The thing about Mass that still amazes me is that I can drive about 60-90 minutes and be in 5 different states! So, we have had a blast exploring this little corner of the country, and I want to share all of our amazing road trips. Most of these are day trips, though you can probably spend a whole weekend or a week exploring any of these areas. I started this blog thinking I could cover all 6 states in New England but quickly realized that Massachusetts deserves its own post.
Massachusetts
Farms
Massachusetts
Farms
- Drumlin Farm (Lincoln) - this is a part of the Mass Audobon, so we had gotten a membership. I remember the kids really liking the digging part and seeing all the animals on a live working farm!
- Tougas Family Farm (Northborough) - we've picked white peaches, blackberries, and cherries here. It is one of my favorites and never disappoints! (UPDATE: August 2022, we stopped in for pick your own peaches at 2:30 but they had shut down at 2 pm for the day. Sad.)
- Russell Orchards (Ipswich) - get the apple cider donuts here - the best, especially if it's fresh from the fryer! This is a really nice orchard. They also have a vineyard and their own wine tasting on certain days.
- Honey Pot Hill (Stow) - this is a favorite for school field trips, since it's pretty close to town. So it's often overrun with school groups. Avoid it on holidays and weekends. Otherwise, it's a fantastic place to go apple picking, with so many different varieties! Oh and the apple cider donuts!
- Parlee Farms (Tyngsborough) - Near the NH border. Other than the usual seasonal fruits, Parlee offers pick your own flowers - gladiolas, dahlias, sunflowers, and zinnias. They are beautiful fields and definitely worth going. There is a hayride to fields that the kids really enjoy. We've picked blueberries and peaches here.
- Connors Farm (Danvers) - we went here for all the children's activities and Mass's largest corn maze! It definitely lived up to its billing. There's actually QR codes in the maze to help you get it, and sometimes you really do need it. I think it took us like an hour to go through this one!
- Belkin Family Lookout Farm (Natick) - This was a very pretty farm with walkways covered with grapevines growing on trellises. We picked Asian pears and and peaches here. Overall, it was a little pricier. We also grabbed some craft beer from the farm store that was delicious.
- Ward's Berry Farm (Sharon) - We picked raspberries and tomatoes and dug for carrots here! The boys loved digging for carrots. They also have pick your own flowers, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, grapes, edamame (I'd never seen this before!), and so much more! There is a fun playground for the kids, goats and pigs to feed, and a great farmstand and coffee shop. OH, and you HAVE TO get the apple cider donuts here that are fresh straight out of the fryer! We visited here in 2021 and this is now my favorite farm.
- Kimball Farm (Westford) - This isn't really a farm, but more like a small fair or a huge activity center - there's no real words to describe it. It has 2 fabulous mini golf courses, bumper boats, bumper cars (the ones that spin like crazy when you run into each other), batting cages, a weird animal petting center, arcade, a driving range, zipline, and the best par 3 pitch and putt golf course! Oh, and we love getting the twin lobsters here and finishing off the day with a big scoop of the best homemade ice cream - so many different flavors! We make it a point to go at least once a year! Get the Pick 5 because you're going to want to do all the activities, and the hardest thing is to choose which 5.
- Davis Farmland (Sterling)
North Shore
- Rockport - one of our first road trips and still one of the most memorable. We stopped by The Lobster Pool for our first ever lobster roll and ate it out back with the perfect beautiful scenic view. We then visited Halibut Point State Park, which we've gone back to once or twice, and is also another favorite. We ended the day at Roy Moore Lobster in Rockport's Bearskin Neck, a strip of land that is filled with art galleries and ice cream parlors. We always get the twin lobsters here, best value anywhere and oh so fresh!
- Ipswich - our three favorite things in Ipswich are lobster rolls at The Clam Box, the sand at Crane Beach, and the apples at Russell Orchards! Isn't that enough reason to go here? But everytime we go, we see other things we want to stop at and we never have time!
- Topsfield - Go to the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. Bring bird seeds and you can hold them in your hands and the wild birds will come and eat them straight out of your hands! The hike on the boardwalk over the water is also beautiful, and you will see evidence of beaver activity. We also got to see a loon and its nest!
- Gloucester - Gloucester probably has the most popular beaches - Good Harbor and Wingaersheek. They also have Fort Stage Park and Half Moon Beach, which always looks a little like a secluded paradise island to me. My first time finding any sea glass was at Half Moon. We've biked the boardwalk along the ocean from downtown to Fort Stage. Another one of our favorite places for lobster is here at Blue Collar Lobster. It's got a great outdoor dining area, with cornhole and the smell of the salty ocean air wafting all around you.
- Marblehead - we came here for Christmas. There were groups of children and adults caroling in many of the different businesses and churches in town. It's just so festive. We ate at Atomic Cafe and The Muffin Shop and Haley's, and I just remember everything being so delicious. It's a great place to do some holiday shopping.
- Salem - this is home to the Peabody Essex Museum, which is another huge art museum. I think we didn't allow ourselves enough time to explore it's all, but it's definitely worth the drive. Don't miss the chance to earn a Junior Ranger Badge at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site! Another amazing place for lobster rolls is at the Clam Shack is out by the waters. We got poured on and were drenching wet, but that was some of the best lobster I've had. Instead of being able to go to the beach, we went to the arcade, which is really like a blast from the past!
