My first week at the park was one of the busiest weeks of my life, but it was all worth it. Salem Maritime National Historical Site contains twelve historical sites, all of them with individual stories that ties global connections from the Colonial period. Since the start of Covid, many of the sites have been closed down, and tours have been discontinued but are now reopening!!! With these types of restrictions, I was still able to explore and get personal tours with park rangers in the Custom house, Derby house, Saugus Iron Works, and the Friendship. Visiting these areas opens up a time travel capsule, as seeing historical features allows you to imagine yourself in that period of time.  Getting to explore these preserved sites with rich history waiting to be discovered allows me to explore my element of curiosity. I have been given exclusive access to documents and resources to better my understanding of what history has taken place in Salem, which assists me abundantly when I am giving tours in The Derby house and running the activity cart on the Wharf. I’ve even been given my own keys and codes to unlock, set-up and alarm locations. Saugus Iron Works is a completely different atmosphere with reconstructed blast furnace forge and water mills. This area of the iron industry is surrounded in a rich natural environment habitable for animals.

All in all, I am encouraged to discover Salem with all its museums, tours and just to explore and adventure everything it has to offer. In my opinion, one the best way to learn is allowing you to experience and observe, which is better than reading a book. One of the newest challenges I am introduced to is networking and setting meetings with people to engage with different departments to help produce my projects.  All the interactions with park members helps me engage in different fields of their knowledge and expertise.

With the recent opening of the Derby House, I provide tours to the visitors while learning interesting facts. For instance, did you know green paint on your walls in the 1700s signified you were wealthy? The green paint was obtained by dipping copper into it to allowing change in pigmentation. In that time period, copper was expensive. Or that Elias Derby never sailed in his ships because he was born with two color eyes, which was a bad omen?