Yes it's abandoned. Yes it's decrepit. But something about seeing the abandoned pink house on the…read moreway to Plum Island - you know you are there. You can't visit it. You can only look at it from the road. It's eerily beautiful. Alone out in the salt marsh.

Although it looks small from the outside someone who appreciates history will enjoy walking through…read morethe quaint museum (free) and checking out the dam with a ginormous fish who surfaces here and there. Cute little gazebo so you can sit and read or hang

AN ABSOLUTELY MUST DO! THE HILLTOP 67 FOOT NEON CACTUS SIGN HAS BEEN RESTORED TO IT'S FORMER GLORY…read moreDAYS & LIGHTS UP RT. 1 WITH ITS ORIGINAL GREEN BRILLIANCE ONCE AGAIN. IT IS BEAUTIFUL & CONTINUES TO SHINE WITH ITS VINTAGE 60's VIBE THAT LOOKS LIKE IT IS STRAIGHT OUT OF VINTAGE LAS VEGAS. This is a Perfect Example of what a Great Restoration project looks like with Adaptive Use for a new purpose & generation. It is impressive during the day but WOWS you at night! You have to see it from afar & then stop & see it up close especially at night. It's FREE! It is located right outside the 110 Grill in Saugus. When people think of Boston they always think of the Citgo Sign at Fenway Park, but there are other very notable signs & one of them is the Hilltop Cactus Sign. First of all it is MASSIVE towering at 67 foot tall. The Hilltop Steak House was a very famous restaurant on Rt1 in Saugus from back in the 60's. People would see that Giant Cactus Sign & it would beckon them to stop in to get a bite to eat. Customers would wait in long lines near the cows for their room & number to be called over the loudspeaker like #92 Kansas City. Then you would go into the restaurant to your designated room & seat & table. The restaurant was HUGE! The Hilltop was one of the busiest restaurants in all of America at its peak serving 20,000 patrons each week. At its pinnacle it served more than 2 million people. This lasted for decades. Delicious Huge Portions of Food for a Good Price. They were known for their Steaks & Prime Rib. Finally the quality of the food went down hill & in 2013 they closed. The Hilltop still has a warm fuzzy soft spot for many people today. In 1966, Frank Giuffrida the owner hired Mack Advertising Inc., to create a new sign for the Hilltop restaurant. Many designs were considered until they decided upon the Giant Cactus. The 67-foot sign contains nearly a half mile of neon tubing. Woahhh! The Barlow Sign Comoany in Hudson New Hampshire meticulously restored this Vintage Jolly Green Giant of a Cactus. Where the restaurant once stood is a mixed use space of residential housing of 280 apartments & retail & restaurants. Instead of knocking down the sign & putting it in some landfill; now it serves a useful purpose for lighting up the city & as a sign for the new community & businesses while still holding on to it's glorious past history. WHAT A BRILLIANT RESTORATION! You have to stop on by. And for those famous cows they have also been rescued. See my review of The Hilltop Steak House Cows located not too far from here in Lynnfield MA. It used to be, you had to have Mega Bucks & be really Rich to have the Good Life, not anymore. The Game has changed. You've been Upgraded. Now You Can Live Like a King on a Limited Budget!

