Category: Massachusetts

Titanic Museum – Springfield Massachusetts

Lately we haven’t really gone anywhere different. There’s been a lot of antique stores, some hikes and cemeteries, but we were looking to shake things up a bit when we found the Titanic Historic Society and Museum in a book of local museums. Something about this peaked my companion’s interest and off we went!

Finding this place was difficult because we did not know that it wasn’t a standalone building, it was a museum within Henry’s jewelry store. And it was one of those things where you just are completely unsure of the whole premise. It looked pretty rough! With old clouded up windows housing a half-dead Christmas cactus and a bunch of seemingly random cheap looking things that seemed unrelated to jewelry. When we walked in, we expected to see jewelry cases and a big open-air area. No. This place seemed mostly filled with greeting cards and… clutter. Visions of Cookie’s danced in our heads, and we wondered if we were about to topple down some serial killer’s rabbit hole.

Quietly we walked to the back where an old woman sat at the counter and we requested a ticket, two rather, to see the Titanic Museum. She seemed absolutely thrilled someone had come by for this excitedly exclaiming, “I should turn on the lights for you then!”

And there in two very stuffed back rooms was the museum which we were very graciously led around and told about. She requested we don’t take any photos (but did allow us to take a few shots of the model Titanic in the jewelry store which was built over the course of a year by a model airplane builder before being tested on the water!) These two back rooms contained a lot of things from the Titanic’s “sister ships” as well as memorabilia from the movie Titanic. There were flags, passports, diagrams, a few photographs, photo albums of other museums and the making of the movie. It did have a few pieces of the Titanic but I guess over the years they’d been donated to other museums. What I found most interesting was the radar machine used to find the Titanic which was here.

She told us about locals on the boat, how her Titanic society had consulted on the film and how her relatives got to have a small scene as extras. She showed us photos of the survivors, including three dogs who were smuggled out of the kennels and kept in their owner’s rooms against policy. Not surprisingly they were all lap dogs owned by what I presume to be wealthy white women. I may be wrong. Call it a hunch. But they were all tiny. Another interesting thing I learned is that one of the reasons we have photos onboard the Titanic is because a priest whose hobby was photography took the liner from England to Ireland and was persuaded not to go back on it as it sailed off across the sea. This also explains why all the photos are of the same areas – none of steerage or the coal room for example.

So despite our initial ambivalence of this museum it was actually pretty interesting, quite affordable, and a very unique experience. However, I wouldn’t suggest it to everyone. It was definitely something I think would be more niche. If the Titanic is your special interest by all means find this place! If you’re not already highly interested in this subject matter it’s probably not for you. It’s definitely not set up for children if that’s what you’re looking for in a museum. Although it did inspire us to put down some of the other Titanic museums on our bucket list though they’re not in New England. The one in Branson Missouri for instance you have to enter through a giant fake iceberg! Because OF COURSE that’s the way they’d set that up. It’s Branson! The most mind-fucky town I ever had the pleasure of driving through – a family friendly gambling town where old movie sets go to become a super garish string of tourist traps. The Titanic fits right in! Still… they recreated the master staircase to the T. And that could be fun… perhaps on some future venture when we break out of New England again…

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Cemetery Loop Trail Fitchburg MA

Today’s little adventure was more of a misadventure of me first getting lost finding the parking and then getting even more lost once I was on the trails. As such I will try to write this in a way that you won’t make the same mistakes!

Initially I found out about the Cemetery Loop Trail after randomly driving by parking at the Northern Watershed Southern Section which has a nice little map of all kinds of trails in the area. Neat. From this map I could figure out that parking for the Cemetery Loop Trail was actually on Scott Road so I went off to find Scott Road and I drove the whole thing, finding the N13 trail marker before finding the road was a dead end and any promises or parking were highly exaggerated. I could have parked at the main entrance (N60) and made my way on several trails to get to the Cemetery Loop Trail but I decided to park instead at the N10 Main Path entrance. It says not to park there but there’s a little bridge a few feet down the road that has a turnoff, so I parked there.

