1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (18 page)

W
HERE:
Lexington is 11 miles northwest of Boston.
Visitor info:
Tel 781-862-2480;
www.lexingtonchamber.org.
B
UCKMAN
T
AVERN:
Lexington. Tel 781-862-1703;
www.lexingtonhistory.org
.
When:
closed Nov–mid-Apr.
M
INUTE
M
AN
N
ATIONAL
H
ISTORICAL
P
ARK:
Tel 978-369-6993.
When:
North Bridge center daily, year-round; Minute Man center closed Dec–Mar.
C
ONCORD:
19 miles northwest of Boston.
Visitor info:
Tel 978-369-3120;
www.concordchamberofcommerce.org.
T
HE
W
AYSIDE:
Tel 978-369-6975;
www.nps.gov/mima/wayside
.
When:
closed Nov–Apr.
O
RCHARD
H
OUSE:
Tel 978-369-4118;
www.louisamayalcott.org
.
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON
H
OUSE:
Tel 978-369-2236.
When:
closed Nov–mid-Apr and Mon–Wed year-round.
H
AWTHORNE
I
NN:
Tel 978-522-1966;
www.concordmass.com
.
Cost:
from $125 (off-peak), from $245 (peak).
L
ONGFELLOW’S
W
AYSIDE
I
NN:
Tel 800-339-1776 or 978-443-1776;
www.wayside.org.
Cost:
from $125; dinner $25.
W
ALDEN
P
OND
S
TATE
R
ESERVATION:
Tel 978-369-3254;
www.mass.gov/dcr.
B
EST TIMES:
Patriots Day (3rd Mon in Apr) for battle reenactments and commemorations; Sept–mid-Oct for foliage, especially lovely at Walden Pond.

Preserving the Legacy of the Industrial Revolution

Massachusetts

Founded in 1821 as the country’s first planned industrial city, Lowell soon became the most prominent of the mill towns that fueled the economy of 19th-century New England. The mills shut down a long time ago, but Lowell
remains proud of its heritage. Established as the nation’s first urban national park in 1979, the city features restored textile mills, more than 5 miles of canals (whose harnessed power was the key to its success), and several museums that invite you to step back in time. Trolleys connect the national park’s exhibits telling the story of the mills, the employees, and their struggle for better working conditions. Narrated barge tours on the canals and the Merrimack River make the educational experience a leisurely one.

The American Textile History Museum, housed in an enormous former machine shop and the largest textile museum in the world, covers “Spindle City’s” heyday from the 1830s to ’50s, showcasing artifacts and materials in scores of exhibits and producing cloth in a working “weave room.” The New England Quilt Museum displays textiles in high style, with permanent and rotating exhibits of antique and contemporary quilts.

The economic opportunity afforded by the mills made Lowell a true melting pot, with workers from all parts of North America and Europe; many were young “mill girls” from rural New England. The beginning of the end came in the 1920s and ’30s, when the industry fled south. The only Spinners in town these days are the minor league hockey and baseball teams that keep hometown pride high.

Native son Jack Kerouac has also helped secure a spot on the map for Lowell. The author of
On the Road
(1957) and patron saint of the Beat Generation is the focus of a birthday commemoration in March and a weekend-long event that includes performances of poetry and music in early October. Kerouac was the son of immigrants from Quebec who came to work at the mills, and Lowell remains a magnet for immigrants to this day, most recently from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. The summer’s annual Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival honors that heritage with boat races, parades, dancing, music, and food of a decidedly Asian bent.

In July the city stages the Lowell Folk Festival, the largest free folk music festival in the U.S. Half a dozen stages are set up for every imaginable musical genre—from zydeco to klezmer and sacred music—performed by artists from as far away as Sweden and Vietnam. Booths sell ethnic food of every stripe, and it seems as if most of Boston has jumped on the half-hourly train to come and enjoy one of the state’s liveliest festivals.

W
HERE:
28 miles northwest of Boston.
Visitor info:
Tel 800-443-3332 or 978-459-6150;
www.merrimackvalley.org.
L
OWELL
N
ATIONAL
H
ISTORICAL
P
ARK:
Tel 978-970-5000;
www.nps.gov/lowe.
A
MERICAN
T
EXTILE
H
ISTORY
M
USEUM:
Tel 978-441-0400;
www.athm.org.
N
EW
E
NGLAND
Q
UILT
M
USEUM:
Tel 978-452-4207;
www.nequiltmuseum.org
.
When:
closed Mon year-round; closed Sun Jan–Apr.
B
EST TIMES:
Mar and Oct for Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (
http://lckorg.tripod.com
); July for Folk Festival (
www.lowellfolkfestival.org
); Aug for Water Festival (
www.lowellwaterfestival.org
).

New England Charm off the Coast of Cape Cod

Massachusetts

Christened in 1602 by British explorer Bartholomew Gosnold for his daughter, Martha’s Vineyard is no longer covered in wild grapes. Today it’s an island of beautiful beaches, woods, farmland, cranberry bogs
, charming inns, and tourists, distinguished from its neighbor Nantucket by its proximity to the mainland and its Cape Cod–like variety of landscapes and communities.

