Museum sights in New England
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Williams College Museum of Art
Showcases works by American luminaries such as Mary Cassett, Edward Hopper and Georgia O'Keeffe.
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Tall Ship Friendship
Of the 50 wharves that once lined Salem Harbor, only three remain, the longest of which is Derby Wharf. Visitors can stroll out to the end and peek inside the 1871 lighthouse. The most prominent building along Derby St is the Custom House, where permits and certificates were issued and, of course, taxes paid. Other buildings at the site include warehouses, the scale house, and Elias Hasket Derby’s 1762 home. Stop by at the West India Goods Store, a working store with spices and other items similar to those sold two centuries ago. You can also board the replica of the tall ship Friendship to see how the sailors lived.
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American Independence Museum
Exeter’s early history is still widely celebrated, thanks in part to the American Independence Museum, which maintains the town’s collections inside the historic Ladd-Gilman House. Among the highlights of this National Landmark Property are the furnishings and possessions of the Gilman family, who lived here from 1720 to 1820, along with a document archive, including two original drafts of the US Constitution and personal correspondence of George Washington, Pierre L’Enfant and other notables. The museum also maintains Folsom Tavern, which was once an important meeting place for George Washington and his revolutionary officers.
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Wilhelm Reich Museum
Austrian-born psychiatrist and scientist Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) devoted his life to proving the existence of biological sexual energy in humans, which he called ‘orgone energy.’ Needless to say, Reich’s experiments attracted a lot of attention, and things ended badly for him, with the FDA destroying his equipment and burning his books and publications; he was also sentenced to prison and died there of heart failure. To learn about his life and work, visit the museum, for guided tours through Reich’s fieldstone mansion. The 160 acre grounds have nature trails, and there are impressive views from the roof of the Orgone Energy Observatory.
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Crane Museum of Papermaking
Since 1879 every single American bill has been printed on paper made by the Crane Company, based in the small mill town of Dalton. This ‘Champagne of papers’ is made from 100% cotton rag rather than wood, and so is wonderfully strong and creamy as well as environmentally sound. The Crane Museum of Papermaking, housed in the original stone mill room built in 1844, traces the history of Zenas Crane’s enterprise, which is still family-run after seven generations. The videos – on Crane’s papermaking process and on counterfeit detection – are fascinating. To get here from Pittsfield, take MA 9 northeast for 5 miles.
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Adams National Historic Park
The Adams family sights are accessible by guided tours, which depart from the Adams National Historic Park Visitor Center. Every half-hour, trolleys travel to the John Adams and John Quincy Adams Birthplaces, the oldest presidential birthplaces in the United States. These two 17th-century saltbox houses stand side by side along the old Coast Rd, which connected Plymouth to Boston. The houses are furnished as they would have been in the 18th century, so visitors can see where John Adams started his law career, started his family, and wrote the Massachusetts Constitution (which was later used as the basis for the US Constitution).
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Larz Anderson Auto Museum & Park
Larz and Isabel Anderson, a high-society couple, bought their first automobile in 1899: a Winton Runabout. It was the first of 32 autos that they would purchase over the next 50 years. ‘America’s oldest motorcar collection’ is now on display in the carriage house on the grounds of the estate (now Larz Anderson Park). Take bus 51 from Forest Hill (orange) or Reservoir (green D-line).
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Ancient & Honorable Artillery Co of Massachusetts
The brick colonial building – topped with the beloved grasshopper weather vane – was constructed in 1740 at the urging of Boston benefactor and merchant Peter Faneuil. In 1805 Charles Bulfinch enlarged the building and enclosed the 1st-floor market, and designed the 2nd-floor meeting space, where public ceremonies are still held today. It’s normally open to the public, who can hear about the building’s history from NPS rangers. On the 3rd floor the Ancient & Honorable Artillery Co of Massachusetts, which was chartered in 1638, maintains a peculiar collection of antique firearms, political mementos and curious artifacts.
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Vermont Ski Museum
Located in an 1818 meeting house that was rolled to its present spot by oxen in the 1860s, this museum is an inspired tribute to skiing history. It holds much more than an evolution of equipment (including 75 years of Vermont ski lifts) and a chance to chuckle at what was high slope-side fashion in the ‘70s. A huge screen shows ski footage so crazy that you can hardly keep your footing. The most moving exhibit tells the tale of the famous 10th Mountain Division of skiing troops from WWII – it inspires wonder at how they held out with the (then cutting-edge) canvas- and leather-based gear.
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Fishermen’s Museum Lighthouse
Along a 3500-mile coastline famed for its natural beauty, Pemaquid Point stands out because of its tortuous, grainy, igneous rock formations pounded by restless, treacherous seas. Perched on top of the rocks is the 11,000-candlepower Pemaquid Light, built in 1827. It’s one of the 61 surviving lighthouses along the Maine coast, 52 of which are still in operation. The keeper’s house now serves as the Fishermen’s Museum Lighthouse, displaying fishing paraphernalia and photos, as well as a nautical chart of the entire Maine coast with all the lighthouses marked.
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Abbott Hall
Every American is familiar with The Spirit of ’76, the patriotic painting (c 1876) by Archibald M Willard. It depicts three American Revolution figures – a drummer, a fife player and a flag bearer. The painting hangs in the selectmen’s meeting room in Abbott Hall, home of the Marblehead Historical Commission. The red-brick building with a lofty clock tower is the seat of Marblehead’s town government, and houses artifacts of Marblehead’s history, including the original title deed to Marblehead from the Nanapashemet Native Americans, dated 1684.
