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The Atlas Obscura Guide To Massachusetts

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

Updated February 19, 2024

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Cities

Top Cities
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. Franklin
  21. Gardner
  22. Gloucester
  23. Greenfield
  24. Harvard
  25. Haverhill
  26. Hingham
  27. Holyoke
  28. Hudson
  29. Hull
  30. Lee
  31. Leominster
  32. Lincoln
  33. Lowell
  34. Lynn
  35. Marblehead
  36. Medford
  37. Milton
  38. Montague
  39. Nantucket
  40. New Bedford
  41. Newton
  42. North Adams
  43. Oak Bluffs
  44. Orange
  45. Petersham
  46. Pittsfield
  47. Plymouth
  48. Princeton
  49. Provincetown
  50. Quincy
  51. Salem
  52. Sandwich
  53. Scituate
  54. Sheffield
  55. Shelburne Falls
  56. Shrewsbury
  57. Somerville
  58. Springfield
  59. Stockbridge
  60. Sudbury
  61. Waltham
  62. Wareham
  63. Watertown
  64. Wellesley
  65. Westford
  66. Weston
  67. Winthrop
  68. Worcester
  69. Yarmouth

Unusual Attractions in Massachusetts

See All 512 Things To Do in Massachusetts

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Massachusetts

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.

View Itinerary

Explore Massachusetts

History 51
History & Culture 42
Homes 34
Architectural Oddities 33
Monuments 32
Statues 32
Museums And Collections 31
Cemeteries 27

Massachusetts Leaderboard

Recent Massachusetts Activity

Stories About Massachusetts

Podcast: Gunnar Schonbeck Exhibit

More than 200 unconventional instruments are on display at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
by The Podcast Team
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

Lists Featuring Massachusetts

View to Marshall Street from Creek Square.

The 11 Most Interesting Places to Visit Near Faneuil Hall

11

Including AHAC Headquarters, Faneuil Hall Weathervane, and Creek Square

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