This actually worked out well. I found the N10 and then the N11 marker so quickly and easily I thought this was going to be a breeze! If you want to avoid the following harrowing 2-hour trek that I took and actually find the cemetery you should keep going straight at the N11 intersection. From there you will go up a steep hill and somewhere on the left, directly in the middle between markers N11 and N13 you’ll see a very unimpressive, unmarked, path on your left. The cemetery is not visible from the Cemetery Loop Path and is on this unmarked sub path, up a little hill and behind a rock wall. If you hit the N13 marker while looking for this sub path you’ve gone too far. This is a SHORT walk, should take 10-15 minutes tops from the car. The following is why it took me two hours.

First, I did not go straight on at marker N11, instead I went past it by going left, believing being a loop trail I’d loop back around. I found my way all the way to marker N12 which should mean I was where I needed to be but N12 was actually a 4-way intersection that was not noted on the map. Two directions were labelled via tree signs as “Scott’s Road” and straight ahead was “The Pipeline Path.” Neither of these paths are on the map and the Cemetery Loop Path was not marked by sign. So, I was left to guess, question myself, turn around, question myself again, turn around again, and again! I never took the Pipline Path. I did however take at various points the Scott’s Road Path to where it ended – at the road behind marker N13 on Scott’s Road, and I took the opposite direction until I hit the Maine Trail again. In the meanwhile, I continued to come across more intersections of clearly marked trails that were not on the goddamn map! Like the Lightning Trail! I could not fathom how a cluster of trails could be both so clearly marked and maintained and yet so impossible to navigate. Somewhere along the way I found an old cellar hole which was cool, before I backtracked all the way back to the N11 marker, this time taking the other leg of the loop where the map noted there was a cemetery.

Well! I made it all the way from N11 to N13 which was a HIKE straight up a hill despite the rest of the day being flat paths and in all that time I didn’t see a cemetery. By now it was raining, almost two hours had passed, I wanted to be back at the car but also I couldn’t just leave after never finding the cemetery. As I walked back to N11 from N13 I peered intensely into the woods on my righthand side and there I found the entrance to the cemetery having passed it the first time. It was not marked. It looked like a deer path and the stones were not visible until I walked up and over the hill this strange sub-path was on. Finally!! Success!!

Here in a TINY three stone plot was the Hartwell family, buried between 1806-1850, all with gorgeous slate stones. Cool thing about this plot was the foot stones were still intact and clearly visible. This is rare in stones of this age. Very cool! Also interesting to see a fresh American flag next to the middle stone marking the final resting place of a veteran. Who died in 1806. And whose grave is now practically in Narnia. How did the people putting the flags and plaques out know where to find him?! They must have gotten better instructions than I did! Now I could go home with a sense of accomplishment, having found what to date was the smallest and most hidden cemetery I have ever been to.

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Jewell Hill – Southern Loop Trail – Ashby MA

It’s really funny how this whole travelling and exploring thing works. Just when you think you have scraped the bottom of the barrel and have nowhere left to check out the universe steps in and guides you. Today was no different. I had decided to another google search and didn’t expect to come up with anything close to home but I was surprised this new location popped right with only 4 reviews. Why not, let’s check it out. I grabbed my mom, who needs to get out more, and we made a beeline to this new fascinating destination.

Jewell Hill is a no longer used dairy farm that still has a big hay barn and a few other structures on the property. Trails wind in different directions and are VERY well maintained. But finding it was a little difficult. It’s on Crocker Road and if you drive up Crocker Road from the paved side you will find parking just beyond a speed sign that lowers to speed limit to I think 10 MPH and a farmhouse to the left. If you reach dirt road you’ve gone too far! but really the parking lot was big and open and well-marked. Several cars were already parked there.

This place is GORGEOUS. Without even leaving the parking lot there’s a delightful view of a mountain in the distance. Of course the Autumn trees were giving their last colorful gasp today and the pastural scenery between all this was just so peaceful and fresh. First we walked up to the barn to check it out as it’s very close to the parking lot. We then made our way to the Southern Loop which is the blue trail. I had chosen this trail in particular after looking at the map and deciding it looked the least up hill and not too far (.6 of a mile for the loop bit.) Both me and my mother are in dire need of getting back into shape!

