Massachusetts Parks and Recreation Areas with Interpretive Programs

This is the site of the first integrated ironworks in North America, 1646-1668. It includes the reconstructed blast furnace, forge, rolling mill, and a restored seventeenth century house.

Phone: 781-233-0050   Price Range: N/A   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Saugus   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Historic Site   Activities: Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site

Boston Harbor Islands national park area includes 34 islands situated within the Greater Boston shoreline. The islands are rich in natural and cultural resources. Imagine a place where you can explore tide pools, walk through a Civil War era fort, climb a lighthouse, hike lush trails and salt marshes, camp under the stars, or relax while fishing, picnicking or swimming.

Phone: 617-223-8666   Price Range: $7 - $10   Open Season: N/A   Camping: Yes
Nearest Popular City: Boston   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Park   Activities: Birding, Boating and Watercraft, Fishing, Hiking, Kayaking, Swimming, Wildlife Watching, Nature Walks, Interpretive Programs, Star Gazing   Details Provided By: Boston Harbor Islands

The history of America's Industrial Revolution is commemorated in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Boott Cotton Mills Museum with its operating weave room of 88 power looms, boardinghouses, the Suffolk Mill Turbine Exhibit and guided tours tell the story of the transition from farm to factory, chronicle immigrant and labor history and trace industrial technology.

Phone: 978-970-5000   Price Range: $2 - $8   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Lowell   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Historic Site   Activities: Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Lowell National Historical Park

Cape Cod National Seashore comprises 43,604 acres of shoreline and upland landscape features, including a forty-mile long stretch of pristine sandy beach, dozens of clear, deep, freshwater kettle ponds, and upland scenes that depict evidence of how people have used the land. A variety of historic structures are within the boundary of the Seashore, including lighthouses, a lifesaving station, and numerous Cape Cod style houses.

Phone: (508)349-3785   Price Range: $3 - $15   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Wellfleet   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Park   Activities: Backpacking, Biking / Bicycling, Birding, Boating and Watercraft, Cross Country Skiing, Fishing, Hiking, Horseback Riding, Hunting and Shooting, Kayaking, Swimming, Wildlife Watching, Auto Touring, Nature Walks, Interpretive Programs, Star Gazing   Details Provided By: Cape Cod National Seashore

Adams National Historical Park is located in the City of Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, approximately ten miles south of Boston. The Park comprises 11 historic structures and a cultural landscape totaling almost 14 acres.

Phone: (617) 770-1175   Price Range: $5 - $10   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Quincy   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Historic Site   Activities: Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Adams National Historical Park

Longfellow National Historic Site is an outstanding example of a historic site representing the themes of arts and literature. For almost half a century, this was the home of one of the world's foremost poets, scholars and educators, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow House is also significant in America's colonial history. General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the newly-formed Continental Army, headquartered and planned the Siege of Boston here between July, 1775 and April, 1776.

Phone: (617)876-4491   Price Range: $0 - $3   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Cambridge   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Historic Site   Activities: Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Longfellow National Historic Site

Salem Maritime, the first National Historic Site in the National Park System, was established to preserve and interpret the maritime history of New England and the United States. The Site consists of about nine acres of land and twelve historic structures along the waterfront in Salem, Massachusetts, as well as a Visitor Center in downtown Salem.

Phone: (978)740-1650   Price Range: $3 - $5   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Salem   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Historic Site   Activities: Biking / Bicycling, Birding, Fishing, Interpretive Programs, Star Gazing   Details Provided By: Salem Maritime National Historic Site

At Minute Man National Historical Park, the Battles of Lexington and Concord are brought to life through the preservation, restoration and interpretation of significant sites from when Colonists took up arms in defense of liberty and touched off the American Revolution.

Phone: (978) 369-6993   Price Range: $0 - $4   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Concord   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Historic Site   Activities: Biking / Bicycling, Birding, Cross Country Skiing, Hiking, Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Minute Man National Historical Park

On a chill Spring morning in 1968, amid speeches and farewell addresses, the men and women of Springfield Armory bid each other goodbye as the Stars and Stripes were lowered for the last time. After nearly two centuries of continuous production of rifles and muskets used by Americas armed forces in every war in the nations history, the armory closed its gates and fell silent.

Phone: (413)734-8551   Price Range: N/A   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Springfield   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Historic Site   Activities: Auto Touring, Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Springfield Armory National Historic Site