North East US
Boston , MA
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617-723-0300 http://www.museumofscience.org It could be the class act of science museums. It certainly ranks among the best in the nation, with hands-on displays, courses for children and an on-site staffed library. When you visit, be sure to see the demonstration of the huge static electric generator. It is easy to get lost in the exhibits: the big dig or the optical illusions. More than a museum, it is a bastion of accessible science in the midst of the city.
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Freedom Trail
617-242-5642 BOST_Email@nps.gov The Freedom Trail is something of a concoction of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, though it is successful because there is plenty of value in connecting a number of unique historical sites. The walk is rather easy, with plenty of places to stop. The subway is always close by, too. Tours are offered by the Freedom Trail Foundation (617-357-8300). August 2004 |
The trail passes numerous places enshrined in Faneuil Hall; Paul Revere House; Old North Church; Bunker Hill, where you, too, can charge if your constitution is strong; USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides”.. |
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Paul Revere House The Paul Revere Memorial Association 617-523-2338 http://www.paulreverehouse.org August 2004 |
This house went through several owners and Paul Revere may never have even lived in it, but it has been restored to model a 17th century home. The conveniences, or lack thereof, are an eye-opener to modern children. |
August 2004 |
This is the church immortalized in Longfellow’s Paul
Revere’s Ride. Properly called |
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http://www.nps.gov/bost/Bunker_Hill.htm August 2004 |
The story of the battle of |
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USS Constitution Commanding Officer (617) 242 - 7511 http://www.ussconstitution.navy.mil/ USS Constitution Museum http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/ The USS Constitution is still a commissioned Navy vessel. Impressive how low-tech everything was then. Actually, the most impressive part is how small those old sailing vessels were. August 2004 |
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Near Boston , MA
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Mayflower II Plimoth Plantation 508-746-1622 The Mayflower II is a replica of the original Mayflower. It is something of a historical curiosity. Yet it was the Boeing 747 of its day. August 2004 |
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Plymouth Rock August 2004 |
The Mayflower passengers and crew do not mention a specific rock in their diaries, but the legend persists that this is the place where they disembarked. It is good for tourism. |
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Minute Man National Historical Park
This park encompasses the long trail followed by the
British regulars out from August 2004 |
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Salem Witch Museum 978-744-1692 http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/ As easy as it would have been to produce a silly
supernatural-slanted spookfest, the August 2004 |
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New England Pirate Museum 978-741-2800 In the early, lawless days of
the European exploration of August 2004 |
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New England
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603-436-8043 This small science center located near August 2004 |
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Portland Observatory http://www.portlandlandmarks.org This is not an astronomical observatory, but rather a tower for watching for approaching trading ships from colonial days. The merchant watching from the tower could know what goods were arriving and arrange quick unloading. There was significant renovation going on at the time of our visit. August 2004 |
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White Mountain National Forest
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/white/ Crawford Notch http://www.nhstateparks.org/ParksPages/ http://www.VisitWhiteMountains.com August 2004 |
This national forest is near huge Eastern population
centers and provides recreation and getaways for large numbers of visitors
every year. The forest is rather
well-developed by the standards of those who are familiar with national
forests in the Western part of the |
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American Precision Museum 196 Main Street, http://www.americanprecision.org/ The building is packed with historic machine tools. You even get to watch some of them work. Though somewhat off the beaten track, this is a really fun place. You could spend hours playing with the toys or just seeing the link from hand-tooling to modern assembly-line precision machining took place. This museum has it all. The museum is carrying on a building renovation program. Hopefully the smell of fine machine oil will remain. August 2004 |
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Old Sturbridge Village This is a reenactment, re-creation of an 18th century village. Actors/docents remain in character as they describe their homes and places of business. The most interesting places for us were the working waterwheel-driven sawmill and the blacksmith shop. These were clearly not try-it-yourself stops, but how great would that be to give it it a try. August 2004 |