Since we made our way from the barn (taking half the Crocker Farm Trail, and then a good part of the Jewell Hill Trail before reaching the Southern Loop Trail) and not the direct route from the parking lot we were met with a mild but extremely steady incline which proved enough for both of us! We’re both out of shape, getting older, with joint problems so this would likely be nothing to someone young and healthy. Still, if you want an easier route take the trail at the beginning of the parking lot adjacent to the road. It will bring you right to the Southern Loop Trail while skipping a good part of the incline!

The trails here were very well maintained! And scenic! I really felt at peace here. There was just the right amount of diversity between the pasturelands, the little creek, and the forest. I will say it did get muddy at parts! But still, this place was awesome! So lovingly maintained! Several people were here walking their dogs and enjoying one of the last warm days of Autumn. I will definitely go back and check out some of the other trails as well as recommend this place to others looking for some easy to easy-moderate hiking. What a hidden gem! Even better on the way home I found two other trailheads with multiple trails!! I shall be back!

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Mount Lebanon – North Trail – Pepperell Massachusetts

You ever have one of those days where you just have a complete meltdown because of things out of your control and then you ask the universe for some guidance and end up somewhere wonderful? That would have been today for me. Serendipitous, you may say. Earlier on in the day I thought I was near my journey’s end when it came to me being a medical mystery for the past 20+ years but the rheumatologist I went to disagreed and I felt like I’d slammed into a concrete wall for the last time. I went out into the parking lot and yelled in my car and then tried to drive home but then I realized NO, I was not going to go home defeated. I needed to find my inner Zen, recenter, be a peace with the universe. So, I asked the Universe to guide me to a good trail.

And when the time felt right I took one of those fateful detours up a random road which turned out to be Mt Lebanon Road. In less than a mile I got what I asked for. A trail. A trail I knew nothing about as I don’t live in the area. It found me. I parked and headed in. And whew! This trail was… how shall we put this politely? Rugged. Untamed. Quiet. Although it seemed to be near a neighborhood all I could hear were the chipmunks screaming at me and the birds above. No one else was here. This was PERFECT. An answer to my prayers.

I toddled in with the wonder of a small child. And before I knew it the aggravations of the day started to fade and I found myself at the feet of some very colorful autumn trees and then little creatures started to show themselves. Fuzzy caterpillars of all kinds, a darling little tree frog, more irate chipmunks, a pair of mourning doves, and a night crawler so big I thought it was a snake! I felt blessed, quiet, at peace. I looked up to see a dead tree which still had one living branch, really a whole new baby tree, jutting out from it far above my head. I know it seems silly but this seemed like another sign – to keep going, to never stop fighting for myself. Before the day was out I would find another dead tree that seemed oddly significant. It was bendy, really bendy, almost serpentine as it snaked up towards the sky in an S pattern. Normally I’d just say that was a weird tree but that diagnosis I was seeking earlier was for EDS – a disease punctuated by hypermobility. I.e. people with it are bendy. Too bendy.

When I fell tired I perched myself on a rock and in a calmer state than I was in earlier I made a little video about why this particular doctor’s appointment was so frustrating. And the trees listened. And so did a few people on TikTok. I felt better. A lot better. And then I went back to wandering this ill marked trail, eventually ambling off of it only to end up in someone’s back yard staring at a staircase to the road. I turned around, completed the North Trail loop, and because I have NO sense of direction I ended up back at in those poor people’s back yard before correcting my route and finally finding the car. I was spent, feeling a bit foolish, but I’d returned to my happy self.

Which brings me back to this weird review of the trail. If you happen to be in the area looking for a moderate trail with little to no traffic and a few pretty scenes check it out! See if you can find your Zen here too. And for those of you who have been reading this blog and want to see the videos I took of my little 2 part meltdown feel free. I’ll include them after the pretty pictures. Much love to all of you!

https://www.tiktok.com/@theophanesavery5/video/7286531466605940014?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7272815293484172846
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Doe Orchards – Harvard Massachusetts

You know what’s awesome about having a birthday at the end of September? It’s the perfect time to go apple picking! So that’s what I did to celebrate entering another year of life. And this year I decided to bring an old friend who happened to live just down the street from several orchards. I chose this one as it seemed to have a lot of varieties of apples listed and it also seemed a little less touristy. You know me, the perpetual introvert. I like supporting the little guys whenever I can.

