Massachusetts

Natural Attractions

Mt. Greylock, the state’s highest point, or you can drive to the top for views of three states.

North Adams: ★ Natural Bridge State Park – this natural bridge is the only one made entirely of marble in North America.

Rockport: ★ Halibut Point State Park – at the very tip of Cape Ann. Incredible view of the coastline.

Sutton: ★ Purgatory Chasm: a granite chasm, a quarter-mile in length, accessible by a reasonably easy hike. See ice hidden in the stone even during the height of summer, climb over sparkling boulders (due to the high quartz content), peep into caves, and watch out for sudden precipices.

Major Attractions

Cape Cod: – south of Boston

★ Old King’s Highway – Officially known as Route 6A, a tree-lined road along the north coast of Cape Cod. It runs between the towns of Sandwich and Orleans, passing through some of America’s oldest villages.
miles and miles of white–sand beaches
Cape Cod National Seashore – 40-mile stretch of Cape Cod’s eastern coast
Provincetown – large LGBT community at the outer tip of the cape.
Tourists also venture to the far end of the cape to see the impressive dune system.

Cambridge: – part of Boston’s metropolitan area

tour Cambridge free with a lively student guide, is centered in Harvard Yard, right at Harvard Square.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus is an open-air art gallery, with sculptures by artists that include Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Jacques Lipchitz, and Auguste Rodin. Discover these with the help of a campus map, as you stroll among buildings designed by some of the greatest names in modern, postmodern, and contemporary architecture: Frank Gehry, Alvar Aalto, I. M. Pei, and Eero Saarinen, among others.

Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard – South of Cape Cod and easy to reach by ferries

5-mile-long island reachable by ferry.
Nantucket Whaling Museum – ship models, scrimshaw, whaling equipment, fascinating logbooks, and the skeleton of a 43-foot sperm whale.

Martha’s Vineyard is covered in farms and six villages
Oak Bluffs preserves rows of little 19th-century “gingerbread” cottages, built when it was a Methodist Camp meeting site

Cape Ann and Salem – Northwest of Boston

★ picturesque fishing harbor at Rockport
the working port of Gloucester
uncrowded beaches
thriving art colonies
idyllic little towns
antique-filled historic homes.
Salem has stately homes built for sea captains and prosperous merchants
★ Historic appeal of the infamous Salem Witch Trials

Concord

★ the “shot heard ’round the world” was fired at North Bridge on April 19, 1775
the transcendentalists: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau
★ Concord Museum, where you’ll find Native American artifacts, Thoreau’s snowshoes and furniture, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s study, and the original lantern that signaled Paul Revere, along with collections of 17th- to 19th-century decorative arts and furniture.
Walden Pond, immortalized in Henry David Thoreau’s writings, is part of a 411-acre nature preserve with a replica of his cabin.

Lexington – Northwest of Boston

A Minuteman statue by sculptor Henry Hudson Kitson
★ a monument mark Battle Green, where colonial militia members clashed with British troops.
★ Buckman Tavern – Where Minutemen and their commander, Captain Parker, gathered in the 1710 before confronting the British, and its interior, preserved as it would have been in the 18th century, is complete with the original seven-foot-wide taproom fireplace. The old front door still contains British musket-ball holes.
Munroe Tavern, built in the early 1690s, became a field hospital for the wounded and contains period artifacts and furniture.
Hancock- Clarke House contains period furniture of the Clarke family and Reverend John Hancock, grandfather of the signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Plymouth

★ Plymouth Rock
★ Plimoth Patuxet Museums – re-creation of the Pilgrim village, peopled by costumed interpreters who play roles of actual Pilgrims
★ Hobbamock’s Homesite – learn about the life of Native Americans who welcomed the pilgrims
★ Pilgrim Hall Museum opened in 1824 to showcase Pilgrim artifacts; furniture; decorative arts; painting; and the remains of the Sparrow Hawk, a wooden ship that wrecked off Cape Cod in 1626. Highlights include Governor Bradford’s bible, Myles Standish’s sword, and the original cradle used by Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower. Sparrow House, built in 1640 and Plymouth’s oldest surviving wooden house, shows how primitively the first settlers lived.

The Southern Berkshires – western Massachusetts

Chesterwood was the summer home of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Seated Lincoln in Washington’s Lincoln Memorial; his studio showcases his work, including working models.

★ Lenox: best known for Tanglewood, the summer venue of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was home to Pulitzer Prize winning author Edith Wharton, who built The Mount here in 1902 on a 40-acre estate, where you can tour her extraordinary Italianate gardens.

Pittsfield:
- Arrowhead, home of Moby Dick author Herman Melville.
- Berkshire Museum features works by American artists, an Egyptian mummy, and antiquities from Classical Greece and Rome.

Stockbridge
- home to the artist Norman Rockwell, and the Norman Rockwell Museum features his original works.
- Naumkeag is the 44-room summer residence of a prosperous family, filled with antiques, art, and Chinese porcelain.

Mohawk Trail and the Northern Berkshires – Western Massachusetts.

