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Great Things to Do in Central Massachusetts/Sturbridge

Central Massachusetts and Sturbridge offer a historic village and plenty of pleasures from the farm

The relaxed, slightly hilly topography of this central swath of Massachusetts serves as a home for farms, fruit orchards, and a scattering of interesting and unusual attractions, such as Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum that invites visitors to explore daily life in a small New England farming town in the mid-19th century. The centerpiece of the museum is a re-created rural town of the 1830s set on more than 200 acres of historical landscape, encompassing a center village, mills area, and countryside. While you are in a bucolic mood, visit one of the region’s family-run orchards – Bolton, Carlton, and Keown orchards are prime examples – where you can taste and carry home the fruits of the harvest. The orchards also offer lots of entertainment for people curious about farm life: pick-your-own opportunities, cider pressing demonstrations, tractor-drawn hayrides, birthday parties, pumpkin fields, and retail stores with home-baked goods, honey, and cut flowers, among other delights.

Outdoor fun carries through at Quabbin Reservoir, an 85,000-acre property that contains one of the largest public drinking water supplies in the country. Visitors may fish from the shore or small boats, hike on 250 miles of discontinued roads, and hunt, bird watch, snowshoe, bicycle, and picnic (no swimming or dogs). The state Department of Conservation and Recreation is the place to go for more information. For skiing and winter sports, hike yourself over to Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in the town of Princeton. If children or animal lovers or both are part of the vacationing group, don’t miss a stop at Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon, which bills itself as the largest zoo in New England. Finally, here’s a bit of information about Central Massachusetts that could put your score over the top in some future trivia contest: Clark University in Worcester, the region’s principal city, is the only place in the United States where Sigmund Freud ever lectured (in 1909) as part of a series of scholarly presentations on the occasion of the university’s anniversary.

Great Things to Do in Central Massachusetts/Sturbridge