- Salisbury Beach State Reservation - A great campground by the beach
- Lawrence - this was a great girls' trip to go antiquing.
Central & Western Mass
- Wachusett - this might be our favorite ski resort in Mass.
- Fitchburg - We went here and stayed at Great Wolf Lodge for a weekend for Caleb's birthday. It was fun. Some people ski at nearby Wachusett or Nashoba.
- Amherst - home of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Try to go when there's an author reading!
- Worcester - Ecotarium is an awesome indoor/outdoor science museum with live animals like eagles, the red fox, and otters and wonderful trail through the woods. I really recommend this museum - I think it's more age appropriate for the younger kids than the Museum of Science, but kids of all ages can learn something here. Worcester Art Museum is another awesome art museum. It also inherited the armory, so it has a lot of artillery and armor to check out.
- Springfield - we've been here multiple times and actually got to spend a weekend in town. The highlights are the Springfield Museums, including the Dr. Seuss Museum (Springfield is Seuss's birthplace) and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. We went to the Northeast Hot Air Balloon Festival in nearby Northampton. It was awesome to be so close to a hot air balloon and see them launch. Just be sure to stay for the balloon glow at night. Six Flags New England is also located nearby, but we haven't had a chance to visit it yet.
- de Cordova Sculpture Garden (Lincoln) - this park is another one of The Trustees of Reservations property. It has outdoor sculptures, some of them are a bit unusual. It's a nice place to stop and wander. Since we visited during COVID, we didn't get a chance to check out the museum.
- Fruitlands (Harvard, MA) - again, this is another park run by The Trustees. We did a 2 mile hike around the property, walked past some ruins of a house and a brick factory and spied some brick remnants. There is a farm and other art galleries on the property, but we couldn't enter them due to COVID. The property has a beautiful view out across the valley.
- Old Sturbridge Village (Sturbridge, MA) - This is a recreation of an 1830s New England town. We watched some basket making presentations and talked to several other characters, like the blacksmith. It is a worth a few hours visit.
- New England Botanical Garden (Boylston, MA) - This garden is very well done, with some nice manicured spaces and some more natural hiking paths. We went for a Thursday night summer evenings when they had a biergarten, lawn games, and live music. It was just very relaxing. We did get a membership, so I am excited to go back next month when they'll have fairy villages, and later this year (2022), they'll have gnomes take over the garden!
- Mendon Drive In Theater
- The Berkshires
- Tanglewood - the summer home of the Boston Symphony
Cape Cod & South Shore
- Nantasket Beach (Hull) - this is the first beach we ever went to in New England. I remember Suny's co-worker taking us at the beginning of May, because winter is finally over. Well, it was in the high 50s and we saw both people in shorts and people in down jackets. You can tell who the locals are. 😂
- World's End (Hingham) - right before you get to Hull, you can turn off and go to the World's End. Be careful you don't miss the turn, because World's End is not at the end, Hull is. It is a wonderful park that is part of the The Trustees of Reservations with bike trials, birdwatching, a beach, and views of the Boston skyline across the harbor. Bring a picnic and a kite to fly.
- Plimouth - this is where the you can find Plimouth Rock (don't have high expectations, I was expecting a whole cliff - it's more like a pebble) and a reproduction of the Mayflower ship. You can also tour Plimouth Plantation, which my older son did on a class field trip, but my younger one did not, due to COVID.
- Carver - this is where you can find Edaville, an amusement park for the youngest Thomas the Train lovers! I loved the real train ride around the cranberry bogs.
- Sandwich - we went to the Sandwich Glass Museum, which is absolutely fascinating about something that's so "boring" - this is where my fascination with glass and the history of Mass was stoked. We ate at Seafood Sam's on the Canal, I believe, and there's a wonderful bike path along the canal there! Another place that we didn't get a chance to visit but is on the bucket list is the Heritage Museums & Gardens.
- Falmouth - There is a tiny aquarium Woods Hole Science Aquarium and the Nobska Point Light House in Woods Hole, and the most awesome bike path along the ocean is in Falmouth (Shining Sea Bikeway).
- Nickerson State Park - We have camped here several times now. It is very woodsy. Be careful, because we did find a tick on Suny one time. In the park, there are several lakes that are great for swimming and fishing. The Cape Cod Rail Trail goes right by here and you can bike to the beach. We got to the beach during low tide and walked out at least half a mile onto the ocean floor! The sunset from the beach was just beautiful!
- Provincetown - or Ptown for short. We got to spend a whole week here. Note to self, things aren't open up for the season yet in April, so no lobsters and lots of restaurants were still closed. We saw maybe half a dozen right whales (yes, right whales) right from the seashore. They're pretty endangered, so this was a great surprise! We hiked the dunes at the Cape Cod National Seashore and played on the beach at Race Point. Make sure you go out during low tide - I've never seen so many interesting sea creatures before! Also, be sure to stop by the NPS office to become a Junior Ranger.
- Blackstone River Valley Bike Trail - this isn't Cape Cod nor South Shore, but close to the Rhode Island border, and I had nowhere else to group it, so here it is. This is just a great paved bike path along the river. Definitely need to do this again now that the other half of our family has finally learned to ride a bike!
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