Massachusetts or Bust!

Submitted by Haley on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 10:51
A Guide to the Commonwealth
 
The first thing I did upon opening the guide was search for any mention of my town. Nary a word, despite 600 plus pages of information. Poor Lancaster. Once I got over that vast oversight, I read about surrounding areas and found a remarkable amount of similarities regarding tourism today. The main draw to Massachusetts is a rich cultural history, full of Native American settlements and Civil War decorations. Boston is obviously an excellent tourist destination, but areas west of the Atlantic are great places to visit as well. (I should really work for the Central/Western Massachusetts tourism industry.)
 
New England is known for its autumn foliage. The WPA guides mention apple picking and leaf peeping, which are still a huge draw for tourists today.  Horticulture hero Johnny Appleseed has both a hiking trail and a highway named after him. “Every region of the state enjoys gorgeous color, and you'll see some popular routes listed below. But don't be afraid to explore off the beaten path, where you'll find fewer cars and surprising colorful vistas. But it's not just about foliage in the fall. Make sure to check out these great Culinary Events and Farm Festivals going on in September and October. Also find out the latest apple picking info with Macintosh News.” (http://www.massvacation.com/scienceNature/fall-foliage.php) The current website for vacationing in Massachusetts has an interactive foliage map-a timetable created for optimal seasonal colors. The old WPA guide suggest taking a  “Right on Boston Rd, which leads through long stretches of apple orchards…the scene of the Nashoba Apple Blossom Festival in which, in, 1935, thirty-eight towns participated in with an attendance of some 50,000 persons. The present town comprises about 20,00 acres of land, chiefly hills, and valleys of glacial origin.” (WPA 511) Concord and Walden Pond are popular spots as well. In addition to being a beautiful small town, Concord offers the homes and writing spots of literary giant and noted transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau (something the WPA guide fails to mention.) 
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Christian's picture

Leafers

Submitted by Christian on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 23:11.
Coming from a guy who was raised in the tourist hotbed of North Reading, Massachusetts (Yes, we exist, no, we're not part of Reading.), let me tell you, being metioned in a tourist guide isn't always a good thing. It's probably much better to remember your hometown as a home rather than a destination that can be objectified and sold to tourists across the country. And I think we're lucky that for most of New England there's no tourist attraction besides foliage and apples, which is an environment we native Massachusettsinianese can enjoy far more than visitors (unlike a tourist destination like Paul Revere's house, which some Bostonians may have been to, like, once?). Of course, this still leads to a miconception that New England is nothing but apple festivals and red and yellow leaves--I wonder if the WPA often received complaints that a person's home sate was being reduced to a very simplistic archetype so the rest of the country could understand (and sell!) it. Anyway, here's a documentary on the terrible destruction caused by foliage-seeking tourists in towns like yours and mine, reminding us that anonymity can be a good thing.
waverly's picture

Tourist destination.. good or bad?

Submitted by waverly on Wed, 10/26/2011 - 13:01.
Maybe it's a plus that your town wasnt mentioned in the tourist guide. I think the locations that escaped tourism back in the day might just be the best getaways today. My town is in upstate New York State, about an hour and a half north of the city, and in the past five years it has began to blosson as a tourist destination from the city. Coupled with Bard college, in the neighboring village, my quiant little hometown is quickly turning into a hot tourist spot! I guess it's a good and a bad thing, seeing as we have a lot more revenue coming in, yet Rhinebeck is losing its familiar charm.
Haley's picture

You know, I was kind of

Submitted by Haley on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 10:43.
You know, I was kind of thinking this earlier. My town doesn’t have anything you can’t get in a neighboring area, and it’s not as though we rely on a tourist industry at all. Having it become a destination spot seems both unlikely and unappealing. 
Will's picture

As I sit writing this

Submitted by Will on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 19:06.
As I sit writing this comment, I am back in Massachusetts, soaking up all of the aspects of the Fall you mentioned in your post.  No matter how much fun i have in  New York during the start of the school year I always need to go back to MA to get a quintessential fall weekend in before the bleakness of winter sets in.  I never fully realized how great New England is during fall until I left for school, but now I can certainly see why they relied so heavily on it when trying to lure tourists to visit.