Central Massachusetts has lots of rural and historic things to see and do

As a college art gallery, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery’s mission is to promote the intellectual and cultural life of the College of the Holy Cross and greater community by exploring the fundamental intellectual, cultural, spiritual and aesthetic issues encountered through the visual arts. Through a series of exhibitions throughout the academic year, enhanced by receptions, guest lectures, readings, and students’ presentations, you’ll always find something of interest. Current exhibition information and hours of operation can be found on the gallery’s website.

This central Massachusetts museum is considered one of the finest mid-sized museums in the country. Follow history’s path through 50 centuries of the world’s antiquities, paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, decorative arts, arms and armor. December 2018 brings an interactive art installation that will infuse the winter season with brilliant light and color during the Museum’s Holidays at WAM programming.

One of Massachusetts’ 50 great things to do has 50 great things all its own to enjoy when you arrive at this celebrated living history destination, one of the nation’s largest. Settle in at the Old Sturbridge Inn or Reeder Family Lodges. Savor authentic New England cuisine, cozy rooms and fireplaces, and delicious sweets from Ye Old Bake Shoppe. Then step into the 18th century and watch and participate in what people did then. Costumed interpreters will guide your visit on foot, on a stagecoach or standing beside a potter’s wheel or the blacksmith’s forge, or meeting with farmers and their animals at work. The 19th century is here, too, in 40 antique homes, buildings and water-powered mills in this most scenic town. Open year-round. Seasonal hours may vary.

A bear and stag hunt from the 6th century BC portrayed in a giant floor mosaic. How hard would it be to get kids involved in games and explorations of this piece of artwork, speaking to them across 26 centuries? This glorious mosaic floor, excavated from a home in Antioch that was destroyed by an earthquake in 526 AD, is a centerpiece exhibit at Worcester Art Museum in Worcester and also the topic of a Family Guide exploration. A brochure invites kids to count animals and sketch the mosaic. Can you think of a better way to get your kids loving art and history?

On winter weekends, Salem Cross Inn at 260 West Main Street in West Brookfield hosts a series of 1700s-style fireplace feasts , prepared on the open hearth of their fieldstone fireplace. Relax by the fire or lend a hand as dinner is prepared in Colonial style. Stir the chowder as it bubbles in our cast iron cauldron. See your prime rib, roasted "to a turn" over a roasting Jack. Browse the extensive collection of Colonial and Federal period American antiques. The menu for the Fireplace Feast includes hearty traditional New England fare. A fish entrée is available during Lent. Tickets must be ordered online in advance. 508-867-2345

The Worcester Common Oval at 455 Main Street in Worcester is open for public ice skating Friday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m. and weekends from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays (more hours on school vacation weeks). Enjoy some uncommonly cool time with family and friends! Inexpensive admission and skate rentals! Phone ahead for rink closures in case of bad skating weather. 508-929-0777.

Fruitlands Museum at 102 Prospect Hill Road in Harvard is a bucolic property with a farmhouse, Shaker Museum, and a Native American Museum, welcomes all outdoors people of any age to enjoy it hills and trails on sleds, snowshoes, and cross-country skis during its Frozen Fruitlands time, every Saturday and Sunday from January through March. Bring winter boots, sleds, snowshoes, or cross-country skis and explore lots of hills and woodland trails. A crackling fire will be burning outside the Wayside Gallery and hot chocolate will be available inside. Take a break from the cold in Wayside Living Room with cozy seating, children’s books, and games. 978-456-3924.

To say the TubaSlide at Ski Ward ski area in Shrewsbury is “fun” is an understatement! Tubing is a great activity for all levels. It is affordable, easy to do, and requires no special equipment (tubes are provided). So grab a tube, hold on and have a blast. Ski Ward offers five tuba slide lanes with two lifts. Tube users must be age six or older and at least 42 inches tall. Phone: 508-842-6346.

Crafts people will demonstrate dressmaking, shoemaking, medical care, basketmaking, gun smithing, cabinet making, coopering pottery making and even gravestone carving as these essential skills were done in places like Deerfield. See schedule for specific demos, offered on weekends from October 3 to December 12, 2015. Fun for the kids, too. 413-774-5581.

Within the 400 acres of woods, fields, streams, and marsh at Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary at 414 Massasoit Road in Worcester, visitors can hike, cross-country ski, watch birds, look for butterflies, prowl for owls, or learn to snowshoe. The center has a large 3-D model of the sanctuary and a huge map of the Blackstone River watershed. Nature gifts, children’s books, field guides, are available at the center, which also serves as a visitor site for the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. Trails are open daily, dawn to dusk. Phone: 508-753-6087.