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Project Oceanology 800-364-8472 Project Oceanology provides a hands-on introduction to – what else – oceanology on a half-day trip on Long Island Sound. Participants take on responsibility for specific measurements, such as water temperature, color or salinity; run the drag nets and study the animals collected from the bottom. A couple hours of hands-on experience is worth more than months in a classroom! Ideal for families and scout troops. August 2004 |
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Mystic Aquarium & Institute
for Exploration 860.572.5955 http://www.mysticaquarium.org/ The belugas behind their huge windows are probably the
highlight of the aquarium. The
exploration part of the house works with Robert Ballard – of Titanic
exploration fame, so exhibits include his recent activity: PT109 and ancient August 2004 |
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Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut is a historical shipyard that has been refurbished, and is constantly refurbishing historic ships. The town itself is recreated and there are workers who interact as if you have walked into the shipyard in its prime. When visited, the shipyard was in the middle of restorations to the Mayflower II, a to scale reproduction of the Mayflower. In addition to the shipyard, there is a small planetarium. 2020 |
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Peabody Museum of Natural History
203-432-5426 203-432-5050 recording This is a very accessible museum with an impressive crystal collection. The enormous murals on the age of mammals and the age of reptiles are not to be missed (how could you miss them?). The timeline of human evolution shows skull changes through time, and the computer-assisted comparative paleontology exhibit really ought to be a required web site for all middle-schoolers. August 2004 |
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Glass House, Norwalk, CT. Glass House is one of if not the best place to visit if in Norwalk CT. It is located just outside of town, and was the home of Phillip Johnson. Knowing very little about the architectural history of the house, and the Bauhaus movement in architecture did not detract from the surprising nature of the property. Phillip Johnson spent his whole life meticulously sculpting the landscape of his property to his liking such that every aspect of the scenery was just the way he liked it, and this can definitely be seen in the landscape. My only regret about visiting the Glass House when I did is that we could not enter it and walk around to experience the lot in its fullest. 2020 |
East Rock Loop Trail (Soldiers and Sailors
Monument), New Haven, CT. Short hike up to an overlook over the city of New Haven. At the summit there are multiple informational stops describing the formation of the New Haven geology due glacier flow in the region. In addition to that, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument graces the peak, describing the good luck of which sculpture faces your home. It also speaks to how important to the early new Haveners the sailors and solders of the area were that they would sculpt them into their monument. 2020 |
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PEZ Visitor Center, Orange, CT. The PEZ visitor center is an exciting stop off highway 95. What might first sound like a boring room full of candy dispensers is actually a very interesting journey through the history and development of PEZ from its early origins in Austria through the manufacturing in New Haven CT. In addition to the history, you also have access to almost every PEZ dispenser ever created, so peel your eyes and pick your favorite! Cost of admission comes with a credit for use in the gift shop you also get to leave with a dispenser of your own! Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area! 2020 |
Robert Frost Grave at Old First Church, Bennington,
VT. If you are a fan of Robert Frost, it is worth taking this road and stepping out of the car to visit his grave. Nor far from the church you can read a few of his poems and pay your respects. Not a lot to do in Bennington, but this is up there on the list. 2020 |
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Springfield Museums, Springfield, MA. A cluster of 5 different museums; Fine Arts, Art, Springfield History, Science, and Dr. Seuss museums. There was too much to do here for one afternoon, and as such we were unable to visit the museum on Springfield history. That said, the entrance grant visitors’ access to so many differing sights and information that this ranks highly on the list of things to do in the Hartford/ Springfield area. Local science deals a lot with dinosaur footprints based on migration paths, and this is definitely mentioned in the exhibits, but in addition there is an extensive wing dedicated to local animals, which have been stuffed to provide very interesting exhibits. The Fine Art Museum was taken from a local Springfield resident’s personal collection, but even still has a wide range of styles though did not leave an impression. The Art Museum however was much more enthralling and provides multiple hours’ worth of perusing. The art is not specific to any one style, artist, or period which makes for very varied viewing. The Dr. Seuss exhibit was a nice addition the typical hits that people attend, but if you do not have an interest in Dr. Seuss before visiting, this exhibit will likely not interest you. There is a disappointing lack of information on the early life of Dr. Seuss with a heavier emphasis on the later years, and his family relationships. This is understandable as the whole exhibit was assembled by his step-daughter and contains many personal letters between Dr Seuss and his children. 2020 |
