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All United States Massachusetts

The Atlas Obscura Guide To Massachusetts

472 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Massachusetts

Updated May 29, 2023

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Cities

Top Cities
Boston
The world's only Kronosaurus skeleton.
Cambridge
Salem Witch House
Salem
Hull
Museum of Modern Renaissance
Somerville
Quincy
All Cities
  1. Adams
  2. Amherst
  3. Ashland
  4. Beverly
  5. Boston
  6. Brookline
  7. Cambridge
  8. Clinton
  9. Concord
  10. Danvers
  11. Dedham
  12. Deerfield
  13. Dennis
  14. Eastham
  15. Edgartown
  16. Fairhaven
  17. Falmouth
  18. Fitchburg
  19. Framingham
  20. Gardner
  21. Gloucester
  22. Greenfield
  23. Harvard
  24. Haverhill
  25. Hingham
  26. Holyoke
  27. Hull
  28. Lee
  29. Leominster
  30. Lincoln
  31. Lowell
  32. Lynn
  33. Marblehead
  34. Medford
  35. Milton
  36. Montague
  37. Nantucket
  38. New Bedford
  39. Newton
  40. North Adams
  41. Oak Bluffs
  42. Orange
  43. Petersham
  44. Plymouth
  45. Princeton
  46. Provincetown
  47. Quincy
  48. Salem
  49. Sandwich
  50. Scituate
  51. Sheffield
  52. Shelburne Falls
  53. Shrewsbury
  54. Somerville
  55. Springfield
  56. Stockbridge
  57. Sudbury
  58. Waltham
  59. Wareham
  60. Watertown
  61. Wellesley
  62. Westford
  63. Weston
  64. Winthrop
  65. Worcester
  66. Yarmouth
Attractions
Food & Drink
Map
Leaderboards
Stories

Unusual Attractions in Massachusetts

Boston, Massachusetts

Mapparium

An enormous, inside-out glass globe built in 1935.
Salem Witch House

Salem, Massachusetts

The Witch House of Salem

The only structure left with direct ties to the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692.
Warren Anatomical Museum

Boston, Massachusetts

Warren Anatomical Museum

This Boston medical museum features the skull of the famous medical case of Phineas Gage.
Photo by Elizabeth Evans

Boston, Massachusetts

Forest Hills Cemetery

A beautiful Victorian-era cemetery, complete with a miniature village.
Brattle Book Shop.

Boston, Massachusetts

Brattle Book Shop

One of the oldest used bookstores in the U.S. has been selling antiquarian treasures since 1825.

Boston, Massachusetts

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (The Gardner)

Two thousand artifacts from around the world collected by one woman who loved to travel.
Bodega

Boston, Massachusetts

Bodega

This upscale streetwear store is hidden behind a fake Snapple machine in the back of a deli.

Boston, Massachusetts

Caffe Vittoria

The oldest Italian café in Boston, this spot also serves as a veritable museum of vintage coffee ephemera.
See All 472 Things To Do in Massachusetts

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Massachusetts

Boston, Massachusetts

Caffe Vittoria

The oldest Italian café in Boston, this spot also serves as a veritable museum of vintage coffee ephemera.

Boston, Massachusetts

Empire Garden Restaurant

Dim sum, served in a grand old theater.
Plaque

Boston, Massachusetts

Great Boston Molasses Flood Plaque

The site of one of the strangest disasters in history—a wave of deadly molasses traveling at 35 mph.
The Frederick Law Olmsted designed Emerald Necklace at The Fenway Victory Gardens.

Boston, Massachusetts

Fenway Victory Gardens

One of the last remaining World War II Victory Gardens in the U.S. is quietly growing across from Fenway Park.
See all 10 Places to Eat in Massachusetts
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Atlas Obscura Itineraries

12 Places in Massachusetts Where Literature Comes to Life

Massachusetts is a lit-lover's paradise. From landscapes that have moved writers to wax poetic about beans to story-inspired sculpture parks and shops stacked with volumes new and old, the Bay State would also be aptly named the Book State. Here are 12 places to celebrate writers or the places that inspired them. As the pandemic continues, we hope this virtual trip helps you explore America’s wonders. If you do choose to venture out, please follow all guidelines, maintain social distance, and wear a mask.

