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Planning A Road Trip To Massachusetts


RALLYMAN
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We'll be in the Worcester, Massachusetts area in the near future and would be interested to see if anyone has any suggestions for nice roads and sites that are off the beaten path. Thanks!

 

Rallyman,

 

First a big Welcome!

 

I wish I could give you some first hand info on Massachusetts! Ask about any place west of the Rockies, and I have probably driven the road, but Massachusetts is a few miles from my stomping ground!

 

We were through Worchester 8 or 9 years ago, on the way between Rochester, NY and Boston...but with no time to tarry. It probably could go without saying that it would be hard not to find history and interesting roads in the area

 

I don’t want to be totally unhelpful, so I scouted the web a bit and came up with this URL

 

http://www.worcester.org/regional.html

 

 

Oh, BTW, I can certainly provide drives out of Worchester in 1921 or so, but who knows what they look like now. None the less, let me know if you want “vintage” directions and maps.

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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Depending upon where you'll be coming from, if you were coming from the west / northwest of Worcester, you might try to pick up the Mohawk Trail, which runs through northwest Massachusetts (from the NY border). In Westminster or Leominster, you could head south to Worcester. My husband Pat (Road Maven) and I drove part of the Mohawk Trail, from Greenfield west, a few years ago when I was visiting my family in Connecticut.

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Springfield, MA - Basketball Hall of Fame, just for one thing.

 

There is so much to see in do in ALL of New England, and in Massachusetts - all the way from Boston in the east to the Berkshires in west.

 

Check out this URL - http://www.massvacation.com/history-and-heritage/ - and google Massachusetts for more.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

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Springfield, MA - Basketball Hall of Fame, just for one thing.

 

I never got to the BHOF, but I did find and visit the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden when I was passing through Springfield on a trip back from my daughter's wedding. Brought back many memories.

 

DrSeussGarden.jpg

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I used to visit Worcester a lot when I was younger (a good friend of mine went to WPI), but I can't think of any drives right around town that were especially scenic. My biggest problem is most of my driving has either been on the superslab, which isn't much more interesting in Massachusetts than anyplace else, or sometimes scenic but usually overcrowded two-lane roads.

 

As stated earlier, MA-2 heading west to New York across the top of the state is pretty. Also, US-5 north of Greenfield and into Vermont is pretty.

 

MA-47 I remember as being very pretty also. It runs along the east bank of the Connecticut River, but has many faster parallel roads, so it shouldn't have much traffic. The most memorable stretch for me was the part north of Hadley, where one night I saw the northern lights (the only time I've seen them). I remember the road as winding along the river past small old New England farms, very picturesque. And because I-91 parallels it to the west and MA-116 parallels it to the east, the was very little traffic. You could take it north from Holyoke (I-91 to US-202 east to MA-116 north to MA-47) and follow MA-47 to Montague, then Turners Falls Rd. to Greenfield, and head back south on US-5 from Greenfield. My guess is you'd be looking at a couple of hours drive roundtrip (plus the 40 minutes or so each way on the Mass Pike).

 

Have fun.

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