Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the United States of America.

Regions

The Berkshire Mountains
Pioneer Valley
Blackstone Valley (Central Massachusetts)
Cape Cod
Greater Boston
The North Shore (Cape Ann)
The South Shore

Cities

Other destinations

Concord
Nantucket
Sturbridge
Old North Bridge

Understand

Massachusetts is an excellent travel destination, noted for many of its historical sites as well as diverse regional flavors. The eastern bay area of the state from Gloucester to Plymouth is very metropolitan, with Boston at its hub. Here you can find great cooking, fresh seafood, and an intense concentration of colleges and universities. To the south of Boston is Cape Cod, a tremendously popular vacation spot and home to the Kennedy family, one of America's more influential political families. West of Boston you'll find the Blackstone Valley National Corridor, a vast expanse of rolling hills and small towns, as well as some of the most unique vineyards in the East Coast.

To the far west, you'll find the Berkshire mountains, the Appalachian Trail, and excellent skiing. Massachusetts has a lot to offer the prospective traveller!

History

Massachusetts is one of the oldest states in America, dating back to the foundation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1620. The name Massachusetts comes from Algonquian Indian words that mean the great mountain, an apparent reference to the tallest of the Blue Hills, a recreation area south of the town of Milton. Massachusetts is nicknamed the "Bay State", for the early settlement on Cape Cod Bay.

Massachusetts is a state of firsts - the first public school (Boston Latin School), the first public library (Boston Public Library), the first American university (Harvard), the first public beach (Revere Beach), and the home of the Boston Massacre, the event that set off the American Revolutionary War.

Massachusetts also has its dark side, the Salem Witch Trials being one of the most significant black spots on the state's history.

Today

Massachusetts today is a blend of old and new - walk the 3.5 mile Freedom Trail in Boston to see more than 20 historical sites, then hop over to Cambridge and see some of the world's most advanced biotechnology, not to mention the legendary Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the gold standard for technical education in the United States.

Get in

By plane

The easiest way to get into Massachusetts is through Logan Airport in Boston. Other regional airports include Manchester, New Hampshire, Providence, Rhode Island and Hartford, Conneticut.

More information on New England's regional airports can be found at Fly New England

By train

Boston is the northern terminus of the Northeast Corridor, the most heavily trafficed rail route in the country, and one of the few routes serviced by Amtrak with a high frequency of service. Trains from New York reach Boston in about 3.5 hours; trains from Washington take about twice as long. The faster Acela trains shave about an hour off those journeys, and although they cost more, they generally present a more enjoyable trip. You can reach the eastern portion of the state from South Station by taking the MBTA commuter rail.

Central and Western Massachusetts are also served by Amtrak, although less frequently. Typically train journeys from New York to Springfield or Worcester require a change at New Haven, CT.

Though easily accessible by train, it is frequently cheaper and almost always faster to fly to Massachusetts than take the train, if traveling from Pennslyvania or further away (however, traveling on the Lake Shore Limited from Chicago and all points in between is often less than $100).

By car

Massachusetts has several large interstates that serve it, including:

I-90, the Massachusetts Turnpike
I-93
I-91
I-84
I-95
I-290
I-395
I-495
I-195

Other important non-interstate highways in Massachusetts include: U.S. Route 1, U.S. Route/State Route 3, and State Routes 2, 9, and 24.

Use SmarTraveler to determine traffic conditions in the Metro Boston area.

By bus

A number of bus companies run a Boston-New York route, from the nationally-known Greyhound to a variety of small, low-cost "Chinatown bus" carriers.

External links

The authors of this document are Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel, Bradford Behr, Evan Prodromou, John and the following WikiTravel users: Chris_j_wood, Christopher_S._Penn, Cjensen, Dhum_Dhum, Hanzo, Huttite, Hypatia, Nickpest, Nils, Rhobite, Schzmo, Xltel. The original version of this article can be seen at http://wikitravel.org/en/Massachusetts.