The offbeat, fun village of Oak Bluffs, with hundreds of colorful Victorian cottages and a beloved 1876 carousel said to be the oldest working merry-go-round in the country, offers the most after-dark activity for the 20-something set; join in the carnival atmosphere, then stop in at Ben & Bill’s to sample their ice cream flavors that range from “lobster” to “moose dropping.” The ferry port of Vineyard Haven is known for the Black Dog Tavern, purveyor of the ubiquitous T-shirts (wait till you get home to wear yours), as well as tasty pub grub. The West Tisbury farmers market in and around the 1859 “Old Ag Hall” is alive with a wonderful selection of fresh produce. Also in West Tisbury is the Norman Rockwell–style Alley’s General Store, the oldest retail business on the island and proud “Dealers in Almost Everything”—peek in just for the scenario.

Aquinnah (formerly known as, and often still called, Gay Head) is a perfect place to watch the sun set, perhaps while dining on a feast of lobster rolls or fried clams from
Larsen’s Fish Market or The Bite. One is a store, the other a traditional New England clam shack, and both are landmarks in the fishing village of Menemsha, not far from Aquinnah and its landmark lighthouse. Menemsha’s Beach Plum Inn and Restaurant, situated on 7 secluded hilltop acres overlooking the historic harbor, has access to some of the island’s best beaches. Blooming gardens surround rooms and cottages that bear the names (and colors) of its flowers. Its excellent water-view restaurant, with an emphasis on fresh seafood and produce, makes this the inn of choice for many return guests.

Seafood is just about every eatery’s specialty on the island. Atria, a restaurant with a lively basement bar in handsome Edgar town (the largest of the Vineyard’s villages), has a menu with titles like “Cod Is Good, Cod Is Great” and “Very Serious Steak.” Gardens surround the 1890 sea captain’s house; request a table on the porch or terrace to enjoy the full effect.

Old-fashioned and service-proud, the Charlotte Inn in Edgartown is the finest hostelry on the island. The 1864 main house is the center of a complex of five buildings with 23 guest rooms and public areas awash with elaborate Edwardian furnishings and original art. Abundant gardens give the whole place the rarefied atmosphere of a country estate that is more England than New England.

W
HERE:
7 miles offshore from Fal mouth on Cape Cod. Ferries depart from Woods Hole and Hyan nis on Cape Cod, and New Bedford.
Visitor info:
Tel 800-505-4815 or 508-693-0085;
www.mvy.com.
B
EN
& B
ILL’S:
Oak Bluffs. Tel 696-696-0008.
B
LACK
D
OG
T
AVERN:
Vineyard Haven. Tel 508-693-9223;
www.theblackdog.com
.
Cost:
dinner $15.
W
EST
T
ISBURY
F
ARMERS
M
ARKET:
Sat morning and Wed afternoon, Jun–Oct.
A
LLEY’S
G
ENERAL
S
TORE:
West Tisbury. Tel 508-693-0088.
L
ARSEN’S
F
ISH
M
ARKET:
Menemsha. Tel 508-645-2680.
When:
closed late-Oct–Apr.
T
HE
B
ITE:
Menemsha. Tel 508-645-9239;
www.thebitemenemsha.com
.
When:
closed late Sept–Apr.
B
EACH
P
LUM
I
NN:
Menemsha. Tel 877-645-7398 or 508-645-9454;
www.beachpluminn.com
.
Cost:
from $185 (off-peak), from $275 (peak); dinner $60.
When:
closed Nov–Apr.
A
TRIA:
Edgartown. Tel 508-627-5850;
www.atriamv.com
.
Cost:
dinner $60.
When:
closed late Oct–early May.
T
HE
C
HARLOTTE
I
NN:
Edgartown. Tel 508-627-4151;
www.relaischateaux.fr/charlotte
.
Cost:
from $295; prix fixe dinner from $68.
B
EST TIMES:
May–Oct for peak season; mid-June for A Taste of the Vineyard (
www.mvpreservation.org
; click “Calendar of Events”); July for the Edgartown Regatta.

The population of Martha’s Vineyard swells from 15,000 to 100,000 in summer.

A Remote World All Its Own

Massachusetts

The island’s Wampanoag Indian name means “faraway land,” and Nantucket seems just that. It’s only 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, but the 49-square-mile island floats in its own insular world of time
and space. Some 10,000 year-round residents accommodate more than five times that many visitors each summer, yet the island retains an unspoiled atmosphere. Here the descendant of the practical Yankee sea captain meets the cultured offspring of New England old money—and, increasingly, new money. They bond over their shared affection for the windswept island, with its abundant salt marshes and pristine beaches.

Stringent zoning laws help maintain the traditional New England appearance of the “Little Gray Lady of the Sea”—so named for the color of its cedar-shingled houses muted by exposure to the sea air. Movie-set–perfect Nantucket is one of the country’s finest protected historic districts, with more than 800 Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival houses and Quaker sea captains’ homes, constructed between 1740 and 1840.

Nantucket was once the whaling capital of the world, and the small but interesting Whaling Museum preserves Nantucket’s eminence in the “blubber boiling” industry. Displays include a skeleton of a 46-foot finback whale, a whaleboat, a collection of 19th-century scrimshaw, and artifacts from the
Essex,
sunk by a sperm whale in 1820, inspiring the story recounted in
Moby-Dick.

Heading the list of the island’s finest hostelries is the Wauwinet, standing in romantic end-of-the-world isolation on a windswept spit of land between the ocean and Nantucket Bay. Cottages and manicured lawns surround the rambling 1860 main house, adjacent to 26 miles of shoreline protected as a wildlife sanctuary. The inn’s restaurant, Topper’s, is celebrated for its creative take on regional favorites (the smoked seafood chowder is a signature), enjoyed outdoors in warm weather or by a crackling fire when it’s chilly, with an award-winning wine cellar to top the experience.