★ Pittsfield: Hancock Shaker Village features a working farm using Shaker methods and 20 original furnished buildings used by the Shaker community from 1783 to 1960, including the Round Stone Barn.

Worcester – an industrial city west of Boston

Worcester Art Museum, whose more than 35,000 pieces are highlighted by European and American works, Asian art, Greek and Roman sculpture, and contemporary art.The most recent addition is the outstanding collections of medieval, Japanese, and other armor and artifacts from the now-closed Higgins Armory Museum.
★ The indoor/outdoor EcoTarium complex features wildlife exhibits, a planetarium, and a tree-top walkway where you can learn about the New England environments and ecosystems.
★ Miss Worcester Diner or Boulevard Diner – Worcester was the major center of manufacturing diners between 1906 and the 1960s, turning out more than 600 of them that were transported across the country.
★ Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum of more than 40 historic homes, farm buildings, and shops demonstrating New England crafts and daily life of the early 1800s.

New Bedford – South of Boston and Cape Cod

★ Whaling Museum, with displays on the history of whaling, a large scrimshaw collection, a whaleboat, whale skeletons, and a whaling film.
Seamen’s Bethel featured in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick,
1834 Rotch-Jones-Duff House with decorative arts, antique furniture, and extensive gardens
★ New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park – waterfront with self-guided tour

Fall River – South of Boston

Fall River Historical Society museum
Marine Museum houses one of the world’s largest Titanic exhibitions
★ Battleship Cove, you can tour New England’s largest floating museum, which includes the battleship USS Massachusetts, PT torpedo boats 796 and 617, the USS Lionfish, a WWII submarine, and the USS Destroyer Joseph P Kennedy, which served in Korea, Vietnam, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Amherst and the Pioneer Valley – Near the Connecticut River in central Massachusetts

Amherst: Emily Dickinson Museum includes the poet’s home and that of her brother, where you’ll find collections and exhibits relating to her life and writing.
Hadley: Hadley Farm Museum – a stage coach, oxcart, wagon, broom-making equipment, and other old farming equipment is shown in a restored 1782 barn
Deerfield: ★ Historic Deerfield – historic homes and a museum illustrate the colonial and Federal periods in the Pioneer Valley.

Lowell, Billerica

Billerica: ★ Middlesex Canal Museum – near Merrimack River
Lowell:
- American Textile History Museum traces textile production from the 18th century to the mid-1900s with exhibits of hand-powered tools, machinery, fabrics, and garments.
- ★ Lowell National Historic Park and the Lowell Heritage State Park. After seeing the videos, hop on the trolley for a tour, or in summer ride a boat along the canal system.
- ★ Boott Cotton Mills Museum shows the weaving room where 88 looms pound away, powered by an ingenious system of shafts, belts, and pulleys all driven by the Merrimack River.

Newburyport and Plum Island

Newburyport:
- Custom House Maritime Museum – ship building museum
- Cushing House Museum and its beautiful gardens.
Plum Island: with miles of beaches, dunes, and marshes protected by the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

Offbeat Attractions and Oddities

Adams:

Lighthouse Atop Mount Greylock [RA] – Situated at the highest point in Massachusetts, the lighthouse is actually a war memorial, and resembles a bishop chess piece.
Waving McKinley, Friend of the Cotton Industry [RA] – After McKinley had become President and had then been assassinated, the mill owners commissioned a statue — sculpted by Augustus Lukeman, unveiled on October 10, 1903 — that honored McKinley. He’s supposed to be gesturing with his arm during the speech that pushed through the Tariff (a scene reproduced in full on the bas relief plaque on the front of the monument) but it looks like he’s waving to the passing cars.

Amherst:

Giant Foot [RA] – A giant pedicured foot on a trailer has stood in a winery parking lot since 2011.
Hope the Cow [RA] – Goofy-looking cow with human legs made out of propane tanks. Named “Hope,” you can sit on her and feed her with cash for a local homeless shelter

Ashfield: Gray’s Sugarhouse, First Maple Syrup in Outer Space [RA] – Two small containers of maple syrup that flew into space on the Space Shuttle Discovery. Now they stand next to a cash register.

Attleboro (near Providence, RI):

★ National Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette – 175 years ago, Mary appeared to two small children in the alps of Southern France. Today, the La Salette Missionaries carry on her message of reconciliation and mercy in 25 countries all around the world.
- International Creche Museum – World’s Largest Nativity Collection [RA] –

Barnstable (Cape Cod): Oldest Wooden Jail In America [RA] – Built in the 1690s and in use until 1820. I looks like a little house, not a jail.

Barre: God’s Wisdom: Giant Letters [RA] – In 1989, farmer John Harty was inspired to build a tribute to God on his land. He grew tall bushes in the form of letters that spell out “God’s Wisdom” that is visible from space. He also paved a large area in the form of a cross and painted the 10 Commandments on it in white. The paved area once serviced a small plane landing. It’s also known as The Cross in Barre.

