2002: Birthday in Salem
Treasure Cities
Buried Treasures
First stop, conventionally enough: Salem City Hall. Where helpful functionaries could find no vital records on Wheelers in the period in question but who suggested I contact the pastor of a church in the Northlands neighborhood, where, as I’d already learned, OliverAndHannah had constructed and occupied a house with Hannah’s brother George Ashby.

Before giving up my downtown parking spot, I wandered through a few old graveyards, snapping Ashby stones as I stumbled across them. Then I consulted my map and learned that the public library was located on Essex Street. Paid for another parking spot, only to learn that the library sits at the other end of Essex Street, a couple of miles away.
A bit discouraged, but unwilling to waste the parking fee already disbursed, I continued wandering and came across the National Park Service’s Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Entered, enjoyed the museum displays despite their irrelevance to my immediate quest, and approached the (considerably) elder of two uniformed docent-types to ask about 1810-vintage street maps of Salem. He displayed a few, and I mentioned a couple of place names that I had encountered in the deeds to Oliver’s and George’s house. At which the younger docent startled to attention, introduced himself, and said that he was currently writing his master’s thesis on land use in that very neighborhood. His briefcase, retrieved from under the counter, yielded some amazing maps of Northland streets and property boundaries. I made copies.
Retrieved our Otto and drove out to the Northlands. Perused a lot of gravestones (many Ashby, no relevant Wheeler) in the neighboring North Cemetery, snapped a a few, and returned to where I’d parked, photographing the rather gritty neighborhood as I went.

Returned to Timbaloo and deciphered my Maritime friend’s maps. Best I can figure, I’d parked within fifty yards of the site of the Wheeler/Ashby homestead.

Talk about Providence! 		2539AshbyStonesew
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