Lovely and welcoming staff at Historic New England. They keep the tour at a good pace and we…read moreexplored 3 floors of this mansion. It is well kept and easy to navigate. (It is focused on the last two generations of Phillips who lived here.) There is a lot of stuff to see and it has hepa filters along with a/c and one bathroom for use. Street parking is easily available, but look carefully at the posted signs as some is reserved for residents.

One of the best tour guides/docents I've ever had for a historic tour…read more We were the only guests in our tour and one of us got in free (thanks to a Yelp check-in deal I didn't discover until we were walking in). So despite that, the guide gave it his all, kept us inundated with facts and stories about the house and its former occupants, tailoring the tour to our questions as they emerged. I know nothing about the Phillips House before the tour. No--it has nothing to do with the Salem Witch Trials! It's just an old historic town that is completely perfectly preserved, it was owned by one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Salem. I'm not an architecture junky, more a history fan, but this place thoroughly kept my attention and was very enjoyable. I particularly like that the docent took the time to tour us through the garage as well. If you're interested in history, architecture, beautiful houses or all of the above I highly recommend adding the Phillips House to your Salem itinerary.

A little traveling exhibit currently at the Boch Center Wang Theater in Boston, located in the…read morebasement, there are historic artifacts telling the story of music in the US. From old folk songs to modern outfits (curated by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music, by the way), to Prince to Elvis, you'll get a bit of the glamour of old outfits, some TV movie and interactive song elements and a drum set from Springsteen. We had the benefit of two guides for the exhibit while doing an event upstairs, but you could check out the plaques, they describe the outfits and pieces quite well. Photos and music books and artifacts from days past. The exhibit opened on February 12, 2026, and tickets are at https://www.folkamericanarootshalloffame.org/

Amazing history, amazing clock and a wealth of history. Take the tour and learn so much. If you…read morelove the mechanics, cloaks or watches go here and enjoy.

Beverly Snow and Sarah (the tour guide) are amazing. The tour was informative and entertaining…read more Visiting this place sure is a blast in the past! The exhibit has many artifacts and beautiful hand crafted clocks throughout time. This historical home in Grafton is worth a visit! We look forward being members.

The Alcott's called this "Hillside" and lived here from 1845-1952. Many of the experiences Louisa…read morelater wrote about in Little Women happened at Wayside.The Alcott family aided at least 1 escaped slave to hide out here for a few weeks as part of the Underground Railroad. Nathaniel Hawthorne bought it in 1852, renamed it Wayside, and added the highest structure. He was now neighbors with the Alcott's who moved into the Orchard house just a 2-3 minute walk away. Emerson and Thoreau were frequent visitors and lived close by (it was said Louisa could see Walden Pond from her bedroom window at Orchard House). Just so many incredible connections of historical significance in Concord! This is designated as a National Historical landmark. It was not opened for tours when we visited in November. The website it says it's closed on all holidays as well as Aug 29-June 1, so plan ahead if you would like to go inside. Free designated parking area right across the street.

In late May, The Wayside is still closed because of the pandemic. No tours available. But you can…read morestill stop by and look at the outside. The Wayside is a historic house in Concord, Massachusetts. The earliest part of the home may date to 1717. Later it successively became the home of the young Louisa May Alcott and her family, who named it Hillside, author Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family, and children's writer Margaret Sidney. It became the first site with literary associations acquired by the National Park Service and is now open to the public as part of Minute Man National Historical Park. Louisa May Alcott is best known for her book Little Women and then the follow up Little Men. Nathaniel Hawthorne's best known works are The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. Margaret Sidney was a children's book writer but is also known as the founder of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Alcott family used the home as a stop on the Underground Railroad. There is a dedicated parking lot for the home across the street and a crosswalk that drivers are *supposed* to stop for. [Review 15234 overall, 736 of 2021, number 1094 in Massachusetts.]

my brother and I visited Lexington, and enjoyed an amazing day of learning. We ended our tour at…read morethe Hancock Clark , and I'm glad we did. Even when we arrived close to the end of the day, our curator Carol still took us through the and treated us with such professionalism. Thank you, Lexington Historical Society for all that you do.

For the package deal of $15 you can visit this house and two others (Buckman Tavern and Munroe…read moreTavern), otherwise it's $8 per house. This house was probably the most extensive tour of the 3 - it starts with a 10 minute video introducing you to what happened that morning in April 1775. You're then brought into the well-kept house by a guide who introduces you to this beautiful home built by Thomas Clark, a wealthy book maker, for his parents who were in ministry. You can hear how much thought, money, and planning was put into the house through the guide's stories. This house is known for housing John Hancock and Samuel Adams on the big night - they were on the run with rewards on their heads. They escaped right in the nick of time when Paul Revere came to warn them to get out. It's absolutely fantastic to be able to see the original architecture and imagine the history that went on there. Guides are very informative and very enthusiastic about the house and everything in it. I'd recommend doing the package deal - the tickets never expire so even if you don't get to all 3 and want to come back another time or give the tickets to someone else to use, you can do that!