A MUST DO! A FREE EVENT & FREE NEARBY PARKING! This is one of the Secret Hidden Gems of America…read more Westford Knight is an interesting site located in Westford MA outside of Boston. It is a mix of Fact, Fiction, Folklore & what do you see on that rock - all wrapped into one. Historians have pondered the mysterious etchings on the rock. Did a Native American artist create this or does this go back even further in time? A medieval battle sword is believed to be visible on the rock's ledge. Some people also see the outlines of a medieval knight in full battle regalia, holding a shield in one hand & a sword pointed downward in the other hand. The image supposedly identifies him as a Knight Templar. Some individuals believe the carving is evidentiary proof of the Scottish explorer Prince Henry Sinclair's visit to America. Legend has it that Sinclair followed in the footsteps of the Vikings & in 1398 crossed the Atlantic & made his way south to Nova Scotia & then to New England. That is a hundred years before Columbus. The Westford Knight carving has been showcased on the Discovery, History, & Travel Channels with their documentary programs. In 2013 there was also a feature film. There's more info but those are the main highlights. Until the science evolves & more accurate testing can be done & properly dated we can't be sure of any anecdotal evidence, heresay or what people think they see. So Christopher Columbus you have been saved; nothing to worry about at least for the time being. LOL! Not to diminish what Columbus did, but were there explorers from other civilizations that came here first? Could this be the new Plymouth Rock? Or is it a Bust? Hopefully in the near future, science will evolve & we will have the technology to test & answer those questions & others for sure. The Exploration & the Mystery is very Exciting & part of the discovery journey. You always hear about fantastic finds being uncovered in Egypt with the pyramids; not as much in America. It's being done but it's just not being promoted nor front page news. I'm giving this place 4 Stars but if they find out this is indeed legit I will automatically upgrade to 5 Stars. There is now a full scale statue here that instead of standing upright, is lying down on his back. Many people pass by here & don't even know this place even exists on Depot Street, near the Abbott School. The site just doesn't jump out at you. To make it worth your trip, there is an EXCELLENT place you can eat nearby called Kimball Farms also in Westford. It is a family owned & operated Entertainment Complex, Dining, & Country Store since 1939. They are Famous for their Homemade DELICIOUS Ice Cream. They serve oversized portions of ice cream that people travel from miles around to enjoy. You can read my review of Kimball Farms for more details. It used to be, you had to have Mega Bucks & be really Rich to have the Good Life, not anymore. The Game has changed. You've been Upgraded. Now You Can Live Like a King on a Limited Budget!

Having grown up in Winchester, I always loved driving by the Town Hall because of how beautiful it…read moreis, but turns out its facade is the ONLY thing good about it. My fiancee and I attempted to go apply for our intent to marriage license. Online, all it said that we needed was our IDs and both of our presences at the Town Hall. I should know. I checked at least once a week for the past two months. So much was my surprise when we entered the entirely empty office and are told that it would take two whole weeks for them to process a single email and to make an appointment to complete the state application for a marriage license. Massachusetts already has a three day waiting period so we'd be SOL. The absolutely unhelpful clerks- all three of them- wouldn't look my fiancee and I in the eye as they turned us down. They couldn't help us, even though when we got there, they were gossiping like mean girls in a COMPLETELY EMPTY office. Mind you, every single town around us has the appointment requirement explicitly listed on their website. The whole experience was awful and the clerks were rude. DO NOT GO HERE.

The Town Hall of Winchester, Massachusetts. A gorgeous old building. Recently restored, as well…read moreas a new veteran memorial just outside, this beautiful building is at the heart of Winchester. They've managed to keep it's exterior intact while updating the interior, and it all just looks awesome. The main hall inside is big enough for medium-sized events. They held the first Octoberfest there last fall. Elections are held here, many public services can be found here. It's a great office in a beautiful location with free parking all around.

Beautiful house on the Salem witch tour. Accessible to walk up to at all times. Enjoyed this stopread more

Night photo may have gotten a ghost! Very cool area to explore and kept in great conditionread more

This farm house was formerly located elsewhere. It once belonged to an African American family in…read morethe 1800's. At that time slavery had been abolished for quite some time in Massachusetts, so they would have been considered "free blacks" until 1865 when all slaves were formally emancipated in the USA. I didn't get to see the inside of this house but walked around the outside. I estimate that this house is roughly 16' x 32'. It looks like there is a tiny second floor area. From the front it looks probably much like it did when it was first built. The back has a wheelchair ramp, a piece of metal contemporary art and an air conditioning unit in one window. There is a large bell, some seating, and an informative sign out front. It is not owned by the National Parks but is right next to the parking lot for the North Bridge. It would be easy to visit the bridge and the Old Manse (owned by the trustees) at the same time. While this house is not grand, like the Old Manse, it is important to acknowledge how all Americans have lived, whether their ancestors were born on American soil, chose to start a new life here, or were forced to.