I couldn’t have had a better experience. The people were wonderful, the apples were DELICIOUS, and we had such a great time catching up and picking the perfect bag of apples. This orchard was really lovely in that it allowed people to come with their well-behaved dogs so there were cute fluffy dogs accompanying their owners. It was like wandering through a Norman Rockwell painting.

And this orchard was nice in that it had all the trees labelled with colored markers, so you knew what kind of apple you were picking and what week they were supposed to be ripe. It had rained earlier on in the day so the ground was SOGGY and my friend had to lop off her shoes and barefoot it through the puddles. The grey clouds and raindrops on the apples made for some nice photo opportunities!

This place was really wonderful. I ended up with a bag of apples (and some of these apples were HUUUGE) as well as a $10 pumpkin which was perfectly round and I honestly don’t know if I am going to carve it or eat it. There was also a regular farm stand here so you could just buy a bag of apples if you didn’t want to pick them yourself.

I would definitely go back to this orchard. It was beautiful, the apples were just an amazing quality, and the people running the place were friendly and warm. This was the perfect way to spend my birthday.

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Whitney Hill Antiques – Greenfield MA

One thing about exploring new places is that if you do it often enough you will run out of things to poke at in the area and will have to travel farther and farther away. That’s when it’s nice to have stops along the way! On this particular venture we wandered to a different corner of Massachusetts, one I had very little familiarity with. At the end of our destination, we were promised a large antique store, and we were not disappointed!

Whitney Hill Antiques is a multi-vendor antique mall that spans over three eccentric floors. As with every antique store we go to this one had its own character and on this particular day that would be because it was LOADED with paintings, photos, and other portraits of probably long dead children. You know the sort of thing you hang on your wall as an insta-ancestor or to beckon a haunting at your place. Seriously. Creepy, haunted, children. Swarms of them.

Not to be outdone there was also an assortment of terrifying dolls – one was even three feet tall. Don’t do that. Don’t make dolls 3 feet tall. It’s alarming. Another bizarre find was the first porcelain doll I have ever seen that possessed a mask. Why, I could not tell you. Perhaps it needed to hide its identity while haunting some poor child’s bedroom.

With this many vendors there was A LOT to go through and we spent a few hours here just overwhelmed by the variety of weird things. And most were pretty decently priced too. This definitely wasn’t a high-end market. I didn’t bring anything home this time, but this is definitely somewhere I would visit again and suggest to others who may be in the area.

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Oh My Gosh Antiques and Collectibles – Sterling MA

We found yet another win with this one! This antique store really stood out for having 4 dedicated display rooms full to the brim with Halloween antiques. They weren’t for sale as they were the private collection of the owner but wow, they were fun to gawk at just the same! And there was actually a number of Halloween antiques throughout the store that were for sale as well. It all delighted me to the core. I am SO HAPPY to see Halloween becoming a serious competitor for Christmas. It makes my darkened heart leap for joy. A win for all the freaks among us!

But back to the antique mall – this place was pretty sizable and had a very good diversity of dealers. It had multiple floors, all in a barn-like environment that got sweatier the further up you climbed but honestly at this point I feel like that’s part of having an authentic experience at these places.

There was a lot to find – old movie memorabilia, creepy dolls, tons of cutesy country chic decor, a whole room of homemade soaps and body butters, a display cabinet full of dolls who had heavy metal make overs by what I am guessing is a local artist. All gave this place a lot of personality. I loved it. Would highly suggest giving this place a little lookey loo if you’re into these sorts of things.

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Country Bumpkin Antiques – Gardner MA

My travel companion lives in RI and I live in Southern NH and if I am capable I generally go down to Rhode Island, a two and a half hour drive, once a week so we can go adventuring. Lately we’ve been going to A LOT of antique stores and quite a few fish stores as well, mostly because it’s still over 80 degrees out during the day and he doesn’t want to kill me. (He’s fine in the heat, should really apply as Satan’s apprentice. He’d do great in Hell – heatwise anyway.) But all this means we have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for places to go close to Rhode Island. We’ve been to all the antique stores in RI, most throughout the Boston area, and a good deal in Connecticut too.

