I had a little time on my hands on Saturday so I decided to head north to Salem, Massachusetts and visit my favorite shop, Sophia's.
As you can see, the shop was named after Sophia Hawthorne, wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The shop is across the street from Salem's Hawthorne Hotel.
Shop owner Marie was not in but her cousin Melissa was and we had a nice conversation about the shop and the items they carry. They have amazingly beautiful displays throughout the shop. I appreciated the opportunity to photograph them.
These bottles hold dusting silk. Doesn't that sound luxurious? I absolutely love these bottles and thought they looked great as a grouping.
I do love bath products and these jars were lovely too. These would be pretty on a vanity.
More bottles, so pretty displayed in the window.
A decorated bird cage. According to Melissa, Marie loves birds and she has a lot of bird themed items in the shop. She had tassels made of antique salt shakers hanging from the cage. They were really cool. I did not get a shot of them, sorry!
What a sweet face on this doll.
What a wonderful work of art on this screen. It was stunning in person. I love those albums and scrapbooks in front of the screen.
Melissa told me the story of this hat. Marie made this hat for the President of Salem State College who was going to be in Ireland on St Patrick's Day for an important meeting. The woman wanted to portray Salem but with an Irish feel, Marie designed this hat for her.
Marie also designed witches hats for a bride and her bridesmaids. The bride was getting married on Halloween so she got a white witches hat and the bridesmaids wore black hats.
This shop is so elegant, chandeliers hang from an old tin ceiling.
I mentioned I love bath products. These soaps smelled heavenly and yes I bought one. The scent is blackberry and currant and it has a nice not too sweet fragrance. No wonder I was drawn to this, the soaps were displayed on a tiered tea server!
This display of fine writing papers included a teacup.
A very fashionable dress form. There were several decorated dress forms in the shop.
More pretty perfume bottles.
Alice in Wonderland looks out the window.
If there's a cat, you know I'm going to snap a photo of it.
Fabulous colors on the earrings and isn't that an interesting holder?
Ooh, la, la, love this one too!
After my shopping excursion, I headed home and got ready for the evening's activities.
Last night, my sister and I went to the Stoneham Theatre to see the production of Gaslight. Based on the 1944 movie of the same name, the play was about a Victorian husband who is trying to make his wife think she is going mad. The movie starred Ingrid Bergman. All of the actors in the play were excellent and the costumes and set design were wonderful. Most of the dialogue was between the husband and wife. I was impressed by the actors' ability to flawlessly deliver their lines. I know that's their job but there was so much dialogue between the two characters. They made it seem effortless.
I had a fun filled Saturday. I highly recommend a visit to Sophia's if you travel to Salem and when in Stoneham, check out the Stoneham Theatre. They put on some great productions.