The Robbins House Docent dressed in period costume was excellent, storytelling on the lawn in front…read moreof the 1823 Farmhouse* to a rapt audience on a lovely Summer afternoon. She cited such little-known facts as:: In 1641, Massachusetts was the 1st American Colony to legalize Slavery, as well as the 1st State to ban Slavery in 1783. John Hancock was a Slave Owner. Hmmmm . . . Some were led to believe that Slavery was strictly a Southern thing . . . Granted, The South was slow to enforce Abolition . . . *Restored & relocated to this site in 2011.

I've had a decades long relationship with northern Essex County, but always being a passenger…read moreinstead of a diver I had some erroneous concepts about borders and boundaries. For instance I thought north of the Gillis Bridge was New Hampshire. Well, after my last visit I not only disabused myself of that misconception as a driver, but as a walker. As drawbridge for automobile traffic it's an average span, but as Elmer's review from 2010 notes, it's a (now) great, but not perfect bridge for pedestrian traffic. There is a small parking lot on the Salisbury side at the Eastern March Trail trailhead which has 1.4 miles of beautiful salt marsh scenery. There is a walkway leading south to the west side of the bridge, under it with several paintings and "Humphrey" a whale made from rebar, then north to the east side of the bridge and the pedestrian walkway. I crossed about 9am in mid-August so there wasn't a ton of automobile traffic on the bridge. That helped with my mild vertigo, but the walkway is only about 4 feet wide and the railing seemed to be about 3 to 3.5 feet high. The plus side is even when it's foggy you get some spectacular views of marinas and harbor. At the south end of the bridge you do the reverse of the north end - north on east side, west under bridge, south on west side which then leads you to the Clipper City Rail trail that has more public art than one could hope for and which terminates at the Newburyport T station. If one is staying in the vicinity of the harbor, one could easily walk to the station and travel into Boston.

There's plenty to see at the Gillis Bridge, which crosses the Merrimack River via US-1 between…read moreNewburyport and Salisbury, Massachusetts. (see photos) While the bridge itself provides good service to vehicular traffic, it's pedestrian access leaves much to be desired. Constructed in 1976, the bridge was named after gas station owner, Andrew Jackson "Bossy" Gillis, who served several (not always consecutive) terms as Mayor of Newburyport from the 1920's to 1960. A network of bike trails converge at the Gillis Bridge. The East Cost Greenway is like the I-95 of bike trails, connecting (at least on paper) the Canadian border at Calais, Maine, with Key West, Florida. In addition, the Old Eastern Marsh Trail, the Newburyport Harborwalk Rail Trail and the Clipper City Rail Trail all connect to the bridge. An upcoming construction project in 2011 on the Salisbury side will add a pathway under the bridge as an alternative to crossing busy 4-lane US-1. Unfortunately, there's only one narrow sidewalk on the Eastern side of the bridge, and walking across the draw span is a little spooky. But there are interesting parks at either side of the Gillis Bridge that are worth visiting. On the Salisbury Side, informative signs tell the history of rail and road bridges at this location on the Merrimack River. An abandoned railroad bridge remains relatively intact, parallel to the Gillis Bridge. It would be nice if someday the rail bridge could be used for the trailway, but it would be expensive to implement because it's swing span would need to be operable. On the Newburyport side, there are lovely little "park areas" along the pathways, with interesting sculpture and other artwork to enjoy. One of the nicest features are the most comfortable park benches I've ever seen! They're sort of like recliners, and have extra little things to put your feet up on and relax while taking in spectacular views of the Merrimack River. Better pedestrian access over the bridge would give it at least another star. But even as it is, the Gillis Bridge is a very nice place to stop and enjoy a bit of Massachusetts history with riparian entertainment.