Essex Street is Salem's main commercial thoroughfare and its pedestrianised section forms the tourist spine of the city. On any given day in October it is thick with costumed visitors, ghost tour operators, and street performers; in summer and early autumn it's busy but navigable. The street is lined with witch-themed shops, independent restaurants, and a few genuinely good galleries and boutiques.
The historic buildings on either side are worth looking at when the crowds thin: the First Church in Salem at one end, the Crowninshield-Bentley House, the Witch History Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum just off the pedestrian stretch. The downtown Salem District, of which Essex Street is the heart, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its concentration of Federal and Greek Revival commercial architecture. Even through the seasonal commercialisation, the bones of a remarkable 18th-century town are visible.