Itinerary around Amherst, Massachusetts
 

My husband and I are planning a visit to Amherst College early next April. We used to live in Cambridge and visited Boston a couple of years ago. We plan to be in Amherst for a couple of days and want to plan an itinerary for several days before that. We are considering visiting the areas around Amherst (saw Deerfield last time), and will probably include Sturbridge Village. We have never been to Gloucester and Rockport and are considering those. Any other suggestions will be appreciated.

You might want to go to Newburyport (old whaling port, many beautiful old mansions) and Plum Island if you are heading to Cape Ann (Gloucester and Rockport).

Ipswich and Crane Beach and its Wildlife Refuge are also interesting places to visit on the north shore

The Lowell National Historic park for a fascinating look at early industrial history. The website is confusing as to hours it is open in April--it may be closed

I am picking historic sites because of your interest in Sturbridge and Old Deerfield.

Hancock Shaker Village, Stockbridge, and Great Barrington in the Berkshires. Lots of historic buildings, but it may be too early for them to be open.

Note that Amherst area is now promoting Museums10, a consortium of 10 museums in the area. I can't remember them all, but:

1. The spankin' new geology museum on the Amherst College campus. Awesome. It has the world's largest collection of dinosaur tracks (thousands), among other things.

2. Mead Art museum at AC

3. Eric Carle museum of picture book art, near Hampshire

4. The National Yiddish Bookcenter.

5. Art museum at Smith College ...

and I forget the rest.

Lunch and shopping in nearby Northampton is always nice.

In April, if weather cooperates, you might still be able to visit a sugarhouse, and have pancakes with maple syrup right off the tree. (Weekend mornings only.) The North Hadley Sugar Shack would be a good place to try.

Also consider Mass MoCa (the museum of enormous contemporary art) and the other art museums in the North Adams/Williamstown area.

Thanks for all the great ideas. Yes, we are interested in history, but we are also interested in charming towns and pleasant drives.
Suze, do you have a recommendation for lunch in Northampton? Also, what do you recommend for shopping? Something different, hopefully, because we live in Los Angeles and have lots of regular shopping.
Also, since we have about five days before we arrive at Amherst, how far afield can we plan to go without driving more than two or three hours a day?
And do you recommend flying into Boston or into Hartford?

Hi Grandot,
I know you directed your questions to Suze, but I'll throw my 2 cents in anyway.

I think whether to fly into Boston or Hartford depends on from where you are coming and where you plan to spend your time when you are here, and whether you are concerned with the airfare or not.

If you plan to base yourself in the Western MA area (Amherst, Northampton, Berkshires), it may make sense to fly into Hartford. It would be about 1 hr. drive from that airport to the Amherst area and is probably an easier drive. But, if airfare and airline schedules are a consideration for you, it may make sense to fly into Boston if you can fly direct from your city and/or get a cheaper fare.

As for Northampton shopping and restaurants, most are located in a compact downtown area on the main street and down side streets. It is loaded with cute shops like ladies boutiques, unique housewares, shops catering to college students and arts and crafts and art galleries. Many, many ethnic (mexican, indian, asian, italian) restaurants.

Jane

I would recommend flying into Hartford if the price is the same. Agreed that Northhampton has a lot of shops / restaurants. Its been about 7 years since I was there so I am sure there have been a lot of changes. If you decide to head west, make sure to drive through Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshires.

(I'll chime in too). For shopping, dining Northampton, head for the parking garage behind Thornes Marketplace. Thornes might be a good place to start -- a 3-story former mill building filled with shops and boutique stores.

I don't think there is a chain store in downtown NHampton. There are probably a dozen excellent restuarants within 2 blocks of Thornes -- what kind of food do you like?

There was an article in the New York Times (maybe their Destinations column?) 1 or 2 weeks ago, describing all the bookstores in the area, and suggesting 3 driving tours for bookstore-lovers.

Driving times from Amherst (ballpark): Cape Anne is bout 2.5 hours away; Old Deefield about 50 minutes; Northampton 15 minutes; Hancock Shaker Village maybe an hour; North Adams/Williamstown about an hour; Stockbridge & Lenox about 90 minutes.

Absolutely I'd fly into Bradlee Field in Hartford! Closer but more important, WAY easier traffic and driving than dealing with Boston, if western Massachusetts is where you want to end up.

Northampton has an old fashioned main street with shops and restaurants. It's all right there. There's some unique women's clothing store, one called "Country Comfort" (may or may not be your style).

Can someone help me with the name of the state park and look-out viewpoint with an old hotel? It's between N'hamp and Northampton and a bit south (maybe in Hadley?). Is it still there.

As you may gather I used to live in this area but many moons ago.

oops, but visited last summer and had lunch & poked around in N'hampton.

Suze,

It's Skinner house (also called Summit house) on Mt. Holyoke State Park. Terrific views.

Another amazing view may be found from the top of Mt. Sugarloaf, in Sunderland.

Well, ok. It is Summit House, at Skinner State Park, on top of Mt. Holyoke. And Mt Sugarloaf is in S. Deerfield, not Sunderland. But otherwise my facts are correct.