Fun town to visit near Worcester, MA?
August 12, 2008 9:40 AM Subscribe
Cute town near Worcester, MA?
A far-away friend and I are planning to meet halfway for a weekend. Google Maps tells me that the exact midpoint is Worcester, MA. Unfortunately, previous Ask MeFi questions about Worcester do not suggest that it is an ideal hangout spot.
Can you recommend a town near Worcester for our meetup? We’re not looking for a lot of things to do, but it would be great to have a pretty area and a walkable town. Bonus points for a nice tearoom. We’ve considered Old Sturbridge Village, but we thought that our trip might turn out to be too much about seeing OSV and too little about catching up. Boston is a possibility, but my friend is not so into cities.
A far-away friend and I are planning to meet halfway for a weekend. Google Maps tells me that the exact midpoint is Worcester, MA. Unfortunately, previous Ask MeFi questions about Worcester do not suggest that it is an ideal hangout spot.
Can you recommend a town near Worcester for our meetup? We’re not looking for a lot of things to do, but it would be great to have a pretty area and a walkable town. Bonus points for a nice tearoom. We’ve considered Old Sturbridge Village, but we thought that our trip might turn out to be too much about seeing OSV and too little about catching up. Boston is a possibility, but my friend is not so into cities.
Lexington or Concord? About an hour north, I think. I believe there is a tea room in one of them, but I can't seem to find it offhand. Concord has a couple of little museums about Thoreau and early America, and Walden Pond is close by. I also has an excellent cheese shop and the Concord Inn if you want a fancy dinner.
posted by backseatpilot at 9:59 AM on August 12, 2008
posted by backseatpilot at 9:59 AM on August 12, 2008
Barrington, MA! Not super close by but worth the drive.
posted by np312 at 10:09 AM on August 12, 2008
posted by np312 at 10:09 AM on August 12, 2008
Northampton, totally. Maybe Amherst, which is about 15 minutes further from I-91.
I live in Northampton, and can give you plenty of advice about what to do / where to go. Feel free to MeMail me.
posted by TurkishGolds at 10:15 AM on August 12, 2008
I live in Northampton, and can give you plenty of advice about what to do / where to go. Feel free to MeMail me.
posted by TurkishGolds at 10:15 AM on August 12, 2008
Worcester isn't that bad... like any other city with ~175,000 residents there are good parts and there are bad parts here. Highland Street (MA Rt. 9) has some nice coffeeshops and restaurants, is near a nice park (bonus: there's currently an outdoor art exhibit going on there), and is easy to get to. Shrewsbury Street has a wider variety of restaurants and bars, and is near a park too (though it's not quite as good as Elm Park).
If you're still set on going somewhere other than Worcester, what about Clinton? It's about 20 minutes north of Worcester and has a cute little downtown area and some cool old buildings and a small but well-maintained park. Amherst and Northampton might not be bad choices either, but they're about 40 minutes to the west.
>Lexington or Concord? About an hour north, I think.
Concord and Lexington are about 40 minutes to the east.
posted by xbonesgt at 10:29 AM on August 12, 2008
If you're still set on going somewhere other than Worcester, what about Clinton? It's about 20 minutes north of Worcester and has a cute little downtown area and some cool old buildings and a small but well-maintained park. Amherst and Northampton might not be bad choices either, but they're about 40 minutes to the west.
>Lexington or Concord? About an hour north, I think.
Concord and Lexington are about 40 minutes to the east.
posted by xbonesgt at 10:29 AM on August 12, 2008
Sterling. Though Northampton is really perfect for just about anything, worth the slightly not at the midway penalty.
posted by vrakatar at 11:14 AM on August 12, 2008
posted by vrakatar at 11:14 AM on August 12, 2008
Nthing Northampton. If Worcester is a geographic midway point for the two of you then I'm assuming you're both coming from out of state by two or more hours (otherwise you'd just visit each other in your respective towns, yeah?). Northampton isn't too much of a detour in that case, and it is way, way funner.
(Nothing against Worcester. It's perfectly nice, but Northampton has it totally beat.)
posted by greenland at 11:26 AM on August 12, 2008
(Nothing against Worcester. It's perfectly nice, but Northampton has it totally beat.)
posted by greenland at 11:26 AM on August 12, 2008
It's not really a town, but the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA has beautiful grounds, history, and art galleries and it's got a tearoom.
It's not big, so it wouldn't overwhelm the visit to the extent Old Sturbridge Village would.
posted by Jahaza at 11:32 AM on August 12, 2008
It's not big, so it wouldn't overwhelm the visit to the extent Old Sturbridge Village would.
posted by Jahaza at 11:32 AM on August 12, 2008
Absolutely Northampton. It's perfect for what you're looking for.
posted by Miko at 11:45 AM on August 12, 2008
posted by Miko at 11:45 AM on August 12, 2008
Come on, Woostuh has the Higgins Armory museum (http://www.higgins.org/)! My Best Man, a Holy Cross alum, and I, then living in Boston, spent the day before my wedding at the Higgins, and it was damn cool. (The rest of Woostuh is a dump, though, all muffler shops, boarded-up gas stations, and donut shoppes.)
posted by wenestvedt at 1:12 PM on August 12, 2008
posted by wenestvedt at 1:12 PM on August 12, 2008
Northampton is indeed cool.
OSV is not, actually, a horrible choice: while there's a lot of cool stuff to see there, it's not like you're pushed through guided tours or anything: you could do a lot of chatting while looking at historic buildings, heritage farm breeds, gardens, and New England scenery. (However, it is not particularly cheap, so how much you want to spend doing that is a good question.)
posted by modernhypatia at 2:11 PM on August 12, 2008
OSV is not, actually, a horrible choice: while there's a lot of cool stuff to see there, it's not like you're pushed through guided tours or anything: you could do a lot of chatting while looking at historic buildings, heritage farm breeds, gardens, and New England scenery. (However, it is not particularly cheap, so how much you want to spend doing that is a good question.)
posted by modernhypatia at 2:11 PM on August 12, 2008
Response by poster: Thank you all very much! This is a great help!
posted by TEA at 5:14 PM on August 12, 2008
posted by TEA at 5:14 PM on August 12, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mynameisluka at 9:58 AM on August 12, 2008