Waltham and Museums - a great combination! I have friends coming into town for a week and I've been looking in depth into Waltham destinations.... Everyone thinks they have to leave Waltham to see gthings great and small. You don't - and I'll show you below. Checking some facts for this blog, I found out some new things I hadn't known before.
Cedar Hill Girl Scout Museum http://www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/aboutus/girl-scout-museum.html
I didn't even know there was a Girl Scout Museum at Cedar Hill. It is what its name suggests - a history of Girl Scouting begun under Juliette Gordon Low in 1912. And, there are opoortunities for hands-on activities. Who knew?
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation http://www.crmi.org/
The CRMII is such a fun place for history buffs and technology geeks alike. CRMII is located in the historic power plant of the Boston Manufacturing Company Mill. The first floor is a misture of Waltham History (The horse-drawn Waltham Fire Dept. 1 engine is there), minature feats of engineering (the New England Model Engineers have a display of working The second floor is dedicated to the Waltham Watch Factory.
Gore Place http://www.goreplace.org/
Gore Place, the historic home of Governor Christopher Gore is so vibrant with activities - its hard to describe in brief. Gore Place = dusty old mansion, right? Wrong! The mansion alone has a state of the art fire suppression system made specifically to preserve it in case of fire but not destroy the historic handiwork....but, I digress. There is a farm, historic tours, Christmas tea, snowshoeing in the winter, Sheepshearing Festival, scavenger hunts, musical concerts, charity benefits, and you can rent the grounds for a wedding if you wish...... And so many more things - you just have to go there to see...
Lyman Estate/The Vale http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/lyman-estate-greenhouses
From their website: "Salem, Massachusetts, architect Samuel McIntire designed the Federal-style mansion in 1793 for wealthy shipping merchant Theodore Lyman. The family enlarged the house in 1882 in the Victorian style and then remodeled it in the Colonial Revival style in 1917. The property contains historic greenhouses, a carriage house and gardener’s cottage, and thirty-seven acres of pleasure grounds, gardens, and woodlands." The greenhouses are open year round and are a beautiful spot to walk in Waltham.
National Archives and Record Administration, New England Region http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/
Paine Estate/Stonehurst http://www.stonehurstwaltham.org/
Rose Art Museum www.brandeis.edu/rose
Waltham Historical Society http://www.walthamhistoricalsociety.org/
Waltham Museum http://www.walthammuseum.com/
And the best part is that many of these museums off discounts to military personnel/families with ID, seniors, children AND you can get passes to some of them if you sign up for them IN ADVANCE at the Waltham Public Library!