Berkley: ★ Dighton Rock Museum [RA] – Dighton Rock State Park, The Dighton Rock is a 40-ton boulder, originally located in the riverbed of the Taunton River at Berkley, Massachusetts (formerly part of the town of Dighton). The rock is noted for its petroglyphs carved designs of ancient and uncertain origin, and the controversy about their creators.

Bourne: Grover Cleveland’s Personal Train Station [RA] – The Cleveland’s used Gray Gables, their property on Cape Cod, as their Summer White House during Grover’s second term as U.S. President. A train station with a direct telegraph line to Washington was built for the first family’s personal use near their home in Buzzards Bay. Long after the Cleveland’s abandoned the Cape in 1904, their train depot was transformed into a cottage. In 1976, after it was threatened with demolition, it was rescued and relocated a short distance to the grounds of the Aptucxet Trading Post Museum. A life-size Grover Cleveland greets visitors by the depot doorway. A small exhibit inside explains the President’s connection to the area and showcases some of First Daughter Ruth Cleveland’s toys.

Carlisle: ★ See Cows Milked By Robot [RA] – Great Brook Farm State Park, State-of-the-art “smart barn” on a state demonstration farm uses a robot to individually milk its 160 cows, which continually line up for the privilege. The farm installed the robot because it knew it would make a great tourist attraction. Ice cream!

Charlemont: Hail to the Sunrise [RA] – “Hail to the Sunrise” is a statue at Mohawk Park in Charlemont. The bronze Native chief has his arms extended, welcoming the new day and all visitors to the area. There is an arrowhead-shaped plaque commemorating the five Mohawk Nations in the region, a picnic area, and trails as well.

Charlton: Grave of Grizzly Adams [RA] – The real Grizzly Adams was born and raised in Massachusetts near Boston

Cheshire:

Monument to the Mammoth Cheese [RA] – big concrete cheese press monument honoring John Leland. It’s been there since 1940.
Replica of the Mammoth Cheese [RA] – Full-size replica of a 1,235-pound wheel of cheese presented to President Thomas Jefferson in 1802. Unveiled in June 2021.

Chilmark: Grave of John Belushi [RA] – It’s in a small, rural cemetery, conveniently located just inside the entrance, with a nice Halloween yard-style tombstone.

Clinton: Abandoned Train Tunnel [RA] – Former train tunnel was built in 1903, abandoned in 1958. Roughly 1,000 feet long; very dark and wet. Bring a flashlight and a hat

Concord:

Authors’ Ridge – The Literary Dead [RA]
First Woman With Drivers License Grave [RA]
Henry David Thoreau’s Beanpatch [RA]

Dartmouth: Gulf Hill Ice Cream Bucket [RA] – Apponagansett Park, An old ice cream stand built to resemble a three-story-tall ice cream bucket.

Douglas: ★ Ice Cream Lady Statue [RA] – A somewhat disturbing statue of a two-scoop cone come to life as a beautiful top-hatted, long-legged ice cream lady next to an ice cream shoppe.

Eastham:

Doane Rock [RA] – At any other place on the planet, this would be just another rock — but Cape Cod has no large rocks, so this becomes a tourist attraction. It is the largest glacial erratic [i.e. a rock] on Cape Cod. If you follow the asphalt path through the woods you will come to a memorial explaining who Doane was.
Memorial Buoy Tree [RA] – The lobster buoy tree was built as a memorial to late local resident Jimmy Filliman, who built similar trees in his front yard every year and lit them up at Christmastime.

Easton: Shovel Museum [RA] – 783 shovels! The Ames Shovel Collection includes flat-blades, pointed-blades, split-handles, and shovels carried by soldiers in World Wars I and II.

Fall River:

Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast [RA]
Lizzie Borden Murderabilia [RA] – Fall River Historical Society, A selection of mementoes from alleged murderess Lizzie Borden are on display, including a hatchet head, blood-stained artifacts, and her cutlery.
Lizzie Borden’s Grave [RA] – Oak Grove Cemetery, Lizzie Borden’s final resting place is so popular that the cemetery owners have painted arrows on roads from the entrance directly to the grave.
Rolling Rock [RA] – Before the dawn of history, a glacier left a big roundish rock atop a flat rock pedestal, which is now in a busy intersection in the city of Fall River. At one time it did roll but it is now anchored.

Fitchburg:

Calvin Coolidge Stood Here [RA] – A bronze plaque, green and stained with age, nearly flush with the ground, marks the spot where the 30th President stood on Nov. 12, 1928. Coolidge was in Fitchburg for the dedication of the town’s WWI memorial.
Rollstone Boulder: Blown Up, Reassembled [RA] – Fitchburg is home to the Rollstone Boulder: a 110 ton rock that migrated from New Hampshire to Massachusetts during the Ice Age. It became an iconic symbol for the city. Citizens were upset when quarrying in the late 1890s began to endanger the fracturing boulder. Years later, with its destruction believed to be imminent, the boulder was blown up… to save it. The pieces were moved from Rollstone Hill and, with the aid of photographs, drawings, and a numbering system, reassembled on a traffic island in downtown Fitchburg.

