Welcome to Visit New England - Massachusetts - North of Boston/Merrimack Valley

Great Things to Do in North of Boston/Merrimack Valley

Massachusetts - North of Boston/Merrimack Valley
Seaside beauty, enclaves of art and history tucked just minutes outside Boston

North of Boston, a region comprising legendary names like Salem, Gloucester, Marblehead, Lowell, and Cape Ann, offers an astonishing variety of pleasures, from yachting to whale watching, fine art to Colonial history. In this region, just a few minutes’ drive from Boston, visitors can find fascination tours and excellent dining, with an emphasis on New England seafood.

One of the region’s most recognizable names is Salem, home to the notorious witch trials of 1692. Several museums tell the stories in theatrical detail, and many excellent tour operators explore the places where people were accused of witchcraft and where their troubled ghosts are said to linger. Salem is also home to the Peabody Essex Museum, considered a gem among American art museums, particularly following a recent major expansion. The Peabody Essex is one of the nation’s major museums for Asian art, maritime history and art, and New England culture. People who love Early American literature can visit the places around Salem where the author Nathaniel Hawthorne lived and wrote his classics “The Scarlet Letter” and “House of the Seven Gables.”

Gloucester, on Cape Ann, which is close to the summer whale feeding grounds of Stellwagen Bank, boasts many whale-watching trips, including some captains who guarantee sightings of the magnificent marine mammals. Gloucester’s waterfront needs little description because it is familiar from “The Perfect Storm,” the 2000 movie that described the loss of the Gloucester fishing vessel Andrea Gail in 1991. (A seafaring movie of an earlier generation also filmed in Gloucester in 1937 was “Captains Courageous.”) Finally, for the love of Poseidon, don’t miss the chance to sit down to a lobster dinner in Gloucester.

Marblehead, just 17 miles north of Boston, has arguably the most majestic and beautiful harbor on the Eastern seaboard. Founded as a fishing and maritime community, the beauty of the town attracted summer visitors and yachting enthusiasts in the late 1800s; Marblehead is now known and the “Yachting Capital of America,” and regattas and yacht races proliferate here.

Rockport, lovely Rockport, is surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean and on all sides by beautiful vistas and the artists who love to paint them. This art colony boasts many studios and galleries. The town’s signature image is Motif #1, a picturesque building on Bradley Wharf that has been painted and photographed by artists for generations. Other attractions are Halibut Point State Park, the Paper House, and the Old Castle.

An early chapter of the industrial history of America is on display in the towns of Lawrence and Lowell, where water-powered textile mills proliferated beginning in the early 1800s, with much of the work done by young women from farming communities of the region. Lowell National Historical Park preserves and interprets the history of the American Industrial Revolution in Lowell with displays that include historic cotton textile mills, canals, operating gatehouses, and worker housing. The variety of the region north of Boston is astonishing, and its nearness to Boston makes it an ideal short trip from that capital.

Newburyport is a small coastal city in the region that is laid out on the elevated bank of the Merrimack River, just inland from the Atlantic Ocean. This historic seaport enjoys a vibrant tourism industry today. Homes from Colonial times extend from the bank of the river uphill to High Street. Many of these houses have widow’s walks on the roofs and beautiful, old flower gardens. A major event in Newburyport is the annual Yankee Homecoming, held for one week in midsummer. This town-wide festival includes an art show, antique car parade, live entertainment, a beach party, and historic cemetery tours.

Great Things to Do in North of Boston/Merrimack Valley