Bob

http://www.massvacation.com/1000/index.php

So for those who live here or have visited...which one place would you nominate?

Quite hard as there are quite a few, Sturbridge, the Cape, Fenway, Haymarket, Back bay, the Minuteman trail, Acton's Childrens museum (better than the Boston one for toddlers and probably those under 10 in general).

I nominated The Garden in the Woods though, out in Framingham, because it's a great place to see weird and rare wild flowers and has a lot of nice easy trails for kids to run around and unlike everything else around here, kids under 3 are free rather than $10-15 entry, though library's do have free passes to this place too.

Rete

Tanglewood in Lenox, MA for the summer concert series. A wonderful venue which provides varied musical experiences and offers you beautiful lawns for picnicing and sitting under the sun or stars while the music floats over the lawn.

tonrob

The Peoples Pint in Greenfield.

HumphreyC

Great idea for a thread

I'll suggest some lesser known ones which I have been to see on my travels and deserve a bit of recognition. All three are in places which are renowned for being utter kak.

Higgins Armory Museum



First up is the Higgins Armory Museum. This is based in Worcester MA (Wista), formally the hub of industry in the Blackstone Valley and now principally known for run down triple deckers, street brawls and post industrial grit. Hence it's the last place in the world you would expect to find one of the largest collection of arms and armour in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgins_Armory_Museum
http://www.higgins.org/history.php

This is the doing of John Woodman Higgins (1874 - 1961) who wanted to establish a museum dedicated to steel. The exterior is art deco, the interior features a replica of a medieval hall which is packed with examples of medieval, renaissance and classical weapons and armour (In total (according to wikipedia there are about 80 suits). Well worth a visit if you are into that kind of stuff.

Museum of Russian Icons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Russian_Icons



In central MA the mill town of Clinton is principally known for having a large number of bars per capita, chain smoking and now flooding. Actually it's a pleasant enough place and it houses the museum of Russian Icons founded by in 2006 by local industrialist Gordon Lankton. Lankton began making trips to Russia on business and took a fancy to the highly detailed Russian Icons he found for sale at auctions. Years later he had managed to amass over 400 of them and housed them in a renovated former mill building. It's worth a visit even if you hate art like my wife does. This is because the icons are typically put together on small blocks of wood and an immense amount of detail has to be packed into each one, requiring a level of skill which anyone can appreciate.

Fitchburg Art Museum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitchburg_Art_Museum
http://www.fitchburgartmuseum.org/

I had to put this up here or my grandmother in law would probably curse me. This museum was founded by Eleanor Norcross to bring a spot of culture to the great unwashed mill working masses. Decent collection showcasing local art and includes paintings by John Singleton Copley Rockwell Kent and John Singer Sargent if you are into that sort of thing.

HumphreyC

Ah perfect!

Personally I'm not at all interested in rare flowers, but my parents will be pleased as punch when they come and visit.

joto

The Fruitlands Museum in Harvard is nice for a 1/2-1 day out. There is displays about the Shakers and Native Americans. It is also good to go in fruit picking season.

chartreuse

I'd nominate I90, but that's just me.

Bob

Heard about that, mean to check it out...will do at some point

Gore Place - the original gov's mansion in Waltham is pretty cool too - http://www.goreplace.org/tour.htm

Lizzy b

Now that the sun's out it's got to be Boston's Harbor Islands - my kids love it!

http://www.bostonislands.com/

Bob

For the hippies out there...

http://www.masheepwool.org/

Next weekend, out in Cummington, way the hell out west of the state, they're having a fiber festival.

It's pretty fun, nice day out, cute village and you go through other nice towns like Northampton to get there.

Little kids will love it, loads of angora rabbits to pet as well as baby sheep and the like.

robin1234

I'd nominate Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. (Actually most of the grounds are in Watertown, MA.)

And the Harvard Art Museums, also in Cambridge.

To represent all the great public libraries in Massachusetts, I'd nominate the Robbins Library in Arlington.

There are so many great public libraries I have to mention a small town library - The Ladies' Library in Brewster

For open space - the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, home of the greenhead fly.

tonrob

+1

Love going there in the summer!

Few hours on the beach on Spectacle Island followed by a rummage around the fort thingy on George's. Great day out!!!

bostonbound

The Children's Museum in Acton rocks! Stumbled across it by accident and we all loved it! Will let you know about Fenway as we're off there in 2 weeks - yippee! Going to the Gillette Stadium was quite an experience too....

Bob

Yeah, it's much better than the Boston museum if you've got kids under 5...still worth getting library passes for it though.

Fenway is cool, but crazy busy...the Wolf place down the street does really good bbq food though.

If anyone is in Western Mass, out in Amherst, the Eric Carle museum is pretty cool too apparently - http://www.carlemuseum.org/ He's the author of the hungry butterfly book.

janj

I'd nominate The World's End Reservation in Hingham. It's a great place to walk for a few miles next to the ocean and see the Boston skyline. The town of Hingham is a nice place to stroll around and have lunch too

http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to...orlds-end.html