Florida:

Elk on the Trail Monument [RA] – A bronze elk statue, erected in 1923, stands next to a roadside pull-off atop Whitcomb Summit. It’s a World War I memorial.
Expired Parking Meter Tombstone [RA] –
Hoosac Tunnel Victims Memorial [RA] – Small granite marker memorializes the tunnel miners killed on Oct. 17, 1867, when fire and flooding destroyed their vent shaft.

Gardner:

★ Bicentennial Giant Chair [RA] – A big ladderback chair stands in front of Helen Mae Sauter School,
★ Huge Yellow Chair [RA] – A big yellow ladderback chair stands in front of Chair City Wayside Furniture Co.

Goshen: ★ Three Sisters Sanctuary: Giant Tin Man, Dragon [RA] – Lots of odd junk art, much of it very large, spread through a dozen outdoor spaces. Includes a 16-foot-tall Tin Man out by the highway. Old bicycles seem to be the construction material of choice. Part of Richard Richardson’s Three Sisters Sanctuary art environment.

Granby: ★ Big Milk Can and Bottle [RA] – A building shaped like a big milk bottle and milk can, dating from the 1930s

Great Barrington: World’s Oldest Paperboy Statue [RA] – This bronze-skinned waif stands proudly as the world’s oldest newsboy statue. The monument was erected in 1895 by Colonel William L. Brown, who owned a summer home in the neighborhood and was part-owner of the first New York Daily News.

Greenfield:

★ Fish Made Of Cutlery [RA] – Brookie the Trout is about eight feet long, up on a pole, and made of welded-together knives, forks, and spoons donated by Greenfield, known for its cutlery factory.
Gravity Hill [RA] – Defying the laws of gravity and common sense, vehicles appear to roll up a hill.
Tree Stump ATM [RA] – Greenfield Savings Bank, A redwood-size fake tree stump with animal carvings houses a bank’s drive-thru automatic teller machine.

Groton: Bancroft’s Castle [RA] – stone tower on Gibbet Hill.

Hancock: Muffler Man – The Big Man [RA] – Green Valley Equipment’s Big Man wears a sporty red bow tie.

Hingham: Massachusetts, Land of Lincolns [RA] – a monument to the ancestors of Lincoln who emigrated from England and settled on the coast of Massachusetts.

Holyoke: ★ Dead Frog Circus [RA] – Wistariahurst Museum, In the Carriage House Visitors’ Center, A diorama of dozens of dead frogs frozen in frolic under an amphian-size Big Top, created in 1927 by fun-loving naturalist Burlington Schurr.

Hubbardston: Big Rooster and Bull Statue [RA] – Alongside Route 68 in Hubbardston there is a statue of a rooster that’s about eight or nine feet tall. It’s on the west side of the road in front of a farm stand just north of the center of Hubbardston.

Hyannis:

Cape Cod Duckmobiles, Fake Lighthouse [RA] – This is a 45-minute land and sea tour on a converted military amphibious vehicle that goes through the streets of Hyannis and then into the harbor. As they tell you, it’s not really to learn about the sights and does not provide a view of the Kennedy compound, but rather is entertaining and somewhat informative about the area. On the tour you’ll pass a pricey B&B that someone built to look like a lighthouse.
JFK Summer Fun Museum and Barefoot Statue [RA] – John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum, Lots of photos, and a video narrated by newscaster Walter Cronkite, open a metaphorical beach bungalow window on the world of JFK at his favorite vacation spot. The actual Kennedy compound is only a few blocks away, but visitors can’t get near it so the town decided to open this museum as a kind of consolation. In front of the museum stands a life-size bronze JFK, wearing rolled-up khakis, walking barefoot in some strategically placed sand.

Indian Orchard: Titanic Museum [RA] – But the very first U.S. Titanic museum — and the official museum of the Titanic Historical Society — is packed into a couple of rooms in the back of Henry’s Jewelry Store in the small town of Indian Orchard, Massachusetts.

Ipswich:

Clam Box – Take-Out Container [RA] – A clam shack shaped like a take-out seafood container, the restaurant has been an Ipswich landmark since it opened in 1938.
Devil’s Footprint [RA] – Legend insists this cloven hoof impression was left in rock by the ol’ trickster himself in 1740 — and right in front of a church. Evidence of an epic throw-down with Rev. Whitefield.

Lancaster: Big Apple at Rest Stop [RA] – Claims to be the biggest in New England. Formerly stood outside the Red Apple Farm in Phillipston, then was refinished and moved to Johnny Appleseed Visitors’ Center in 2019.

Leominster:

Airplane Mini Golf [RA] – The local mini golf features a full-size plane above one of the holes.
Birthplace of Johnny Appleseed [RA] – There is a miniature log cabin that accompanies the birthplace marker, as well as an informational sign that provides a brief overview of Johnny Appleseed’s life.
Grave of Man Persecuted For His Beard [RA] – Joe was attacked by four men in Fitchburg for “wearing the beard,” as it says on his tombstone. They tried to shave it off, and Joe was thrown in jail for over a year for resisting. Religion reportedly had something to do with it.
Living Stones [RA] – Native granite monuments offering quotes from the Bible are arranged for peaceful contemplation. Living Stones is a substantial arrangement of pillars and rocks with King James bible scripture carved on them. The monuments of the non-profit Living Stone Foundation are mostly created from quarry rejects.

