What to do and see in Massachusetts, United States: The Best Things to do Good for a Rainy Day

Boston's oldest, largest and best-known art institution, the MFA houses one of the world's most comprehensive art collections and is renowned for its Impressionist paintings, Asian and Egyptian collections and early American art.

Also called the Beauport Sleeper-McCann House, this fantasy mansion of more than 40 rooms is perched on the rocks overlooking Gloucester Harbor.

The largest museum in America devoted to human interaction with whales in the world's oceans, the history of whaling and its impact, and the history of Southcoast Massachusetts, the Whaling Museum houses an extensive collection of art and artifacts relating to whaling during the age of sail, socioeconomic history of the region, whale ecology, marine mammal conservation, and ocean health. Visitors can marvel at massive whale skeletons, board the world's largest ship model - the Lagoda - see an exhibit about the world's longest painting, and explore hands-on learning activities in the Casa dos Botes Discovery Center. The Whaling Museum is a compelling destination that inspires all visitors to reflect on the complex issues that shaped the past, remain critical today, and inform a sustainable future.

America's oldest public museum is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of both Native American and Pilgrim artifacts.

At the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, you can be a part of the famous event that forever changed the course of American History! It’s more than a stroll through historic artifacts – it’s an adventure! Located on the Congress Street Bridge in Boston, Massachusetts, this floating museum is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before. Live actors, high-tech, interactive exhibits, authentically restored tea ships and the stirring, multi-sensory documentary “Let it Begin Here,” are just a taste of what you’ll see, hear and feel. Meet the colonists, explore the ships and dump tea overboard just as the Sons of Liberty did on that fateful night of December 16, 1773. Stop in at Abigail’s Tea Room for teatime and visit the Gift Shop for special souvenirs. It’s educational, entertaining and enlightening — an experience not to be missed by adults and children of all ages. Your tour of the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum will last approximately one hour and will take you through a variety of displays that are interconnected. The tour is designed to give you the opportunity to participate, explore and learn about the people, events and consequences that led up to the American Revolution in the order in which they actually occurred more than 230 years ago.

Try your luck at catching the brass ring and winning a free ride on the oldest working carousel in the U.S., which has been enchanting children and adults for over a hundred years. The 20 hand-carved horses on this official historic landmark have real horsehair manes and tails.

There are ten different garden types and a greenhouse in this Botanic Garden.

Open for tours from March to mid-December, the birthplace of Emily Dickinson is registered as a National Historic Landmark.

The Armory, which manufactured and tested firearms for the U.S. military from 1794 to 1968, houses the country's largest collection of US military small weapons. The displays include rare weapons and the largest collection of confederate weapons anywhere. When it started, the Armory was the first high tech manufacturing to occur in the country, and the advancements in mass production and the ability to create interchangeable parts that started at the Armory, initiated the development of the countries first high tech manufacturing corridor.