Posts In The “Massachusetts” Category
Salem, MA was the center of the Witch Hysteria that led to 20 people being sentenced to death in 1692. In the intervening few centuries, Salem has become considerably more welcoming to witchcraft, goblins and the supernatural. In fact, their month-long Halloween celebration likely is the largest in the nation and includes a parade, costume…
Charlestown Marina was an excellent home base for the six weeks we spent in Boston. We chose it mainly because we could get a good long-stay rate there compared to the other marinas closer to downtown, but the marina worked out very well for touring around Boston and we’d happily return. The marina itself was…
The Cape Cod National Seashore is a 43,600-acre National Park on the end of Cape Cod, about a 2.5-hour drive from Boston. The park includes popular beaches, historic lighthouses, and excellent walking and bicycle trails. It also contains the site of Marconi Station, where the first two-way wireless radio transmission across the Atlantic occurred. We…
Going out to grab a pizza is hardly an event, but it is at Regina Pizzeria. Founded in 1926, Regina Pizzeria is the oldest pizza house in New England and extremely popular with tourists and locals alike. After doing a couple of boat projects, we walked from Charlestown Marina to Regina Pizzeria in Boston’s historic…
The Charles River forms the border between downtown Boston, and Cambrdige and Charlestown. The famously polluted river was mocked in the Standell’s 1965 hit single “Dirty Water”: “Down by the banks of the river Charles … Well I love that dirty water Oh, Boston, you’re my home.” Swimming was banned in the river in the…
Boston Harborfest, the country’s largest July 4th festival, takes place from July 1st through 4th. Much of the activity is centered around the waterfront and included an excellent fireworks display on July 2nd. Since we’d had such a slow day after eleven hours spent touring Boston Light and then walking the Freedom Trail :), we…
The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile route that leads past sixteen sites significant to Revolutionary Boston. The trail starts in downtown Boston at the Boston Commons and ends in Charlestown at the Charlestown Navy Yard or the Bunker Hill Monument. After our Boston Light trip, we took a self-guided walking tour of the Freedom Trail…
Boston Light on Little Brewster Island is a National Historic Landmark. It’s the oldest working light station in the country and the only one still actively staffed by the US Coast Guard. Tours to Boston Light include a climb to the top of the lighthouse with its fabulous 81-inch second-order Fresnel lens and sweeping harbor…
Stellwagen Bank is an 842-square-mile federally-protected marine sanctuary about 25 miles east of Boston that is famous for whale-watching. A 19-mile plateau there rises to within 100 feet of the water surface, compared to the surrounding waters that are 300 to 600 feet deep. The steep sides of the plateau cause deep-water currents to rise…
The city of Boston has done an amazing job in revitalizing their waterfront and downtown while featuring their historic buildings and venues. Long Wharf in particular has been transormed from a failing commercial center to a thriving cultural and recreational destination. And Bostons’s late-20th-century “Big Dig” moved the Central Artery below ground, restored the close…
The Deer Island Treatment Plant is the second largest sewage treatment plant in the country, treating 350 million gallons per day with a peak capacity of 1,310 million gallons per day. The $3.8-billion plant is the centerpiece in the successful Boston Harbor cleanup effort. The plant’s unusual egg-shaped digesters are distinctive landmarks on entering Boston…
During our second weekend in Boston, we toured Boston Harbor from the water and the air, got a few boat projects done, and met some locals and friends from out of town. Trip highlights from June 23 through 26th follow. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location…
The New England Aquarium in downtown Boston is built around a 4-story, 200,000-gallon Giant Ocean Tank. A wrap-around ramp, with viewing windows along the way, leads up and around the tank to exhibits on other floors that range from penguins to octopus to jellyfish. We spent a full day at the aquarium, enjoying the exhibits,…
Fenway Park, built in 1912, is the oldest park in Major League Baseball and catching a game there is on most “Top Ten Things to do in Boston” lists. We spent an exciting evening visiting the park and watching the Red Sox play at this historic venue. Highlights from our Fenway Park trip follow. Click…
The Charlestown Navy Yard, established in 1801, was one of the oldest shipbuilding yards in the country. More than 200 warships were built in the yard and thousands more were maintained and repaired there. When the Navy Yard closed in 1974, a portion became part of the Boston National Historic Park. The rest was commercially…
From Palm Beach we made a six-night offshore run to reach Boston, stopping for three nights at Cape Lookout to wait for a weather system to pass through the Boston area and one night at Plymouth so that we could enter Boston Harbor in the morning rather than at night. We got a good push…
After leaving Cape Lookout, North Carolina, we ran for three nights to Massachusetts and stopped overnight at Plymouth so that we could enter Boston Harbor the following morning. As with Cape Lookout, we chose Plymouth mainly because it was a convenient and easy place to anchor without taking us too far off our route. But…