Longmeadow: Potato Head [RA] – Six-foot-tall statue of everyone’s favorite Spudboy greets visitors to a Hasbro Toys-themed public playground.

Lowell: President Clinton Landed Here [RA] – A plaque on a rock recognizes that President Clinton landed his helicopter on this soccer field on October 20, 2000. President Clinton was in Lowell for Democratic fundraising.

Marlborough:

John Brown’s Bell [RA] – Soldiers from Marlborough were part of the group that surrounded and captured insurrectionist John Brown in Harper’s Ferry in 1859. Their reward apparently was the arsenal bell, eventually brought home and enshrined in a small stone tower.
★ Tree Carved Into Waving Ant [RA] – Empire Pest Control, Skinny and vertical, as are most tree sculptures. The ant has a smile and waves with one of its six legs. Carved with a chainsaw by Jesse “The Machine” Green.

Middleborough: ★ Tom Thumb Collection [RA] – The world’s largest collection of the world’s tiniest man. Charles Sherwood Stratton’s child-sized clothing and itty-bitty personal items.

Middlefield: IT Gravestone [RA] – Tiny tombstone cryptically labeled “IT.” Various legends of its origins, made more mysterious by the grave lettering being nearly unreadable.

Milford: Irish Round Tower Replica [RA] – This is the only Irish Round Tower in North America. It is a replica of the Irish watch towers built in ancient times to watch for invaders. This tower is 150 years old and stands in Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Milford.

Montague: Bridge of Names [RA] – Footbridge built in the 1970s had its sideboards carved with the names of hundreds of locals who helped maintain it. One name is of future celebrity magician Penn Jillette.

Nantucket: JFK’s A-Bomb Bunker [RA] – visitors can only admire the hatch from the outside.

New Bedford:

Angry Whaleman with Harpoon [RA] – the Whaleman Statue shows a bronze man, stripped to the waist, standing in the prow of a bronze whaleboat slicing through a bronze sea. All three appear to have emerged out of a 2-D granite slab inscribed with a couple of seagulls and the Melville quote.
Big Milk Bottle [RA] – Forty feet tall, with a G & S Pizza concession stand built inside.
Moby Dick Movie Whalers’ Pulpit [RA] – After the 1956 movie of Herman Melville’s book, tourists visiting the “Whalemen’s Chapel” expected to see the exaggerated ship’s bow pulpit… so this one was built in 1961.

North Adams:

America’s Switzerland [RA] – “Welcome to America’s Switzerland” is on a sign at the western summit of the Mohawk Trail road. The overlook gives a beautiful view, but Switzerland? I don’t think so!
★ Church with Congregation of Nude Statues [RA] – Artist Eric Rudd bought an abandoned (but nice) old church, renamed it “A Chapel for Humanity,” and spent ten years slowly filling it with over 150 life-size-or-larger lumpy spray foam sculptures of nude people in various colors: red, blue, yellow, etc. Walkways weave among the lumpy people in the sanctuary, permitting close viewing, while the entire crowd can be viewed from the balcony. Rudd calls it “a contemporary sculptural epic.” The Chapel opened in late 2001, and at the last minute Rudd transformed an adjacent room into a 9/11 memorial by suspending lumpy people over a gray terrain.

North Chatham: Chatham Shark Center [RA] – Virtual reality shark encounter inside, real shark cage photo-op outside. About a mile inland from the beach, which just seems wrong for a shark center.

Northampton: ★ Beer Can Museum [RA] – A local watering hole — called “Ye Olde Watering Hole,” nestled as it is in Colonial New England — is lined floor to ceiling with nearly every beer can ever manufactured. There is no admission fee, though you might want to have a beer. It’s cheap here.

Pittsfield:

Large Steel Baseball Bat, Glove of Shrubs [RA] – Pittsfield claims to have a 1791 ordinance prohibiting the playing of baseball, thereby indirectly proving that it was the birthplace of the game. In 2006 the town sponsored a community art blitz to call attention to its place in sports history. One of the artworks, “Elements of the Game,” was created by landscape designer Jerid Hohn and was later purchased and allowed to remain in place. It consists of a 25-foot-long metal bat, now artfully rusting, accompanied by a “ball” made of rocks and a “glove” of finger-like shrubbery.
Wally the Stegosaurus [RA] – Fiberglass dinosaur Wally is a 1960s vintage stegosaurus outside the Berkshire Museum.

Provincetown:

★ Pilgrim Monument and Museum [RA] – 253 feet high, the tallest granite stricture in the U.S. Opened to the public in 1910, to commemorate the Mayflower Pilgrims landing in 1620. Museum at the base. At the museum, exhibited items include a large diorama of the Mayflower, and quill pens used by President Theodore Roosevelt to sign a bill that appropriated $40,000 to the Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association. Among non-pilgrim artifacts are Provincetown’s oldest fire engine and a nine-foot-long narwhal tusk. Climb to the top for a great view.
Pose with Strung-Up Shark [RA] – The shark is fake, but looks real. It’s name is Jennifer. The photo-op is conveniently just outside the entrance to public restrooms.

