hand, book a tour with the Salem Smugglers’ Tour!

Salem House Press
http://www.salemhousepress.com

Hugh Peter’s Could of Kept his Head if he Stuck to this Church…

Hugh Peters was the fourth priest at the First Church. Peters may have been the first to propose the trial and execution of Charles I and was believed to have assisted at the beheading. This would loose him his head when Charles II regained the throne and executed him for regicide. Above is the building he would of preached in, on its third location where it was used by John Proctor’s son as a tavern and a horse stable. For it is safe to say the first church in America was full of horse shit.

This location is on the same property that John Proctor was hanged on just outside of the photo to the left.

Below are the tunnels under the original location of the First Church and the building above. These tunnels have been used in the filming of Robert Irvine’s new show for the Discovery Channel.

Movie scouts looking for Boston and North Shore locations to film; check out these tunnels! Visit the Salem Smugglers’ Tour to contact Chris Dowgin to make arrangements. Authors who want more information on the tunnels and Salem history are welcome to take the tour .

For more information on the tunnels read Salem Secret Underground: The History of the Tunnels in the City available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and other great booksellers like Wicked Good Books, Jolie Tea, The Witch House, and Remember Salem in town. Support local businesses!!!

Yep, my parents had moved me to another town again. Now I am in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. It was going to be really a cheesy move…but I found this awesome house. I got to meet the caretaker and now I go and play in this place ever day after school. It is the House on the Rock.

They say Jordan had a gift for the blarney. Many things in the house are exaggerated. Some are not original and others are. It was said Jordan would pay more for a good copy than an original just to keep people guessing.  I had a ball trying to guess which things were real and what were not. This house is the house the father from Big Fish dreamed of!

Here are some of the pictures of the boring stuff…

Now for the really Cool…

Now go check out the rest of their gallery. It will definitely make you smile!

Photo Gallery
http://www.thehouseontherock.com/HOTR_Attraction_PhotoGalleryShow.htm

House On the Rock site
http://www.thehouseontherock.com/

~Tyler

To find out more about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy Tyler’s latest book “Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida” on Amazon.com. It is now available in paperback at most bookstores. Ask for it by name. Keep checking back for great cheap vacation ideas that might become your best vacation ever!