View Itinerary

Explore Massachusetts

History 48
History & Culture 37
Homes 34
Architectural Oddities 33
Monuments 30
Museums And Collections 30
Statues 27
Literature 25
Houses 25
Cemeteries 24
Sacred Spaces 24
Memorials 22
Unique Restaurants & Bars 9
Places To Stay 5

Massachusetts Leaderboard

Places Added

  1. Avatar image for JWOcker
    JWOcker
    30
  2. Avatar image for TheDiscoveryService
    TheDiscoveryService
    29
  3. Avatar image for kensears37
    kensears37
    22
  4. Avatar image for kastoory
    kastoory
    16
  5. Avatar image for bakedinthehole
    bakedinthehole
    10

Places Edited

  1. Avatar image for Rachel
    Rachel
    77
  2. Avatar image for e1savage
    e1savage
    53
  3. Avatar image for TheDiscoveryService
    TheDiscoveryService
    47
  4. Avatar image for Collector of Experiences
    Collector of Experiences
    34
  5. M
    Martin
    33

Places Visited

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    Runmahr
    195
  2. Avatar image for philognosis80
    philognosis80
    174
  3. Avatar image for MazelTovCocktail
    MazelTovCocktail
    162
  4. Avatar image for JWOcker
    JWOcker
    156
  5. C
    cincjr27
    154

Recent Massachusetts Activity

  • A

    amabing82

    wants to go to Site of the Great Brinks Robbery

  • A

    amabing82

    wants to go to Gruchy's Angels

  • A

    amabing82

    wants to go to Grave of Christopher Seider

  • A

    amabing82

    wants to go to Boston Irish Famine Memorial

  • A

    amabing82

    wants to go to Site of St. Anthony's Feast

Stories About Massachusetts

On Tuckernuck Island, the American giant millipede is in danger of losing its head. Scientists don't know what is responsible for the unprecedented number of decapitations.

The Mystery of the Headless Millipedes

Every summer, hundreds of millipedes are murdered on one small Massachusetts island.
by William von Herff
May 26, 2023
A Close Combat Assault Ration, which provides calorie-dense nutrition and is shelf stable for years.

Feeding Armies Throughout History

From Sparta to the Mongol Empire, soldiers needed fuel for the fight.
by Diana Hubbell
May 12, 2023
At the high-tech military food center colloquially known as Natick Lab, R&D achievements include a vacuum microwave-dried cheeseburger (center top) and other shelf-stable meals.

How to Feed an Army

Go behind the scenes at the Massachusetts military lab engineering the fuel of the future.
by Diana Hubbell
May 12, 2023
Trays at the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine’s Metabolic Kitchen are prepared for an employee taste-testing panel.

Food Innovations That Came from War

Thank Uncle Sam for Cheetos, air fryers, and other modern mainstays.
by Diana Hubbell
May 12, 2023
The packaging laboratory where researchers design and test ways to transport and store rations in a wide variety of environments.

The Evolution of American Military Food

What would George Washington's spruce beer-chugging troops have thought about today's cheesecake rations?
by Diana Hubbell
May 12, 2023
Digitizing gravestones from the colonial era preserves them for future study and makes them more accessible, but it also raises questions about how to study this period of American history.

Burial Hill's Historic Gravestones Are Coming to Your Screen

Digitizing markers at the Massachusetts cemetery makes them more accessible.
by Anya Gruber
May 8, 2023
Children dance around a modern maypole in Boston; a few centuries earlier, a similar celebration was cut short by Puritan axes. Was it part of a practice run for a far more violent and bloody campaign?

Was a May Day Attack by Pilgrims a Practice Run for a Massacre?

One historian of early New England sees the event as a harbinger of deadly violence.
by Peter C. Mancall
May 1, 2023

Podcast: Ashley House

A history that intertwines the American Revolution with the seeds of abolition in the North.
by The Podcast Team
April 11, 2023

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