1. Lowell National Historic Park
City: Lowell, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (978) 970-5000
Address: 246 Market St.
Insider Pick:
Description: The advent of water-powered factory mills along the Merrimack River catapulted a young agricultural US into the Industrial Age. The first Lowell cotton mill opened in 1823 and by the 1850s nearly 40 brick mill factory buildings operated here. The Lowell National Historic Park is urban with buildings spread over several blocks in downtown Lowell. Start at the visitor center (246 Market St.) to get maps and plan your day. Check out the schedule of free ranger-led walking and trolley tours offered daily. You can also buy tickets for the ranger-led canal cruise tours. The Boott Cotton Mills Museum (115 John St.) is the park’s principal attraction, where the sound of 88 cloth-weaving looms is deafening (earplugs are provided). In the museum gift shop you can buy a souvenir dishtowel made from the fabric produced here. You can also visit a worker boardinghouse (40 French St.) and hear stories from one-time “Mill Girls” and immigrant workers to get a sense of what it was like to work in the factories. In the summer be sure to take the canal cruise. The ingenuity of the 6-mile system of waterways that made possible the operation of the mills is fascinating.
2. New England Quilt Museum
City: Lowell, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (978) 452-4208
Address: 18 Shattuck St.
Description: If you are nimble with a thimble, you will love this museum. Just a short walk from the Lowell National Historic Park, this museum is devoted to quilts as both craft and art. The main gallery displays a rotating selection of the museum’s permanent collection of 400+ pieces representing both traditional and contemporary quilt-making. Among the museum’s holdings are early-American indigo quilts, late 19th-century Amish geometrics, and dazzling modern collage wall hangings. Recent themed shows have included “African-American Quilts Today” and “Campaigns and Commemoratives: Quilts for Presidents.” The museum shop is a terrific resource and features gifts, quilting supplies, and consigned one-of-a-kind finished quilts. The museum also offers workshops and quilting classes for adults and children. Open Tues through Sat 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sun May through Oct noon to 4 p.m.
3. Whistler House Museum Of Art
City: Lowell, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (978) 452-7641
Address: 243 Worthen St.
Description: “I shall be born when and where I want, and I do not choose to be born in Lowell.” The artist James McNeil Whistler may not have been proud of his birthplace, but Lowell is tremendously proud of Whistler. This simple 1823 clapboard house is where Whistler was born and is now the home of the Lowell Art Association. The museum’s small permanent collection focuses on late 19th- and 20th-century artists from New England. Among the more familiar artists represented are Frank Weston Benson and William Morris Hunt. Although the museum does not own a Whistler painting, it does have a very nice collection of his etchings. The Parker Gallery behind the house expands the museum’s exhibit space with juried members’ shows, so there are always new discoveries to be made.
4. Paul E. Tsongas Center At Umass Lowell
City: Lowell, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (978) 934-5760
Address: 300 Martin L. King Jr. Way
Description: The Tsongas Center is home ice for UMass Lowell ice hockey and programs everything from business conventions to local high school graduations in an adaptable space that ranges from 6,500 to 7,800 seats. Shows include major rock and pop acts as well as touring family shows, such as the Harlem Globetrotters and Scooby Doo Live.
5. Lowell Folk Festival
City: Lowell, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (978) 970-5000
Description: Tap your toes to zydeco, klezmer, polka, mariachi, and the blues at the country’s largest free folk festival, which is held on 6 outdoor stages the last full weekend in July. The festival’s food offerings are another highlight, reflecting Lowell’s cultural diversity with dishes from Liberia, Laos, Greece, and more.