Today, I decided to make a day of exploring the various museums in the city of Lowell, nicknamed Spindle City.
Starting off early, I passed through Clinton,
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Old St. Mary's Elementary School,
132 Franklin Street |
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Prescott Mill Apartments,
24 Water Street |
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| Lofts at Lancaster Mills, 55 Green Street |
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| Bigelow Mills, ~467 Main Street |
Lancaster,
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| Preston Hall and Brown House |
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| Founder's Hall |
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| Miles Hall |
Harvard,
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| 200 Ayer Road |
and Pepperell.
Finally, I reached Lowell, and did some sightseeing before heading to Dracut for lunch at
Kashin Garden, a Japanese restaurant.
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Giant Water Tower,
Campbell Drive near Wedge Street |
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Dr. Gertrude Bailey Elementary School,
175 Campbell Drive |
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Iglesia Pentecostal Arca de Refugio,
60 Lawrence Street |
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| Gateway Center, 10 George Street |
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Old Boston Maine Railroad Station,
Green Street and Central Street |
From here, I decided to head to Dracut for lunch, passing by a few places along the way.
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War Memorial,
Sladen Street and Pleasant Street |
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| Pleasant Street Dam, ~68 Pleasant Street |
Kashin Garden is a pretty decently decorated place, with a Chinese-Japanese menu.
For my $30 groupon, I decided to get all Japanese
dishes, getting the Tuna Peppers (Tempura jalapeno, stuffed with spicy tuna topped with tobiko and special sauce) and the Inari Pillows (Fried bean curd skin stuffed with shrimp, kani, tobiko, avocado and spicy mayo) for appetizers, while getting the Kampyo Maki (Avocado, cucumber, ebi shrimp and kampyo wrap with soy paper topped with baked spicy scallop). |
| Tuna Pepper |
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| Inari Pillows |
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| Kampyo Maki |
All the dishes were actually pretty good, although I guess I'm not much of a fan of green peppers. I'll put a recommend for this place in a small suburban town.
From here, it was back to Lowell for more sightseeing.
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| Market Basket, 331 Fletcher Street |
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Western Canal,
Lewis Street and Broadway Street |
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Mercier Multi Service Center,
21 Salem Street |
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Old St. Jean Baptiste Church,
741 Merrimack Street |
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Irish American Memorial,
Dummer Street and Market Street |
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| City Hall, 375 Merrimack Street |
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| Cannon outside City Hall |
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War Memorials,
Merrimack Street and Arcand Drive |
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War Memorial,
Willie Street and Fletcher Street |
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Smith Baker Center,
Merrimack Street and Dummer Street |
Monuments, John F Kennedy Civic Center,
50 Arcand Drive
Lucy Larcom Park,
French Street and Father Morrisette Boulevard
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The Worker,
Market Street and Shattuck Street |
Finally, it was time for the first museum of the day, at the
Whistler House Museum of Art, the birthplace of
painter and etcher James McNeill Whistler, who painted the famous "Whistler's Mother" painting. Whistler Park is right next to the house, but was totally covered in snow. |
| Whistler Park |
I headed into the house and had to pay an entry fee of $5. This place is pretty small, but has some nice artwork, including a copy of Whistler's Mother.
Next, it was on to the National Streetcar Museum, which talks about the history of streetcars in Lowell as well as in the rest of the world. This place is pretty small too, although pretty informative as well. |
| Old Railroad Structure |
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| Locomotive #410 |
Next it was the New England Quilt Museum, which was literally right next door. I had hoped that it would be about how quilts are made, but it was more just a collection of interesting looking quilts. Pictures follow.
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| A Woman and 2 gents |
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| Sometime I can't Stand Myself |
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| ArtFabrik |
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| Town News |
My next destination was the Boott Cotton Mills Museum at 115 John Street in the midst of the
Lowell National Historical Park, passing through the Mogan Cultural Center, which had an exhibition about the Mill Girls of the time that Lowell was the Spindle City of Massachusetts.
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| Patrick J Mogan |
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| Mill Keeper's Room |
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| Typical Mill girl Meals |
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| The Millgirl's beds |
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| The Dining Room |
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| Typical Mill Girl |
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| The larder |
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| Snowshoes |
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| Barber Sign |
Next to the cultural center is the Boarding House Park on the corner of French Street and John Street, a nice place with a lot of monuments, though covered in snow.
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| Boarding House Park |
The Boott Cotton Mills Museum was close by, containing a huge weave room which was extremely noisy, and a small exhibition area about the textile industry in Lowell and its history.
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| Weave Room |
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| A Loom |
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| Converting wild cotton to weaving material |
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| Spindles |
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| Inside a Cotton Mill Operation |
I still think the
American Textile History Museum in town
is better though. I spent the rest of the daylight hours wandering around Lowell and taking pictures.
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Old Central Fire House,
134 Middle Street |
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| Homage to Women, 148 Market Street |
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| Bell, Central Street and Prescott Street |
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Old Central Market House,
45 Market Street |
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| The Lower Locks, ~17 Warren Street |
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Immaculate Conception Rectory,
3 Fayette Street |
Massachusetts Mills Apartments,
150 Massmills Drive
With that, I called it a day for sightseeing and headed to Burlington for dinner at
The Mughals, a pretty nice little Indian restaurant in town.
Having some money to spend on my groupon, I got the Limca (Indian Lemon Lime Soda) for a drink, the Murg Ka Shorba (Chicken soup with boneless chicken and spices) for soup, the Konju Pappas (Delicious kerala backwaters special prawns dish prepared in creamy coconut milk, tempered with curry leaves, mustard and dry red chillies) with a side of Peshavari Naan (Bread stuffed with crushed dried fruits, baked in Tandoor & topped with butter and coconut powder) for my main dish, and finally the Ras Malai (Gulabgoft cheese patty in thickened sugar syrup) for dessert.
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| Limca |
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| Konju Pappas |
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| Murg Ka Shorba |
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| Peshavari Naan |
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| Ras Malai |
The drink was actually not bad at all, not too sour or sweet. My main dish with the naan was excellent, while the soup was just okay, and the Ras Malai is
still not my cup of tea.
With that, my day of exploring the museums in Lowell came to an end.
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