From history to seaside holidays
The American Revolution started in Massachusetts, and the state is associated with a wide range of historic figures — John Adams, Paul Revere, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and a long list of others — and places associated with the making of America. There is much to engage the history buff.

Besides, Massachusetts is an attractive coastal state with charming New England towns, fall foliage colors, a shoreline and islands that visitors seek for holidays.  And, for a capital, it has Boston, one of America’s better-favored cities, noted for its historic center, great restaurants (especially, the seafood), shopping options and a vibrant cultural life.

About Massachusetts
All personality types like the same things about the state. The places they mention most are along the East Coast, primarily limited to Boston, Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Few other cities or areas are referenced. In other words, the picturesque north shore, the middle portion of the state, the western half and the quaint, historic towns located a short distance inland are largely ignored.
The state has the advantage of being both rural and urban, of having in close proximity big-city amenities and seaside charms. The state is seen as relaxing, a characteristic that appeals to people who choose this extraordinarily historic part of the original colonies.
Massachusetts does not create the sense of energy, activity and excitement associated with most of the states in the West. Rather, those who like it talk about how calm they feel when they visit; there’s plenty to do, but no sense of urgency to do it. Cape Cod and Nantucket especially contribute to this sense. Visitors talk about the islands’ sense of isolation, their unspoiled qualities, a very natural kind of beauty and the friendly local people who don’t push you or hurry you along.

When travelers talk about Boston, their respect and reverence for its contribution to the beginnings of the nation are apparent. The charm of the city (plus its convenient public transportation system) and the rich and varied kinds of food available in its restaurants also receive many favorable comments.

For those who need to unwind in a hurry, Massachusetts may be just the place. But after spending a couple of days doing nothing, venture into other parts of the state. Great scenery can be found at every turn in the road.  Surprisingly, no one in our surveys spontaneously mentioned the fall colors. They can be as spectacular in Massachusetts as elsewhere in New England.

• Sign up to compete in the Pittsfield Winter Carnival Cross-Country Ski Race at the Canterbury Farm Cross-Country Ski Center. The February event is said to attract “some of the best and worst skiers in the Berkshires.”

• Run in the Boston Marathon if you can qualify.

• Go skydiving over the Greater Merrimack Valley, or make your skydive in Cape Cod.

• Go sailing at Marblehead — or at a whole raft of other places in Massachusetts.

• Stay in a haunted bed-and-breakfast establishment. A couple of examples: Nichols Guest Rooms, Seekonk, for one or more spirits playing with the lights and fostering other mischief in the night, or Thaddeus Clapp House, Pittsfield, for a ghost who is described as friendly and a member of the founding Clapp family. Check www.bedandbreakfast.com.

• Kayak along the Ipswich River, or make that the Deerfield River.

• Ski in the Berkshires; after the seasons change, camp in the same mountains.

• Take lessons in mushing sled dogs, or bring your own dog for his own lessons in pulling a sled (if the dog is cut out for this).
Or, just take a dogsledding excursion of an hour, a few hours or a full day.

• See something of Massachusetts from a hot-air balloon; you can even take lessons in hot-air ballooning.

• Depending on the season, go rock climbing or ice climbing in the Berkshires. You can take lessons, too,

• Go biking on one or more of Massachusetts’ numerous bike paths. One sample: the Travel Minuteman Bikeway, which passes through Lexington (of Lexington and Concord fame) and ends in Bedford. Other examples are the paths found on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and trails on old rail beds and in state parks.

• Overnight at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast in Fall River. This Victorian house was the scene of the axe murders in 1892 of Andrew and Abby Borden, possibly by his daughter Lizzie; you can rent the bedroom where Abby was killed.
After a breakfast “reminiscent” of the Bordens’ last breakfast, go to the Fall River Historical Society’s museum to see the really gory stuff.

• Meet costumed role players at Plimoth Plantation, which includes a re-created Plymouth of the 17th century, and board a re-created Mayflower. Also on site, see the Hobbamock’s Homesite, where native staff practice traditional Wampanoag skills.

• Attend the highly regarded Tanglewood Music Festival, held in the Tanglewood Music Shed near Lenox in the Berkshires and the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

• Ride the Cranberry Country Train in South Carver where the Edaville Railroad takes passengers in vintage passenger cars for a 5.5-mile trip through working cranberry bogs.
You also can visit bogs in pony-drawn wagons or even view them from a helicopter.

• Put Salem on your must-see list. Stroll its downtown Heritage Trail which takes you to the Salem Witch Museum, the Burying Point and the Witch Trials Memorial — plus the New England Pirate Museum. See the House of Seven Gables Historic Site here as well.

• Climb the spiral staircase to the top of Boston’s Bunker Hill Monument, a 221-foot obelisk. The monument memorializes a Revolutionary War battle.

• Go deep-sea fishing for tuna and marlin. Charter a boat at almost any seaside center.

• Travel the Mohawk Trail in northwest Massachusetts. Now Route 2, it originated as a Native American trail. Choose it as your fall foliage route.

• See 50-foot, 40-ton whales a mere 25 miles off the Massachusetts coast, any time from April to October. The World Wildlife Fund named the state one of the world’s 10 best places to watch the world’s largest mammal.

• Walk the Freedom Trail in Boston. In summer, there are ranger-guided tours on the half-hour, but it’s easy to follow the path — marked with red bricks or red paint — and find the featured sites on your own.

• Supplement that by strolling the Black Heritage Trail celebrating the city’s 19th century black community.

• Educate or entertain yourself at the American Sanitary Plumbing Museum in Worcester, Mass. Or, consider the Museum of Bad Art, Dedham, Mass., an assemblage of art “too bad to be ignored” hung in a theater basement but “conveniently located just outside the men’s room.”

• Attend a fall cranberry harvest event, such as the October Annual Harvest Celebration in Wareham which offers free cranberry harvest tours to the bogs.

• Visit a house made entirely of paper, the Paper House in Rockport. Its builders, in the 1920s, used more than 100,000 rolled and pasted newspapers to make and furnish the two-room house. A writing desk is made from accounts of Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 solo transatlantic flight.

• In Boston, enjoy shopping the elegant stores in Copley Place, then push on to Quincy Market where the stalls and shops in several buildings offer eclectic merchandise and food. Search for bargains at Filene’s Basement downtown.

• Book a re-created 1627 harvest dinner, offered on select October and November dates, or attend the all-day Thanksgiving celebration at Plimoth Plantation.

• Stay at the 10-room Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Mass., which was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his 1863 book of poems called “Tales of a Wayside Inn.” The innkeeper at the time, Lyman Howe, was the featured character in the book’s Landlord’s Tale, in which Longfellow gave us the phrase, “Listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.”

• Visit Old Sturbridge Village, a 200-acre re-creation of a New England rural village. You will see a living museum with many buildings, exhibits and reenacters demonstrating the ways of their colonial ancestors.

• Just to say you did it, drive to Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, a lake in Webster; it has the longest place name in the U.S.