Raynham: ★ Big Milk Bottle [RA] – Forty feet tall with a restaurant attached and what must be cramped offices up near the neck.

Rockport: ★ The Paper House [RA] – Elis Stenman layered and pasted and rolled approximately 100,000 newspapers to make his dream home in 1924 — and it’s still standing.

Rutland: Geographical Center Tree of Massachusetts [RA]

Salisbury Beach: Eerie Boardwalk Town [RA] – One of the strangest boardwalk towns I have ever been to. Strange square pizza with sweet sauce from Tripoli’s Pizza, and old arcades. It’s definitely a place that time forgot. I can see people taking their kids here (or grandkids); nothing has changed since they were kids.

Sandwich: Taft’s Steam Car [RA] – When William Howard Taft moved into The White House, he knocked down its horse stables and built a four-car garage to house his giant steam-powered automobiles. This is one of them: a 1909 White Model M.

Seekonk: Lifted Up Cross and Hands Sculpture [RA] – Big, fat hands made of heavily-laquered wood seem to jut out of the parking lot next to the Christian Assembly church.

Sheffield: Reed UFO Encounter Park [RA] – Where the Reed family encountered a UFO and were removed from their station wagon in 1969. A monument was unveiled to mark the spot in 2015. Town officials had it hauled away in 2019. A small metal marker was installed in 2020.

Shelburne Falls:

20-Foot-Tall Indian [RA] – A trading post store (named Native and Himalayan Views) that has odd and worthy attractions outside, including a teepee, a giant wooden Indian, and a large bear statue.
Bridge of Flowers [RA] – Trolley bridge built in 1908 to connect the towns of Shelburne Falls and Buckland is touted as a “sustainable landscape” of native wild flowers and plantings.

Salem:

★ “Cry Innocent” Witch Trial [RA] – Old Town Hall, “CRY Innocent, The People Versus Bridget Bishop” is a live and lively reenactment of the witchcraft hearing of Bridget Bishop, the first person to be hanged in the Salem witch trials of 1692.
★ Bewitched Statue [RA] – The statue depicts actress Elizabeth Montgomery astride a broom and framed by a moon crescent.
★ Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery [RA] – No Photography Allowed! Salem’s only Monster Museum features displays about horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films from Nosferatu to Hellraiser. Tiny museum that pays homage to movie monsters. Stuffed into a small storefront. Very detailed figures that show much affection for the genre. Inexpensive way to spend an hour or two.
★ House of Metal Creatures [RA] – Herb Mackey has spent years filling his small yard with home-made junk art of dinosaurs and robots. Prime real estate next to the Salem Ferry ensures a steady stream of eyeballs.
★ New England Pirate Museum [RA] – Bloody pirate lore: a change of pace from all of the bloody witch lore elsewhere in Salem.
★ Salem Wax Museum [RA] – 50 wax dummies made in London showcase Salem history from its founding in 1626 to the witch trials of 1692.
★ Salem Witch Museum [RA] – Features a recorded tour of 13 life-size witch trial scenes. Memorable line from doomed witch, “More stones!” Occupies an old church. Open since 1972.
Salem Witches Hanging Site [RA] – a low wall with the names of the nineteen victims etched into it, set around an oak tree (symbolizing strength and endurance). Spotlights illuminate the names at night.
★ Satanic Temple: Statue of Baphomet [RA] – Its most famous exhibit is an 8.5-foot-tall bronze statue of the goat-headed pagan god Baphomet.
The Witch Dungeon Museum [RA] – Features a live witch trial — well, partly live; most of the cast are showroom dummies — right where it all happened in 1692. Then visitors tour a recreation of Salem’s dungeon, complete with hanged corpses.
The Witch House [RA] – Painted black and steeply roofed, this 17th century dwelling certainly looks as if a witch might have lived in it. The house was actually the home of Jonathan Corwin, one of the judges overseeing Salem’s infamous 1692 witch trials.
Where the Witches Were Tried [RA] – An old plaque, blackened and corroded with time, is bolted to the outside wall of the Salem Masonic Temple.
Witch Gaol Plaque #2 [RA] – Historical plaque only. The jail where many of the accused Salem witches were imprisoned
★ Witch History Museum [RA] – does a good job of telling little known stories of the region with a combination of live narration, selected wax figure animation, and lighting effects. They offer a combo ticket with the Pirate Museum and one of our old faves, the Witch Dungeon Museum.
World of Witches Museum [RA]

Somerville:

World’s Smallest Museum [RA] – Named simply “Museum,” it’s the size of a large shoe box, set into an outside wall, framed in a fake Greek temple facade, lit from within, with room to exhibit maybe a half-dozen miniature artworks on its “walls.”

South Dartmouth: ★ Big Milk Bottle Building [RA] – Salvador’s Ice Cream, It’s a squat milk bottle, but still 35 feet tall, with an ice cream parlor inside. It’s been here since 1936.

