Ask me 3 words to describe Massachusetts, and the following come to mind: whimsical, weird & wonderful. Massachusetts is a state I'm proud to call home, but it is undeniably like grandma's attic: old, dusty & cluttered but somehow also charming & nostalgic. Buried within its confines are flashy family jewels & show pieces, macabre oddities & hidden surprises. The state has certainly accumulated a lot of "stuff" over the years. After all, Massachusetts was around 156 years before America declared independence. America has only since been around for 244 years.
Massachusetts serves only little of its most charming attractions on a silver platter. Tourists (& even residents) make a mistake of over-indexing on Boston and miss the wider state's rich tapestry of personality & character. It's truly a state that rewards those who take the time to explore it.
The Wonderful
Though the focus on Boston is understandable. The city's charm is undeniably evident whether by taking a stroll through the iconic Acorn Street in Beacon Hill . . .
. . . or simply taking a step back and gazing upon the city's skyline.
Take a closer look to find majestic buildings scattered throughout the city like the State House which boasts a beautiful exterior . . .
. . . and marvelous interior.
Even Boston's public library is opulent.
Explore a little beyond Boston proper to find other grand buildings like the Gasson hall in Boston College.
Expand your horizons just a bit further to find elegant modern architecture like the MIT Strata building in Cambridge.
Beautiful structures will follow you even to the coast like the Highland lighthouse in Cape Cod.
Others like Wood End lighthouse will follow you to Provincetown's beaches in Cape Cod.
Others are just perfect companions for sunsets like the Annisquam lighthouse in Gloucester.
Along the coast, you'll also find beaches in Beverly where ruins and waves recede alike into the distance.
Gorgeous natural scenery is also further inland, like Bear's Den falls in New Salem in central Massachusetts.
This place is amazing, even in the dead of winter.
The Weird
While Massachusetts has its fair share of gorgeous show pieces, the state is also unafraid to wallow in the absurd and odd. Take the old wealth sloshing around the state. While it produced many beautiful works of architecture, it also produced unintentionally funny postings like this one in Boston's ritzy Beacon Hill.
Quirky tastes of old wealth leave an indelible mark on other parts of the state, like the Babson boulder trail in Gloucester. Over 100 years ago, a rich guy not only built a trail over the remains of a ghost town (abandoned over 200 years ago), he also carved "inspirational" quotes into boulders along the trail (to educate the common folk).
More impressive was that this was many decades before the motivational poster trend in the 90's.
And this is also a place where you can witness modern voodoo (that involves a green baby?)
Hand in hand with the wealthy's influence on state is the state's proud medical history. You can walk the floors of the Ether Dome of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where anesthesia was pioneered, patients were operated were on live for demonstration, and a crowd of on-lookers marveled at the lack of screaming.
The state's medical pedigree is also home to some more haunting sites as well - Bancroft's castle which is now simply the ruins of a sanatorium in Groton.
Far more haunting are the abandoned insane asylums littered across the state, like this one in Waltham.
Some of these campuses have been re-purposed. Take the insane asylum in Medfield. While it occasionally serves as a filming location for movies like Shutter Island, the large campus now normally operates as a (very popular) off-leash dog park.
Or take the insane asylum in Danvers. While it was a setting where people were lobotomized & placed into straitjackets, it's now a luxury Condo where the tagline claims the property "redefines the new modern". Fair enough - what other luxury condo could claim the dubious distinction of being featured by H.P. Lovecraft?
Lunacy isn't just tucked away in scary buildings, it's also proudly celebrated in public like the "Burnside Fountain" in Worcester (affectionately known as turtle boy). A local once wistfully described it to me as Worcester's "pride and shame". I couldn't have said it better.
The Whimsical
But Massachusetts isn't just a state that celebrates non-consensual acts with a turtle, it's also state that celebrates its revolutionary past. Every year, you can see revolutionaries fight pitched battles against old England . . .
. . . and revolutionaries looking for their keys ...
. . . and last but not least, revolutionaries thinking about what to eat for lunch.
The past finds you in other delightful ways like in New Salem where you can walk across a stone bridge which was built by one person by hand over 200 years ago.
The state is not just about embracing the past however, Dewey square in Boston is a large public canvas for large & moving murals.
Beautiful murals can also found under highway overpasses in Boston.
Otherwise drab parking lots are bedazzled set pieces like this one in Worcester.
Creepy alleyways are transformed into colorful & joyful expressions in Waltham.
You just have to know where to look. The parking garage on top of the Alewife T station is a hidden oasis of graffiti . . .
. . . and trademark infringement
Public art isn't just confined to urban centers though in Massachusetts, like the an abandoned quarry in Quincy demonstrates.
However, man-made art sometimes stands in awe of mother nature. The contrasting & harmonious colors and textures of Wellington beach in Cape Cod has a visual poetry all of its own.
Case-in point, Massachusetts is one of the few states where you can experience an Oceanspray commercial in real life.
Finito
Massachusetts is many things: ranging from jaw-dropping beautiful to the absurd & hilarious. And the places listed above only scratch the surface for a wonderful state that never ceases to evoke emotion from visitors or residents alike. This is a state I will never get tired of exploring.