Above: The Southborough Library offers passes to a wide variety of venues for some great day trips. (photos by Beth & Joao Melo, plus promo image from American Heritage Museum)
Occasionally, I like to remind readers of all the great museums and parks that the Southborough Library offers discount admission to. Summer is an especially great time to take advantage of the options.
A pass worth highlighting as new this year to the library this summer is the discount admission1 pass to Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, which covers three of their museums in Cambridge: Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology. (Their fourth museum, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, is always free.)
And, as I posted about in April, earlier this year the library added passes for the American Heritage Museum in nearby Hudson. That museum invites visitors to:
explore America’s conflicts, beginning with the Revolutionary War to today . . .
Among the staggering variety of rare relics, the American Heritage Museum features over fifteen tanks and artifacts that are the only ones on public display in North America.
If you like that museum, you may also be interested in visiting Battleship Cove or the USS Constitution.
But if military history isn’t your thing, something else will surely pique your interest. The passes offer options for lovers of animals, art, science, nature, basketball, and more. There are venues geared to little tots and others more appreciated by adults. And there are outdoor ones that could help you make the most of a lovely spring day, while others are perfect for escaping rainy/dreary weather.
The twenty passes help make affordable visits to far more museums and parks all across the state:
- American Heritage Museum, Hudson
- Battleship Cove, Fall River
- Boston Children’s Museum, Boston
- Davis Farmland, Sterling
- Discovery Museum, Acton
- EcoTarium, Worcester
- Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, Cambridge
- USS Constitution Museum, Charlestown
- The Icon Museum & Study Center, Clinton
- Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Boston
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
- Massachusetts State Parks, statewide
- Mass State Police Museum & Learning Center, Whitinsville
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Museum of Science, Boston
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield
- New England Aquarium, Boston
- New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Boylston
- Salem Witch Museum, Salem
- Trustees Go Pass
- Access/parking at many of The Trustees of Reservations properties
- Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, Ipswich
- Decordova Sculpture Park, Lincoln
- Fruitlands Museum, Harvard
- USS Constitution Museum, Charlestown
- Worcester Art Museum, Worcester
- Zoo New England
- Franklin Park Zoo, Boston
- Stone Zoo, Stoneham
Keep in mind that the Library is closed Sundays all year and Saturdays in July and August. That means that any physical passes for those days would need to be picked up in advance. But the Library also offers some e-vouchers/passes that can be checked out online any time of day.
Please note that any reusable passes need to be returned by 10:00 am the next day the library is open.
You can find details and reserve passes through the library’s website pass manager. Or you can make reservations by calling 508-485-5031 during library hours.
Most of the passes are made possible through funding from the Friends of the Southborough Library.* The Southborough Gardeners sponsor the Tower Hill pass.
*Full Disclosure: I am president of The Friends of the Southborough Library. If you are interested in supporting the Friends, you can learn more here.
- An even better deal is the Harvard Museums’ free admission to Mass residents with proof of residency (no pass necessary) on Sunday mornings (9am – noon) and Wednesday afternoons (from 3-5pm). And the venues are always free to Mass K-12 teachers. But for the rest of us, if you want to explore the museums outside of the limited free hours, the Library’s pass offers 50% off regular admission.