South Deerfield: World’s Largest Candle in World’s Largest Candle Store [RA] – Yankee Candle, “King Candle” weighs 1,377 pounds. If lit, it would burn for 7.5 years.

South Hadley: ★ Nash Dino Land [RA] – You can ease open layers of shale in the back yard quarry and may find 3-toed dinosaur footprints in them! The minerals and fossils in the store/display are great fun as well: dinosaur gizzards, fossilized dinosaur dung and dinosaur eggs, fossilized fish, ferns, and trilobites.

South Yarmouth: ★ Martin the Bear [RA] – Yarmouth Country Cabins, Martin is a Frankenstein’s monster of a bear. Nine feet tall, Martin was built of concrete and steel in 1975 by T.J. Neil, who also made statues for local mini-golf courses.

Southbridge:

★ Giant Eye Glasses [RA] – A 20-foot-long pair of eyeglasses preserves a bit of heritage from the facility’s days as the American Optical plant. The giant glasses sit in front of the old HQ of the American Optical Company.
★ Optical Heritage Museum [RA] – The museum exhibits all kinds of lenswear, of course, but also displays mass-produced optician office art, and has a showcase of “Eskimo Sunglasses,” carved from wood and bone. The “Eye for an Eye” exhibit notes that the company went into the plastic eyeball business when the supply of glass eyes from Germany vanished during World War II.

Springfield:

★ Dr. Seuss: Amazing World and Sculpture Garden [RA] – The boyhood hometown of Theodor Geisel — aka Dr. Seuss — has unveiled a $6.2 million sculpture garden of his characters (and himself) on its village green. There you can find a life-sized statue of “Dr. Seuss” with some of his creations, like Horton and the Cat in the Hat.
Fame Reaches for McKinley’s Head [RA] – This memorial looks like something you’d see in a ghastly old cemetery, not in a public square. Described at the time of its unveiling (1908) as “an exceedingly chaste and noble conception,” it’s a tall granite column, topped by a scowling bronze bust of assassinated President William McKinley. Frozen in front of it is a bronze statue of a young woman in drapery (the allegorical “Fame”) trying to reach the remote head with a big palm frond.
Graveyard Memorial to the Titanic [RA] – A five-ton slab of black granite, nine feet long and five feet high. One side is etched with a picture of the doomed ocean liner, the other mourns the two Springfield passengers who died when it sank. Unveiled on the 100th anniversary of the disaster, April 15, 2012.
★ History Museum at Springfield Museums [RA] – Five museums in one, includes an exhibit on local businesses such as Friendly’s ice cream and Hasbro. A museum that is part of the Springfield Museums has a focus on national and local history — including national businesses that started in Springfield, such as Springfield Rifles, Friendly’s ice cream, Y Mart, and Hasbro. It has exhibits on everything from the Civil War to turn-of-the-century fire stations, a toy collection, and a motorcycle area featuring dozens of antique bikes. When I was there they had a comic book exhibit.
★ Omiskanoagwiak: Peter Toth Indian Head [RA] – Carved in November 1984. This is number 49 of 75 in the series.
Private Monument to Rocky Marciano [RA] – The undefeated heavyweight boxing champion had nothing much to do with Springfield, but an Italian specialty food store owner put up a tribute marker in his parking lot.
Statue of the Inventor of Basketball [RA] – Unusual sports statue of Dr. James Naismith with an amiable smirk, wearing a three-piece suit, sitting with a basketball in his hand and a big peach basket between his legs. The prof invented the game at Springfield College in 1891.
Tomb Guarded by Sphinx [RA] – Forest Park was originally the estate of millionaire businessman Everett Barney who invented improved designs for both ice skates and roller skates. He built an elaborate tomb for his family just west of his mansion and carriage house, overlooking the Connecticut River. He donated the land to the city after his death. The house was demolished when I-91 was constructed, but the carriage house and the tomb survived and they are both popular park attractions. The tomb is guarded by a sphinx and is surrounded by a fence to keep people from climbing the stairs.
Victorian House Grave [RA] – Springfield Cemetery, Victorian era real estate businessman is buried under a marble gravestone carved to resemble a mansion.

Sterling: Mary’s Little Lamb [RA] – statue, memorialized in the town where it lived.

Sturbridge: ★ Largest Cuckoo Clock in New England [RA] – Bird Store and More, Cuckoos hourly from 9 am to 6 pm. The size of a large shed. Built in 2019.

Swansea:

Lizzie Borden’s Summer House Furniture [RA] – The Luther Museum (an 1815 general store) is the repository of Lizzie Borden’s summer house furniture. The Bordens owned a summer cottage in Swansea. Lizzie and her sister inherited it after their parents’ murder.
★ Manny Flavors: Former Teen Burger [RA] – The Eskimo King frozen dairy drive-in opened in 1957. Years later, probably in the late 1960s, it acquired its fiberglass mascot, a grinning teenaged boy holding aloft an ice cream cone. The boy is an A&W Root Beer Teen Burger statue, modified by the manufacturer, International Fiberglass, into its present frosty form, complete with overalls and an extended lip-licking “yum” tongue.

