Massachusetts is rich in history and historical sites providing many interesting day trips for residents and tourists. Since the first relocating transferees settled at Plymouth Rock in 1620, many of us have joined them to settle here and enjoy the area’s history and culture. In Boston, the Freedom Trail leads visitors from the Boston Common through the city with visits to the Old North Church (two lanterns were hung in the steeple in 1775 for Paul Revere’s famous ride), the Granary Burial Ground, and the State House (famous for its beautiful gold dome) designed by architect Charles Bullfinch.
West of Boston lie monuments in Concord and Lexington, sites of the Revolutionary War’s first battles. South of Boston, Plymouth Rock and Plimouth Plantation interpret stockaded village life of the 1600s.
New Bedford, once home to Massachusetts’ whaling fleet, offers a whaling museum and a fleet of retired World War II warships. North of Boston, maritime history is also well represented and the mill towns of Lawrence, Lowell and Haverhill show us the industrial age through textile mills.
Central Massachusetts boasts many famous people and fabulous firsts from Johnny Appleseed, Clara Barton, Grizzly Adams, and Robert Goddard to Mary Sawyer (“Mary Had a Little Lamb”). The first Massachusetts reading of the Declaration of Independence was in Worcester by Isaiah Thomas and his Massachusetts Spy was the first New England newspaper to print the Declaration.
Each region of the state, from the ocean beaches to the scenic mountains to the apple orchards to the bustling urban centers boasts a plethora of history-revolutionary, maritime, agricultural, industrial, and educational. Truly there is “something for everyone”.
