Taking a Look at Massachusetts

Battle Green in Lexington is also known as Lexington Green. This is supposedly where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired in 1775. Once a year on the anniversary of this event re-enactments take place here.

You can see a Minuteman statue with the words of Captain Parker that were said before the battle “if they meant to have war, let it begin here”.

Visitors can follow along the route taken by the British as they marched from Boston. Battle Road is now a part of the Minute Man National Historical Park.

It includes the North Bridge in Concord, where the Colonials battled with the British.

At North Bridge Visitor Center you can see artifacts. Uniforms, and a historical film. At the end of the bridge is Daniel Chester French’s famous Minuteman statue.

Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth is a living museum that explores the lives of the Colonial Americans and what their daily lives were like in the first New England settlement by Pilgrims in 1620. You can see actors in costume recreating a series of 17th-century tasks like building, gardening, and military exercises. The museum also gives you a look into the lives of Native Americans in the area at the Hobbamock Homesite exhibit.

Here you can see a re-creation of a Wampanoag Village. There is also the full-scale reproduction of the Mayflower, Mayflower II at Plymouth Pier. Plimoth Plantation can be a day trip from Boston.

Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge lets you take a look at life in the past centuries in New England. It shows the early 19th century with homes, mills, farms, and shops. It is one of the state’s most visited tourist attractions. It recreates life in the early 1800s with over 40 historical homes. Costumed interpreters demonstrate daily tasks that were done by farmers, blacksmiths, housewives, and craftspeople. Children can enjoy hands-on activities. You can visit a working farm that demonstrates early farming and gardening with livestock and heirloom plant varieties. Two operating mills use water power to process wood and saw timber for buildings.

Tanglewood is the place for music lovers especially in the summer months. It is located in Lenox and offers a wide range of musical entertainment from symphony orchestras to solo performances given by world-class musicians as well as student groups. It is home to festivals and events throughout the year. This is where you’ll find the Boston Symphony Orchestra during the summertime. The whole family will enjoy Free Fun Fridays and you can sit in on Saturday mornings rehearsals with a reserved ticket.

The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge honors one of the most well-known and best-loved artists in the U.S. The museum houses the largest collection of Rockwell’s work in the world. The artist lived and painted in the Berkshires for the last 25 years of his life. Some of the highlights of the collection are his Saturday Evening Post covers, the Four Freedoms, and Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas.

In Deerfield, the preserved homes tell the story of its history in the Federal and Colonial Periods. You’ll find 14 historic homes here as well as several galleries and museums with more than 27,000 artifacts.

The Helen Geier Textile Gallery is a wonderful place to see what early settlers wore. There are demonstrations of crafts and cookers throughout the year.

The 1824 Federal Wright House has a wonderful collection of Chippendale furniture.

The Asa Stebbins House has a unique arched doorway and an amazing collection of wall coverings.

Worchester Art Museum in Worchester is considered to be one of the finest mid-sized museums of the century. Here you can see 50 centuries of the world’s antiquities, paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, decorative arts, arms, and armor. Since 2018 there is an interactive art installation with brilliant lights and colors.

It was in 1964 that the citizens of Massachusetts including more than 6000 school children came together to save the battleship USS Massachusetts from being scrapped. The ship was brought to the waterfront of the historic Fall River. She was made the official WW II Memorial for the Commonwealth and opened as a public museum. Here you can also see the destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., the submarine Lionfish, Pt 617 and PT 796, and the Soviet-built missile corvette Hideensee. All of these form the largest collection of historic naval ships in the world.

Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon is an amazing zoo with a carousel, a rainforest maze, a Skyari sky ride, a Woodland Express train ride, pony and camel rides and so much more. You can see animals like lemurs and lions, snakes and sloths. You can feed parakeets in the aviary or deer in the 35-acre deer forest, get up close to pygmy goats in the petting zoo, feed a giraffe, or enjoy live-animal presentations and educational exhibits.

Quincy is a great place to take a look at. You can visit the birthplaces of two presidents at Adams National Historical Park – the 2nd U.S. President John Adams and the 6th U.S. President John Quincy Adams.

Enjoy nature at the Blue Hill Reservation with paved and unpaved hiking paths and biking trails offering spectacular views. All around the city, there are places for golfing or tennis, you can charter a fishing boat or fish off of the pier. There are many wonderful ponds and rivers and the ocean to swim in.

The Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth is a wonderful place to visit. You can learn about pirate history. This is an interactive science museum where you can see, touch, and have a great hands-on experience. You can see the authenticated pirate treasure discovered in 1984 off the coast of Wellfleet. The Whydah was a fully-rigged British ship that journeyed between Africa, the Caribbean, and Great Britain.

DeCordova Sculpture Park & Museum is located in Lincoln. You can see contemporary art and sculpture. There are lawns and copses of woodlands. Many exhibits are also in the indoor space. There are year-round activities offered like snowshoe tours, outdoor yoga, nature tours, artist conversations, and screenings.

Holyoke Heritage State Park in Holyoke is a compact city park sitting at the edge of the Connecticut River. It is a park for carousel lovers with a handmade carousel dating from the early 1900s. Within the park, you'll find the Children’s Museum and the Volleyball Hall of Fame. It is a great place to relax or have a picnic overlooking Holyoke’s three canals and a row of historic mill buildings.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston is a wonderful place where visitors can have a walking garden tour every Sunday. There are camellias in the Limonaia, subtropical plants in the Orangerie, and the beauty of berries and bark in the Winter Garden. On weekends from 10 AM to 2 PM, people can bring their dogs to walk the dog walking trail.

New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park - The New England whaling industry ended about 1900 but the stories live on. At the park, you can learn all about the whaling industry in the very streets and buildings where ships once departed. You can stroll the cobblestone streets and see the world’s largest whaling museum, a merchant’s home, a chapel for whale men, and a 10th-century schooner.

Ventford Hall in Lenox is an impressive Jacobean Revival-style mansion. It was the home of J.P. Morgan. He built the house for his kid sister in 1893. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been declared an official project of “Save America’s Treasures”. Visitors can tour the home, take a look at the art gallery, or just walk about.

Seven Arrows Farm in Seekonk offers visitors a look at all the plants and gardens. There is an herb shop. You can visit with the chickens and goats and ask the staff for information. If you like you can relax and read in the farm’s library or in the sunny tea room. It is open year-round.

Bash Bish Falls is the most-photographed waterfall in Massachusetts. The waterfall tumbles through gorges and a hemlock ravine forest then drops about 60 feet into a sparkling pool. It is right next door to Mount Washington State Forest which adjoins Taconic State Park in New York.

Garden in the Woods in Framingham is the botanic garden of the New England Wild Flower Society. There are fifteen hundred native plants, paths to walk under a canopy of trees past a pond, a wooded bog, springs, and a brook. You can come to just enjoy or take a guided tour. You can also come to enjoy a picnic. For gardening needs, there is the Garden Shop. You can take a look at the family programs offered.

The Bridge of Flowers is an old railroad bridge in Shelburne Falls that was revamped by gardeners. It spans the Deerfield River, connecting the towns of Shelburne and Buckland. It is now draped in living gardens of flowers, shrubs, and trees. You can walk through the lovely garden above a rushing river with a beautiful town on the side.

Patriot Place in Foxboro includes Gillette Stadium which is home to the New England Patriots football team. At the property, you can shop, dine, and find places for entertainment. There is also a state-of-the-art museum dedicated to the Patriots.