Halifax is a small town and there are no hotels or motels in the area. However, with your Halifax car rental you can stay near Halifax and enjoy it only a short distance away.

Visiting New England

Plymouth County is where many of the first Europeans to settle in New England chose to make their homes. Towns such as Plymouth, Salem, and Boston were founded by the Pilgrims and Puritans who chose to leave England for a better life without religious persecution in a new land. A century later, the area became known as the "cradle of liberty" for revolutionaries who wanted to separate from the British Crown and establish their own country.

One of the interesting things you may notice as you drive through with your Halifax car rental is that Massachusetts is often referred to as a Commonwealth rather than a state. This designation is part of the official name and goes back to when it was part of the British colony, but the term is here used interchangeable with the word "state" (unlike other countries that are part of the Commonwealth such as Canada and Australia). The term here has no political implications, as Massachusetts is the same as all of the other states in the Union.

There are many interesting locations to visit within the state, only a short drive away with your Halifax car rental. One of the most interesting periods in the state's history was the Salem Witch Trial, which began in 1692. If you travel to Salem with your Halifax car rental you will learn more about this interesting time when factional infighting and Puritan witch hysteria lead to the execution of 20 people, mostly women.

Increasing families created disputes over land in the area with neighbors and with families at a time when agriculture was very important to life in the United States. The Puritans, who came here to build a theocracy, added to the tension because they believed that any bad luck was due to the wrath of God. As your fate with God was determined from birth, people would try to read signs of whether you would ultimately end up in heaven or hell when you died. The small town atmosphere was present: people would gossip about their neighbors, and that would become fact.

In 1692, two girls fell victim of what was called "beyond the power of Epileptic fits or natural disease to effect" according to one minister. One doctor who could not explain what was happening claimed the girls were bewitched, and other in the village began to show the same signs. The girls were said to be affected by a woman named Tituba, who was present with them one winter. The first three women who were accused were targets of the people: Tituba was not a Puritan, Sarah Good was a beggar and did not attend church, and Sarah Osborne was an old woman marked for marrying her servant. No one would stand up for these women, and they were accused of witchcraft.

To find out more about what happens in this story that is almost like a tale, visit Salem with your Halifax car rental and see the sites.