Boston Area 2015 - Day 6

May 27, 2015 Lowell, Saugus, Salem

Boott Cotton Mills at Lowell NHP

It was a busy day, visiting three national park sites. Our first stop, Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center. There was a recently made video that provided a good background of the importance of the site. Parking was available at the park, with validation available at the front desk. The sites that are included with this national park are all a short walk (or trolley ride) away from each other. The park seems to have a lot of special events that run throughout the summer – art in the park, folk festival, canal rides. Not a lot of the stops along the walk were open, but we were able to visit the Boott Cotton Mills. The cost for the mill was $6/adult, but with the annual National Park pass it was half off.  It was really neat the see/hear the 1920’s weave room in action.

Saugus Iron Works NHS

Saugus Iron Works National Historical Site was just an okay site to visit. There was an interesting video in the museum. The buildings at this site were reconstructed over the original 1640’s foundations. Saugus was the first successful location in the New World for the integrated production of cast and wrought iron. The last recorded blast at the site was 1668. Financial problems ultimately caused the closing of the iron works. An hour is plenty of time to see everything, unless you take a tour. Unfortunately, the tours were all late in the afternoon and did not work well with the time we arrived. 

Derby House at Salem Maritime NHS

We finished the day off with a visit to Salem. There is a lot of on street parking available for a small fee, as well as a few parking garages. Our first stop was the National Park Regional Visitor Center. The visitor center was very nice. There were a couple of films and a few displays. The Salem Maritime National Historic Site building is closed for the year for renovations. We unfortunately missed the tours of the U.S. Custom House, which was built in 1819 and two local homes that date back to 1675 and 1762. The walk along the wharf was nice, with a few displays along the way. The lighthouse at the end of the wharf was not anything to special.

We had dinner at Longboards Restaurant & Bar, which was on one of the piers in historical Salem. The food was okay, but nothing special.

Holiday Inn Express Andover Lawrence was the hotel that we ended up in. We discovered that we probably should have booked rooms in advance; the price we were willing to pay was often hard to find. Our stay was nice.