And that’s how I ended up driving back to about 20 minutes from where I live to check out an antique store in a church that didn’t exist anymore. I was… annoyed. And then while googling places nearby he came up with this place in Gardner – the city where a good amount of my extended family lives and none of them have ever had anything good to say about it. I was dubious.

But sometimes when you expect nothing you get a lovely surprise and that’s what happened on this particular day. The first thing we saw was a huge swarm of animals made from repurposed metal. One or two of these can be cute. A swarm just looks… junk yard-y. I raised my eye brow. Where we about to relive another Cookie’s moment wandering haplessly into what could be a serial killer’s den? I wasn’t ruling it out.

We walked inside and it was more or less like the decorative section of a feed store. Lots of things for your lawn and so many house plants. I thought this was an antique store? It took us a minute to wander fully in and we found out this place was much larger than it looked on the outside and downstairs were indeed all the antiques as well as more plants, metal animals, knitted plushies, bad taxidermy, modern Halloween decorations, and homemade soaps. This place had no idea what it was! Which made it charming to me. I was far less annoyed leaving the place than I was going in and to be honest I might be back to take a more serious look at all those delightful cacti and succulents when I feel ready to try house plants again.

Anyway…. if you’re in the area and looking for a…. different…. experience you should totally check it out!

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Wrentham Country Store – Wrentham MA

After poking around Under the Bed Antiques we continued onward to another antique store which we found out we’d already been to before. Not really wanting to go home with just one measly blog entry my navigator chose a third and final location – a country store.

Keep in mind I am used to the country stores in Vermont and Upstate NY which are… hard to beat. I was dubious about a country store being in such a populous location in Massachusetts and was delighted to see the store itself seemed to also have this attitude. Although it seemed to be made from an old barn and farmhouse there was a sign out front basically stating in a tongue-in-cheek way this place had all the charm of the country and none of the mess. No barn, no animals, just chic. Country chic. And indeed if you live in the area and that is your vibe you absolutely have to check this place out.

Sadly, I don’t have a home to decorate all nice and pretty so this was mostly a bust for me, until that is I found a very decently priced jar of marbles for $28. I can’t believe how the price of marbles just skyrocketed the second I decided I needed to use them for this blog but you know – it is what it is. Anywhere else would be charging $50 for a mason jar of marbles. Or $80 if we’re somewhere swank.

As I was checking out the two women at the counter sure had a ball selling them to me.

“Oh great, you’re buying her marbles. Now she’s lost them!” An apt pun for this blog. REALLY APT.

They continued to burble and talk about how every jar of marbles is counted. No reason. Just a compulsion. They then asked if I collected marbles. I didn’t know what to say because yes and no..? Seemed odd to say yes, I occasionally buy marbles so I can spread them around like glitter to make my blog more gimmicky. Instead, I said it was for my photography. I was wandering around with a camera after all…

“Ah! Like staging and stuff!”

Sure, why not.

It was a cute encounter. The people at this place definitely added to the experience.

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Under the Bed Antiques – Stoughton MA

Under the Bed Antiques was a fun little adventure. Admittedly I had a hard time finding it. It was much easier to find the mattress store which is above it – which I guess explains the adorable store name! But anyway, it was around the corner and in the basement where there was a few parking spaces and a modest sign.

I have been to so many antique stores by now that I am sort of running out of descriptive words but this place? It had its own feel, and that feel was punk! Punk to the max with a mixing of Kitch and nostalgia. The first thing that greeted us was a Home Alone doll that I am sure was up to something. I mean look at the expression on that face!

Beyond that was a fairly decently sized antique mall with all sorts of delightfully quirky vendors. I was just having so much fun here. Of course there was the usual fare of potentially possessed dolls and creepy clowns but it was absolutely lacking in racist bullshit! And in its place it had some fucking weird music related antiques. Truely bizarre records (which I didn’t look through because I know I’d want them all!) As well as retro clothes ranging from Grateful Dead Bear swimming trunks to punky drainpipes. And then we found the prettiest damn accordion I have ever seen nestled in a corner with a two-foot-tall Joe Camel plushie. Just mental. My companion also noted that every booth was playing different contradictory music which really soothes the chaos demons.

What this place lacked in size it made up in character and I LOVED it. Well worth a visit!

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