Date Of Visit: July 14, 2018

Location: Salem, MA (about 30 minutes northeast of Boston, MA)

Hours: The doors are able to be viewed all day

Cost: Free

Handicapped Accessible: Yes

Dog Friendly: Yes

Websites: Fairy Door Trail

Fairy Door Trail Map

Highlights: Trail of fairy doors hidden in a variety of stores in the downtown Salem area

Tips:

• the Fairy door trail exhibit is expected to continue all year long
• if a business is not open when you come to look at the door, they are supposed to post it in an area that is visible to people walking past the store can view it

There are some new doors in Salem.  Really, really tiny doors.

Hosted by the Witch’s Education League, the fairy door trail is a family friendly trail door hunt.  Every door in the trail is able to be viewed at all of the stores on the map, even when the stores are closed.  The stores are supposed to show of the doors by a window when they are closed so people can still see them.  Everyone is allowed to look for and photograph the doors.  But don’t expect the workers at the stores to help you.  You’re supposed to find them yourself.  You may get a “warm” or “cold” from some of the people working at the stores.

As an example of how well the doors are often hidden, can you find the door here in these photos?

Okay, in retrospect, some of them stand out.  But, considering you have to look throughout the store for them, they can be hard to find sometimes.  I love walking through these stores, especially since many of the wares being sold were made by Salem residents or people who live in the Salem area.  They have such are so quaint and different, even while Salem seems to become less quaint with each passing year.

Don’t be like me and look for doors attached to trees, buildings or some other structure.  I spent a good half hour doing this while people gave me a sideways look.  No, these doors are not actual doors.  They are artistic renditions of doors located inside the stores of certain merchants throughout Salem.

The 14 doors were made by 6 different artists:  Kendra D’Angora, Hope Hitchcock, Meghan Kalgren, Jane Kelly, Harry Lancaster, Kosat Pslakis.

I am posting the doors in the order they are listed on the attached map.  But, you do not have to look for them in any particular order and it may be best look for them by location rather than the way they are numbered on the map.

Keep in mind the map I have attached from the official website for the event is not accurate to the map I used when I went to visit.  There isn’t a fairy door at The Hawthorne Hotel (instead I have replaced that listing with The Witch & Fairy Emporium at number 5 which is the one on the handout I received).  Also, the fairy door listed as being at The Happy Sunflower is actually at The Happy Home which is located across the street.  I have done my best to match up the doors with the listing on the map I attached while making the corrections as needed.

1.

The first door is located at The Witch House.  It was made by Harry Lancaster.

2.

The next fairy door is located at The Marble Faun Books & Gifts.  It was made by Marcia Nickerson.

3.

Kosta Psalikis made this door located at Freaky Elegant.

4.

This door, which is located at Maria’s Sweet Somethings, was made by Marcia Nickerson.

5.

The Witch & Fairy Emporium in the Museum Mall is host to this door by Jane Kelly.

6.

The Happy Home is home to this Fairy door made by Marcia Nickerson.  It is listed as being at the Happy Sunflower in the original map.  But, it was actually located at the Happy Home during my visit.

7.

This door, made by Marcia Nickerson, is on display at one of my favorite shops along the trail; Enchanted.

8.

Yet another door by Marcia Nickerson, this door can be found at Circle Of Stitches.

9.

Harry Lancaster made this door located at The Coven’s Cottage.  Just as fyi, they do not allow photography at the Coven’s Cottage usually.  But, they do allow people to photograph the fairy door.

10.

This door is located at The Cauldron Black.  It was made by Meghan Kaldron.

11.

Witch Pix,located at the Museum Mall Palace, has this cute door made by Hope Hitchcock.

12.

Harry Lancaster made this door which is located at the Derby Country Store.

13.

This door, which is a little hard to see but is located behind the goblin or troll like figure, is located at The Salem Witch Museum.  It was made by Marcia Nickerson.

14.

This door by Kendra D’Angora is located at Modern Millie.

15.

This door, which was made by Kendra D’Angora, can be found at The Witchery.

16.

Meghan Kalgren stands by her fairy door at Artemisia Botanicals.

There were also faeries out and about to help the kids (big and small) find the doors.  As an aside, there are fairies and then there are faeries.  Stop by my friend Joey’s and her faerie friends website at Moonrise Fae.

The dogs in Salem were busy looking for the fairy door trails as well.

Sammy is a 3 year old Pitbull

Cocoa, a 4 month old Chocolate Pomeranian, showed off her pretty flower.

 

Fenway is a 2 year old Rat Terrier and Heeler mixed breed.

Sweet Pea is a 2 to 4 year old Dashalier (Dachshund, Cavalier mix).

Fiona is a 13 week old Golden Retriever.

These two Golden Retrievers (from left to right) Lynes (pronounced “Li-nus”) 8 years old and Charley 1 year old shared a bowl of water.  They drank it all too!  They are father and son.

I also have posted some photos from a couple of my favorite shops on my Facebook page. There are so many awesome little shops along the trail and to be honest I could photograph all of them.  But, I just focused on two for this particular visit.  Maybe next time I will photograph some other shops.  So stop by my page to see a few of the shops I stopped by and give my page a like if you want to see more like that!