6 weeks in western MA..

[burke-a-bee]

Hi I posted this elsewhere but I thought I'd give it a shot. We are spending 6 weeks in western MA (Brimfield area). Can anyone recommend anything to do (art classes, museums, dance classes, farms, etc) with my homeschool kiddos in the area?

[redshoemomma]

I lived out there as a kid, and I have to tell you that it's very rural in that area. I was often bored to tears. But you should be fine for only 6 weeks.

Brimfield is very close to Sturbridge, so I'd definitely go to Old Sturbridge Village. http://www.osv.org/

I also love a lot of the apple orchards in the area. I recommend Brookfield Orchard, personally. They've got general store with penny candy, fresh baked pies and dumplings, etc. Plus there's apple picking and a playground.

Further west are a the 5 colleges: UMass Amherst, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College and Smith College. There's all the stuff that goes with college towns, and the campuses are beautiful.

East is Worcester, and the Worcester Art Museum among other more metropolitan attractions.

Good luck and have fun!

[mamaluvs]

I'm not sure what you are looking for but I second Old Sturbridge Village. Other good places in Western Mass include the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst and Lupa Zoo in Ludlow. There are a ton of apple orchards in central and western mass. If you are just looking for fun things to do, the Big E is a huge country fair that runs for 2.5 weeks in September and is in West Springfield. It is probably the largest fair in New England.

[MAMom]

Definitely Old Sturbridge Village - we just went for the day & my kiddos had so much fun (I did too actually :) and they want to go back for more. You could easily spend 2-3 days there, and if you go back within 10 days of your first visit, the 2nd time is free (just need to get your receipt validated).

If you're willing to go west into the Berkshires there are some fantastic historic homes & museums:

The Mount (Edith Wharton's home) (http://www.edithwharton.org/)
Arrowhead (Herman Melville's home) (http://www.mobydick.org/)
Chesterwood Estate & Museum (http://www.chesterwood.org/) (Daniel Chester French's home - he sculpted the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Memorial in Washington, DC among other works)
The Norman Rockwell Museum (http://www.nrm.org)
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (http://www.clarkart.edu/)
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (http://www.massmoca.org/)

Check out the Berkshires tourism site (http://www.berkshires.org/) too for many more ideas


And a bit east in the Worcester area, the Ecotarium (http://www.ecotarium.org/).

Have fun!
=================
Mama to DS 5/03 & DD 2/06 :hbac: :xnocirc: :bfs :fambed22
:ribces: ICAN (http://ican-online.org/) “You never know when you're making a memory.” ~ Rickie Lee Jones

[rahans]

Some others:
Brimfield Fair (not sure of date but usually one in Sept)
Quabbin Resevoir (Ware)
Salem Crofts Inn has dinner and mystery theatre nights
Scarecrow Festival in Sturbridge (Sept I think?) - you can enter your own scarecrows.
Publick House in Sturbridge might have some events on
Davis Farmland & Mega Maze in Sterling (less than hr from Brimfield) - open til mid Oct.
Mount Waschusett in Princeton
Six Flaggs is not too far away
Lots of shopping choices here (we're really not what I would call rural!)

[burke-a-bee]

Thanks..there is so much to check out!