Salem's Huizhou House, Rebuilt From China, 30 Minutes From Boston

Red's opens at 7 am inside the old London Coffee House building, serving Salem since 1945. Corned beef hash, omelettes, coffee, and staff who answer questions about town while plates leave the pass. Monday to Saturday the kitchen stops at 2 pm, Sunday at 1 pm, so breakfast comes before the museum, and the walk between the two doors is two minutes. Salem station is eight minutes on foot.

Yin Yu Tang sits inside the Peabody Essex Museum and is included with admission, but the house needs its own timed ticket, booked online or at the admissions desk; arrive without one and entry is not guaranteed. Timed audio tours run 11:15 am to 4:15 pm, Thursday to Monday, and the museum is open 10 am to 5 pm. Collect the free Mandarin or English audio guide ten minutes before, bring headphones, and be at the door five minutes early. Roof tiles and masonry walls are under repair, so scaffolding may be up and the house can close at short notice; it is closed from December 1 to 18.

The Huang family built this house in Huangcun, Anhui, and it stayed theirs for more than 200 years. Eight generations lived under its roof; at any one time as many as 30 people, nearly all women, children and elders, while the men traded in distant cities. Sixteen bedrooms, a central courtyard holding two fish ponds, and first-floor rooms that open through carved lattice windows onto the water. In the 1990s the house was taken apart, shipped to Massachusetts and rebuilt over seven years. Trains from North Station take about 30 minutes and cost 8 dollars one way, or 10 dollars for a weekend pass on Saturdays and Sundays.