New England: Quick and Cheap

Stevens-Coolidge Place

The Stevens-Coolidge Place, in North Andover, MA,  is a wonderful example of “the country place,” when rural retreats were designed as places that integrated indoor and outdoor spaces – and that were meant to be lived in as well as admired.

Formerly known as Ashdale Farm, it served as the summer home of John Gardner Coolidge – a diplomat who was descended from Thomas Jefferson and was nephew to Isabella Stewart Gardner – and Helen Stevens Coolidge from 1914 to 1962.

Gardens are FREE and open year-round, daily, 8am to sunset.

Helen Coolidge was devoted to preserving and improving Ashdale Farm, which her family had first acquired in 1729 and then farmed for six generations. With her husband’s support, she transformed the farm into an elegant agricultural estate that exemplified the gracious country living enjoyed then by wealthy Bostonians.

The most dramatic transformation occurred in 1914, when the Coolidges hired preservation architect Joseph Everett Chandler to remodel the estate’s two connected, Federal-period farmhouses, which resulted in the creation of a gracious Colonial Revival estate.

Chandler also enhanced the design of the landscape, which eventually included enlarging the perennial garden and installing a kitchen and cut-flower garden, a rose garden, greenhouse complex, and a potager garden (or French vegetable garden) with a brick serpentine wall, and a greenhouse complex. Intermingling with the formal gardens are rustic elements, including hay fields, an orchard, and woodlands.

When to visit

Gardens are FREE and open year-round, daily, 8am to sunset. Gardens are most vibrant mid-June though September. For more info, call 978.682.3580 or check them out here.

New England Aquarium

Traveling to some place new is naturally enticing. It puts us in touch with our historic pioneering spirits. But what if you want a brief respite in the comfort of home? The New England Aquarium may be your virtual destination. The folks there have created NEAq Insider, a series of mobile tours about the aquarium and the many fascinating sea creatures they house. You can download or stream the tours in a variety of formats to see up-close and personal all they have to offer.