Summer Information For Greater Lowell Area In Massachusetts






Jul 3, 09

Greater Lowell Area
Massachusetts

A Rich History

The greater Lowell area offers a variety of endeavors. Lowell itself is located at the confluence of the Concord and Merrimack rivers. This fact contributed greatly to the area's rich textile history.

This potential for waterpower impressed a group of investors looking for a good factory location in the early 1800s. It all started in 1813 when Boston merchant Francis Cabot Lowell supported the development of a power loom that shaped the history of this country's textile industry.

The Lowell National Historical Park honors the pioneering role that the town played in the Industrial Revolution. Visitors can tour cotton textile mills, workers' housing, a power canal system and industrial exhibits. More textile history can be viewed at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum and The Working People Exhibit.

Art and Beauty

Those interested in art as well as history can see etchings by James Abbott McNeill Whistler at the Whistler House Museum of Art. The house, built in 1823, was Whistler's birthplace. The museum has a collection of 19th- and 20th-century American art.

Nearby, in Westford, The Butterfly Place gives a delightful look into the world of this beautiful and fascinating insect. A glass atrium enclosing more than 3,000 square feet includes flowering plants and shrubs and paths from which to view the delicate creatures. Thirty different species combine to make up the atrium's 300 butterflies.

Stratton Mountain Resort