32 of New England’s Best Historical Halloween Events

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[jpshare]You can stuff your face with candy on Halloween, or you can stuff your face with candy and do something interesting on Halloween. The New England Historical Society has 32 ideas for you (Click here to download).

We looked long and hard to find Halloween events for history lovers, and we came up with some good ones. We chose the best walking tours in New England’s biggest cities. We went off the beaten path to find fascinating presentations of local history with a Halloween spin. We cut through the crowds in Salem, Mass., to bring you the best interpretations of the Witch City’s storied past.

On Massachusetts’ South Shore, we learned the John Alden House (yes, that John Alden), is open for a house tour on Oct. 19. The house has been in the same family since John Alden was granted the property in 1620, and the house still doesn’t have plumbing, electrical or a modern kitchen.

In Portland, the oldest house on the peninsula is open for a visit. It was the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the author of “Haunted Houses.” In Western Massachusetts, author Edith Wharton’s mansion is the setting for a ghost tour. Vampires are definitely hip this year, with several scholarly presentations about New England’s 19th century vampire panic (hint: it had to do with tuberculosis).

Entire historic villages are open for All Hallow’s Eve, from Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire to the Falmouth Museums on the Green on Cape Cod.

Halloween history can be as recent as the last century. The Steel Yard in Providence will stage its annual iron pouring, a technique that goes back to the Iron Age but dwindled in America with the loss of manufacturing.

For all you history lovers out there, the New England Historical Society has found something for you this October. Click here for your guide to the 32 best historical Halloween events in New England.