Pickering Wharf Rat

Black text on a hot pink background

Pickering Wharf, located in Salem, Massachusetts, is a popular tourist destination full of restaurants, retail stores, and a marina. The wharf was constructed between 1977-1979 as a recreation of an 18th-century shopping village and pays homage to Salem’s maritime history. So-called “ship rats” historically stowed away on cargo ships and boats around the world. English-born Puritan Roger Conant founded and colonized Salem. He arrived by boat in 1625 and undoubtedly brought rats on his ship.

Thus, the slogan on this pin: “Pickering Wharf Rat.” The visitors to the wharf, then, were honorary rats, a humorous way to remember the rats that stowed away on cargo ships and made homes at the seaports to which they arrived. The slogn "Pickering Wharf Rat" likely comes from a now-closed restaurant called Victoria's Station; on the menu were appetizers such as "Wharf Rat Ale Battered Artichoke Hearts." The restaurant sold much merchandise including pins, t-shirts, mugs, and ale glasses.