Museum sights in New England
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John F Kennedy Hyannis Museum
Celebrates the USA's 35th president with photos, videos and exhibits.
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Harvard Art Museum
Architect extraordinaire Renzo Piano has overseen a renovation and expansion of Harvard's art museum, allowing the university's massive 250,000-piece collection to come together under one very stylish roof. Harvard's art spans the globe, with separate collections devoted to Asian and Islamic cultures, Northern European and Germanic cultures and other Western art, especially European modernism. It should be on full display starting in 2013.
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Brattleboro Museum & Art Center
Showcases the multimedia works of regional artists.
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D
Thornton W Burgess Museum
Thornton W Burgess Museum is named for the Sandwich native who wrote the Peter Cottontail series.
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E
Harriet Beecher Stowe House
Next door to the Twain house is the former home of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. The book so rallied Americans against slavery that Abraham Lincoln once credited Stowe with starting the US Civil War.
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Revolving Museum
The edgy, artist-run Revolving Museum has fun and funky exhibits and special events.
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Highland House Museum
Highland House Museum is dedicated to the area's farming and fishing past.
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G
Boston Children's Museum
The interactive, educational exhibits at the delightful Children’s Museum keep kids entertained for hours. Highlights include a bubble exhibit, rock-climbing walls, a hands-on construction site and intercultural immersion experiences. The museum underwent major expansion in 2006, with the addition of a new light-filled atrium featuring an amazing three-story climbing structure, bridges and glass elevators.
The new building utilizes loads of green technology, including salvaged and recycled construction materials and a fuel-efficient heating system that incorporates a green roof. Rain water run-off is collected and used for irrigation and plumbing.
In nice weather…
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H
Children's Museum of Maine
Folks with children in tow should head to this house of fun, next to the Portland Museum of Art.
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Lighthouse Museum
Stop at the 1824 Lighthouse Museum for a look at the keeper's former house.
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Witch History Museum
Museum containing the history of witches.
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Salem Witch Museum
One of many witch museums around town.
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Witch Dungeon Museum
Another witch museum.
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Museum
‘Please touch!’ implores this museum, which exhibits folk art and folklore from around the world. It’s a wonderful place for kids, who are invited to dive into the collections to try on costumes, experiment with musical instruments, play with toys and make their own art. Periodic performances feature musicians and storytellers who lead interactive performances.
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Museum
Want to look at some boats? Head inside this bad boy museum for a collection of model yachts, a handful of craft being restored by an onsite restoration school and pictures of the New York Yacht Club winning the America’s Cup regatta for 130 consecutive years until Australia ruined sporting history’s longest winning streak in 1983.
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Maritime Museum
The 1835 granite Custom House is an excellent example of Classic Revival architecture, built by Robert Mills (of Washington Monument fame). It now houses the Maritime Museum, which exhibits artifacts from Newburyport’s maritime history as a major shipbuilding center and seaport. Seafaring folk will have a field day in the Moseley Gallery with its collection of model clipper ships.
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Farnsworth Art Museum & Wyeth Center
Rockland is famous for its Farnsworth Art Museum & Wyeth Center, one of the country’s best small regional museums. Its collection of 5000 works is especially strong in landscape and marine artists who have worked in Maine, such as Andrew, NC and Jamie Wyeth; Louise Nevelson; Rockwell Kent; John Marin and others.
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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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Edward Kennedy Institute for the US Senate
In 2011, public officials joined the Kennedy clan in celebrating the groundbreaking for a new institute and museum, dedicated to the memory of Edward Kennedy. A striking building designed to complement the JFK Library, the institute will use high-tech exhibits to educate about the legislative process, highlighting history-making senators and legislative initiatives. Stay tuned.
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Whydah Pirate Museum
See the salvaged booty from a pirate ship that sank off Cape Cod in 1717.
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Museum of Art
Wonderfully eclectic, the Rhode Island School of Design's art museum showcases everything from ancient Greek art to 20th-century American paintings and decorative arts. Pop in before 1pm Sunday and admission is free.
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Old Schoolhouse Museum
The Old Schoolhouse Museum, across from the Salt Pond Visitor Center, features a small exhibit on author Henry Beston’s year in a cottage on Coast Guard Beach.
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Memorial Hall Museum
Here’s the original building of Deerfield Academy (1798), the prestigious preparatory school in town. It’s now a museum of Pocumtuck Valley life and history. Puritan and Native American artifacts include carved and painted chests, embroidery, musical instruments and glass-plate photographs (1880–1920). Check out the Indian House Door, a dramatic relic from the French and Indian Wars. In February 1704, Native Americans attacked the house of the Sheldon family, hacked a hole through the center of the door and did in the inhabitants with musket fire.
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Historic Deerfield Village
The main street of Historic Deerfield Village escaped the ravages of time and now presents a noble prospect: a dozen houses dating from the 1700s and 1800s, well preserved and open to the public. It costs nothing to stroll along the Street, or you can take a half-hour tour of each building individually. Guides in the houses provide commentary. The Wright House (1824) has collections of American period paintings, Chippendale and Federal furniture and Chinese export porcelain. There’s also the Henry N Flynt Silver & Metalware Collection (1814). Furnishings in Allen House (1720) were made in the Pioneer Valley and Boston. The Family Discovery Center, with hands-on…
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Cape Museum of Fine Arts
This worthwhile museum highlights the works of Cape artists. It has been renovated and expanded, and is behind the Cape Playhouse.
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