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Museum at Portland Head Light
Fort Williams Park, on Cape Elizabeth, has rolling lawns dotted with bunkers and gun emplacements, from WWII, although the fort actively guarded the entrance to Casco Bay from 1873 to 1964. Right next to the park stands Portland Head Light, the oldest of Maine’s 52 functioning lighthouses. It was commissioned by President George Washington in 1791 and staffed until 1989, when machines took over. The keeper’s house has been passed into service as the Museum at Portland Head Light, which traces the maritime and military history of the region.
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Nichols House Museum
This 1804 town house might be your only opportunity to peek inside one of these classic Beacon Hill beauties. Attributed to Charles Bulfinch, it is unique in its merger of Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles.
Equally impressive is the story told inside the museum – that of the day-to-day life of Miss Rose Standish Nichols, who lived here from 1885 to 1960. Miss Rose was an author, pacifist and suffragette. The museum has reconstructed her home, furnished with art and antiques from all over the world, as well as some impressive examples of her own needlepoint and woodwork.
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Boott Cotton Mills Museum
Five blocks northeast along the river, the Boott Cotton Mills Museum has exhibits that chronicle the rise and fall of the industrial revolution in Lowell, including technological changes, labor movements and immigration. The highlight is a working weave room, with 88 power looms. A special exhibit on Mill Girls & Immigrants (978-970-5000; 40 French St; admission free; 1:30-4:30pm) examines the lives of working people, while other seasonal exhibits are sometimes on display in other historic buildings around town.
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Woodlawn Museum
Just north of Mt Desert Island, the small town of Ellsworth is a slice of old-school Americana, with a pretty Main street lined with shops, galleries and restaurants. Nearby is the Woodlawn Museum located 0.25 miles south of US 1. The former home of three generations of the wealthy Black family dates from the 1820s and has marvelously preserved furnishings, decorations and family artifacts dating from 1820 to 1920. Formal gardens and a picturesque lawn surround the mansion, with a pleasant trail circling the woods.
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Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Gardner is filled with almost 2000 priceless objects, primarily European, including outstanding tapestries and Italian Renaissance and 17th-century Dutch paintings. The four-story greenhouse courtyard is a masterpiece and a tranquil oasis that alone is worth the price of admission.
This museum was home to ‘Mrs Jack’ Gardner herself until her death in 1924. It remains a monument to one woman’s taste for acquiring exquisite art.
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National Museum of American Illustration
Well worth the pain it takes to arrange a visit (one needs advance reservations for time-specific tours), this acclaimed museum features an impressive collection of Maxfield Parrish’s impossibly luminous works in color, NC Wyeth prints, Norman Rockwell’s nostalgia and the illustrations of other American graphic heavy weights. The goods are displayed within the palatial Vernon Court (yet another mansion, this one from 1898) set within Olmstead-designed grounds. No kids under 12.
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Maria Mitchell Association
The Maria Mitchell Association is devoted to Maria (pronounced 'Mariah') Mitchell (1818-89), who was America's first female astronomer. Astronomy was no mere hobby on Nantucket: the nearly 100 whaling ships based here navigated by the stars, and the Mitchell family calibrated ships' instruments. Maria is revered for discovering a comet in the 1840s, beating some of the world's leading scientists.
The association runs the Maria Mitchell Birthplace House, Vestal St Observatory and Loines Observatory.
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Penobscot Marine Museum
Just north of Camden on US 1 lies Belfast, a sleepy often-overlooked town, of grand architecturally eclectic houses and a diverse population mingling in the galleries and cafés of town. Five miles northeast, Searsport has a fine historic district with its share of 19th-century mansions. Searsport is also home to the superb Penobscot Marine Museum, housing Maine’s biggest collection of mariner art and artifacts, which are spread through a number of historic buildings.
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Wampanoag Homesite
The Wampanoag Homesite replicates the life of a Native American community in the same area as the Plimoth Plantation during the 1600s. Homesite huts are made of wattle and daub (a framework of woven rods and twigs covered and plastered with clay); inhabitants engage in traditional crafts while wearing traditional garb. Unlike the actors at the English Village, these individuals are not acting as historic characters, but are indigenous people speaking from a modern perspective.
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Henry B duPont Preservation Shipyard
At the Henry B duPont Preservation Shipyard you can watch large wooden boats being restored. Be sure not to miss the Wendell Building, which houses a fascinating collection of ships' figureheads and carvings. Close by is a small 'museum' for children seven and under. The Seaport also includes a small boat shop, jail, general store, chapel, school, pharmacy, sail loft, shipsmith and ship chandlery - all the sorts of places that you'd expect to find in a real shipbuilding town of 150 years ago.
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Decordova Museum & Sculpture Park
The magical DeCordova Sculpture Park encompasses 35 acres of green hills, providing a spectacular natural environment for a constantly changing exhibit of outdoor artwork. As many as 75 pieces are on display at any given time. The entry fee includes admission to the onsite museum, which hosts rotating exhibits of contemporary sculpture, painting, photography and mixed media. Note that admission to the sculpture garden is free when the museum is closed.
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Southern Vermont Natural History Museum
Marlboro is a short distance off the Molly Stark Trail (VT 9), a road named for the wife of General Stark, the hero of the American Revolution's Battle of Bennington. The VT 9 brings you to the top of Hogback Mountain (2410ft), where you’ll find the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum, an interesting little place that features mounted specimens of more than 600 New England birds and mammals as well as a small center devoted to live raptors.
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Mayflower Society Museum
As New England’s oldest European community, Plymouth also has its share of fine old houses, one of which is the Mayflower Society Museum.
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Portland Museum of Art
Works of Maine painters Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth are showcased here. Maine's finest art museum also boasts solid contemporary collections; post-Impressionist works by Picasso, Monet and Renoir; and a brilliant collection of Portland art glass. If you enjoy period homes, be sure to stroll through the restored 1801 McLellan House, entered through the museum and included in the ticket price.
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