It was a bright and hot Sunday in August, the 17 year old granddaughter was scrolling on her phone,…read moreI declared we're going to a museum not far away, she said " really? Don't wanna". So we arrived, parked in the shade and took the elevator to the 2nd floor. This was my first time here and it won't be the last. I was amazed, she was almost amazed.

Now located on the FSU campus on the north side of Rt 9. Ample parking lot. Admission is $7 per…read moreadult. But you can get free library passes that admit 4 adults at no charge. Small museum. We did the whole museum in about 45 minutes. Pieces from the permanent collection on display. And a few special exhibits. It's the rotating special exhibits that will keep me coming back.

We love poking around Machine Age and have been shopping and browsing in this place for years. We…read morelove mid-century design and clean, contemporary home and office style. This is a great place to get interesting ideas. Think of designs by Eames, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Breuer, Saarinen, etc to get an idea of the style. Even if you don't want your whole house furnished in this way, one or two pieces often fit in amazingly well with other kinds of decor. Think of this like a store/museum. Even if you don't buy anything, it's a pleasure to walk around appreciating the aesthetic. Many of those designers of yesteryear simply blow my mind.

On the search for a small dresser and a small side table, my husband and I Yelped upon Machine Age…read more It was way easier finding this place on Yelp than it was in person! However, with the phone assistance of the lovely shop attendant, we finally made it to our destination, free parking and all (I know - in Southie nonetheless!). I have to mention how friendly and welcoming the shop girls were, she was very helpful on the phone and pleasant in person once we made it there as well. Very nice! The shop is a very large open floor showcasing a vast collection of beautiful furniture. I use the term 'beautiful' loosely though - while this furniture is in tip-top shape and well polished or refurbished from another era, we discovered it is just not our taste. I was hoping there might be some older pieces; as far as vintage goes, my taste is more early 1900's than mid-century modern. So I came out a tad disappointed. I should have taken from the reviews that it was all they had to offer, but hey, a girl can hope! But all this is not to say that what they do offer isn't a great selection of high quality and EXPENSIVE retro furniture and decor. It most certainly is. A $2,000 foldable leather stool? Got it. A $10,000 piece of art (from listed but unknown artist)? Right above your head. A garage-sale looking (to the untrained eye, at least) 1960's dinette set that'll run you $5,000? That way, my lady. Walking through this warehouse of furnishings from another era, I suddenly began to feel like I should either (A) be pulling a green bean casserole out of the oven after gathering my laundry off the clothesline out back and calling the kids into dinner or (B) blowing a line of coke off one of the glass-top dining tables and subsequently staring into a lava lamp with the Doors or Pink Floyd blasting in the background. Thankfully neither of those scenarios manifested themselves and I made it out of there and stepped back into the twenty-first century. Empty handed, and for two reasons - I can't afford a single piece of furniture in that warehouse and frankly, while I can appreciate the collection, it is simply not in my wheelhouse of home design. Worth a visit even just for entertainment and to intrigue one's imagination - or of course, if you're good on cash flow and into this sort of thing.

Free Art museum at Wellesley?? Yes please!…read more Davis museum is a quaint little museum tucked inside the Wellesley campus. VERY limited parking (Guestimate: enough for 6 cars.) Clean, modern. White walls, cement stairs and an elevator. They have a Monet! I only has 20 minutes to quickly wander and take in a little art. I quickly asked the guys at the check in deck and one offered to take us around. He started with showing us numbered/limited edition prints of Keith Herring and Picasso. Then he took us to Monet. After Monet, we just wandered, quickly. I got to walk by each piece and I loved the column/stained glass room. Overall, a great little place to visit.

Visited the Davis yesterday. Awesome reinstallation. African sculptures next to Roman ones, so…read moreyou can think about how different cultures represent the human body and why they even made these works of arts. Fascinating. I spent an hour watching Gordon Matta-Clark videos. Very cool! I'm looking forward to two Indian exhibitions this Spring - so will take a trip back when the weather gets nicer so I can wander around the beautiful campus as well. There happened to be a reading by Nigerian author Chris Abani and Cuban author Achy Obejas - so caught that after touring through the museum. WOW! Intense stuff. And it was all free!