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New York , NY
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350 Before the age of International Style glass-sided
skyscrapers, the August 2004 |
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World Trade Center West-Church-Vesey-Liberty Streets This is currently a construction site. The destruction of
August 2004 |
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Association for Computing Machinery One 1515 Broadway 17th Floor 212-869-7440 August 2004 |
The ACM sponsors education in electronics and computer science. Their work is primarily in professional training: conferences, journals and magazines. We met with Donna Baglio regarding projects of mutual interest. |
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Statue of Liberty National Monument The Statue of Liberty has all the glamour, but August 2004 |
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United Nations Secretariat Building
August 2004 |
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Central Park Engineers are remembered at engineer’s gate on the east
side of August 2004 |
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Queens Zoo Queens, NY 2023-04 The aviary is worth the visit alone. A large number of birds that come very close to the path with easy cards to identify them with. Possibly expand, or add
more facts about each of the animals. |
Queens Botanical Garden Queens, NY 2023-04 Pretty tulips. We came in the spring time and all the flowers were in full bloom. Felt like a nice park, but not quite like a botanical garden with lots of variety in the plants and flowers on display. |
Philadelphia, PA
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Independence National Historical Park
The park includes Independence Hall, where the Declaration
of Independence and the Constitution were written; the August 2004 |
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Betsy Ross House American Flag House & Betsy Ross
Memorial 215-686-1252 http://www.betsyrosshouse.org/ This was the house of one of legendary women of the revolution. The tour shows a typical house of the period. More interesting were the demonstrations and re-enactments outdoors in the courtyard. August 2004 |
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Ben Franklin Court Market Street between 3rd and http://www.nps.gov/inde/franklin-court.html August 2004 |
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Pennsylvania
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Punxsutawny, PA. Gobbler's Knob. Learn about the unique history of Punxsutawney Phil, and the history of Groundhog Day. There is a nature trail on the knob which names some of the local fauna, and more information about the Inner Circle (keepers of Punxsutawney Phil) and Groundhog Day. You need to get beyond the campy Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center. Nice science museum with a focus on weather in the town of Punxsutawney. Scavenger hunt through the exhibits for children to remain engaged, along with a myriad of facts on animals being capable of detecting shifts in the weather to go along with the Groundhog Day theme. Further focus on natural disasters, and their destructive nature and general preparedness. Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society. Historical society house in the town of Punxsutawney that focuses on the history of the town through the 1800, and 1900s and the people who lived there. |
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National Aviary Pittsburgh, PA https://www.aviary.org/ 2023-06 The National Aviary has many varieties of birds from all over the world. Our favorite exhibits were their free roaming bird exhibits for wetlands, grasslands, and tropics. Step into the room a spot a variety of exotic birds in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I would guess that there were over 100 species of bird spread out through the exhibits, many of them rare and fun to look at including some of our favorites from the day: the ruddy duck, the red-legged honeycreeper, the Victoria pigeon. They also had individual exhibits for birds such as the African penguin, the lorikeets, burrowing owl, Andean condor, and king vulture. We were even pleasantly surprised to see a couple mammals in the exhibit such as the two-toed sloth and Malayan flying fox. We paid an additional $5 fee to attend a program on the roof for birds of prey where we met a variety of African birds of prey including an eagle, a falcon, a coupe vultures, and a kite. The presenter was knowledgeable and easy understood. The audience could see the birds up close and enjoyed flying and hunting demonstration. One thing that michael and I would have liked to see more of was information about their wildlife rescue and rehabilitation partnerships. We heard about one of their partnerships in South Africa and were encouraged to donate money after the show, but it would have been nice to see a display on the work this partnership does. Lastly, we would like to see more information on local community actions to help preserve birds in our ecosystem such as not throwing food out of cars, limiting use of rodenticide, keeping cats indoors, using stickers on windows to prevent bird collisions. Parking was accessible but
limited. Food was available and affordable. |
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