Taunton: Her Vacant Chair [RA] – Mayflower Hill Cemetery, Full-size marble rocking chair grave, with “Her Vacant Chair” as its epitaph. The chair supposedly moves on its own, and sometimes glows. No sitting in the chair.

Tyringham: ★ Santarella – Gingerbread House [RA] – Fairy tale-inspired home of English sculptor Henry Hudson Kitson, who died penniless after pouring all his money into the eclectic wavy asphalt shingle roofed structure. Now a B and B that offers tours.

Webster: Longest Named Thing in America [RA] – The town of Webster is home to Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (spellings vary). Entry signs to town prominently feature the name, and make for unique photo-ops. There’s also a shopping plaza in town with the name in big letters, stretching all the way along its roofline.

Wellfleet:

★ Hanging Shark and Smile Face [RA] – Rileys Gifts and Beach Store, Fake dead parking lot shark (warm months only) hangs by its tail from a tripod as a photo-op, next to a year-round ocean buoy painted as a big-eyed yellow Smiley Face.
★ Joe Tweet and the Giant Lobster [RA] – In the 1970s Joe Tweet opened Bayside Lobster Hutt. He bolted a life-size dummy of himself to the third-floor roof, hauling a net filled with a giant lobster up the side of the building. Joe Tweet is now gone, and the business has been renamed Mac’s Shack, but the dummy and giant lobster remain.

West Yarmouth:

★ Tommy the Elephant [RA] – India Fashion Tie-Dye, Vintage highway folk art pachyderm named for his creator, with a hidden message in his upraised trunk.
★ Whydah Pirate Museum [RA] – Museum displaying artifacts recovered from an 18th-century vessel used for piracy & the slave trade.

Westfield: ★ Black Squirrel Town [RA] – The squirrels’ home base is Stanley Park, named for the visionary who brought them to Westfield.

Westport:

★ Fork in the Road [RA] – A large, literal dinner fork sculpture taunts undecided travelers where this road splits. Built in 2010 by neighbor Tom Schmitt. He augments it with a heart on Valentines Day, a Santa hat on Christmas, and a hot dog on July 4.
★ Propane Tank Caterpillar [RA] – Old, empty portable propane tacks were used to create the sections of a large front yard caterpillar.

Whately: ★ Big Cement Milk Bottle [RA] – Seventeen feet tall, a proud reminder of Massachusetts’ hardscrabble giant cow heritage. Built circa 1923; hauled to its current spot in 1995. It is now situated in front of the town building, which houses the Historical Society.

Williamstown: ★ “Eyes” On The Campus Lawn [RA] – In 2001, a sculptor was commissioned for an artwork commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Williams College Museum of Art. The resulting work, “Eyes,” has become one of my favorite oddities. Disembodied, heavy-lidded eyeballs stare from the lawns of the college campus; the best time to visit is at night, as the eyes glow with an electric blue light.

Winchendon: ★ Clyde, Toy Town Horse [RA] – A toy rocking horse built four times normal size is displayed outdoors under a shelter. He was built as a tribute to the town’s toy factories, which he has outlasted by several decades.

Worcester:

★ Bancroft Tower – Castle-Lite [RA] – A skinny mini-castle built on a hilltop by the richest man in town as an odd tribute to a family friend.
Deed to God Rock [RA] – Solomon Parsons Jr. carved a 215-word deed into a rock in 1840, conveying the surrounding ten acres to God. Some of the words are still legible. Carved by Solomon Parsons Jr. in 1840. Parsons was a Millerite who believed the world was going to end in 1844.
Grave of the Smiley Face Inventor [RA] – Notre Dame Cemetery, Harvey Ball has an eternally upbeat tombstone, engraved with the iconic yellow Smiley Face he designed in 1963.
Leprechaun Hat [RA] – a giant leprechaun hat advertises an Irish restaurant named Patsie Duggans.
The Notorious Turtle Boy [RA] – The sculpture, a favorite with shutterbugs, depicts a nude boy with a satisfied grin holding a sea turtle with an alarmed expression. The positioning of the figures is unintentionally suggestive.
Wall O’ Washingtons [RA] – a large wall mural

Yarmouthport: ★ Edward Gorey House [RA] – A wonderful little museum founded in the home of Edward Gorey, renowned artist and illustrator who passed away in April of 2000. Featuring Gorey’s personal effects, artwork and his legacy to support Animal Welfare causes

Yarmouth: Gravestone with a Curse [RA] – Ancient Cemetery, Apparently she was feeding all the stray cats and wild small animals in her neighborhood, much to the annoyance of her neighbors. Here is her payback!

Greater Boston Area

Amesbury: Cartoonist Al Capp Mural [RA] – A large comic strip mural remembers cartoonist Al Capp (1909-1979), a longtime Amesbury resident and creator of the Dogpatch universe and “Li’l Abner.”

Arlington: Uncle Sam Birthplace Statue [RA]

Auburn: