Massachusetts
These 9 Towns in Massachusetts Have Beautiful Architecture
Massachusetts wears its history on every storefront, steeple, and weathered shingle. This is a state where you can sip coffee inside a 1700s tavern or wander past a witch trial-era home with a roof so steep it looks like it is still scowling at you. You will find Gothic chapels next to Gilded Age greenhouses, candy-colored downtowns, and lighthouses that have been guiding boats home since before your great-great-grandparents were born. These nine towns are the ones where the architecture really steals the show. Pack a camera, wear comfortable shoes, and prepare to crane your neck a lot, because in Massachusetts, the buildings have stories they are not shy to tell.
Newburyport
Newburyport sits on the northern coast of Massachusetts not far from the New Hampshire line, and with about 19,000 residents it splits the difference between small town and small city in a way that works in its favor. The architecture is classic New England through and through. Aged brick buildings line most of the town center, sharing the streets with locally run shops and restaurants that have grown roots over the decades. Market Square is the natural place to start exploring, and you can easily spend an afternoon there without checking your watch once.
The Newburyport Harbor Rear Range Light is a stop worth making, and it doubles as one of the more unusual dinner reservations in the state. Through the Lighthouse Preservation Society, parties can rent the tower and dine at the top with the harbor spread out below. The lighthouse has been a fixture of the town’s identity for generations, and it carries the kind of character that does not need any embellishment.
Rockport
Rockport sits at the northeastern tip of Cape Ann, north of Boston, and the harbor and wharves come alive once the warm weather arrives. Visitors browse the waterfront shops, watch the fishing boats unload, and grab a seat for fresh seafood with a view. The town hits every note you would expect from a New England fishing village, with a slow, easy pace reflected in the well-kept old buildings and homes scattered across the landscape.
One of the more underrated stops in Rockport is the Shalin Liu Performance Center. Its exterior leans into a colonial-era opera house aesthetic, while the inside is fitted out as a modern concert venue with a stage that frames a wall of windows looking out over the ocean. It is the kind of detail that sticks with you.
Williamstown
Williamstown sits in the far northwestern corner of the state. The population is only a few thousand, but the town punches well above its weight thanks to Williams College and a handful of architectural standouts that draw visitors year after year.
The range here is the appeal. Williams College anchors town with the Gothic stonework of Thompson Memorial Chapel, while just down the way the white clapboard First Congregational Church on Main Street offers the cleaner, more austere New England look. Both are easy to admire from the sidewalk and worth a closer look. When you have soaked up enough architecture, the Appalachian Trail and the renowned Clark Art Institute are right there to round out the day.
Northampton
Northampton is a town of about 30,000 sitting along the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts, and despite its modest size it carries one of the most active arts scenes in the state. The architectural standout is the Smith College Botanic Garden, a near two-story greenhouse built almost entirely of glass that throws back to the conservatory style of the late 19th century. It is striking from the outside and even better from within.
Smith College itself is hard to walk past without slowing down. The redbrick buildings trimmed in white feel definitively New England, and the Smith College Museum of Art has a Picasso in the collection for anyone who counts museum visits as part of the trip.
Pittsfield
Pittsfield is the largest city in the Berkshires, the long stretch of countryside running north to south through western Massachusetts and into Connecticut. The region is known for its rural beauty, especially in the fall, when the surrounding forests put on the kind of color show that books a hotel for you.
The town center is the right place to start if you want to take in the architecture. North Street holds a particularly good cluster of old theaters and art galleries that turn a casual stroll into a proper outing.
Make time for Hancock Shaker Village too. The living-history museum preserves a Shaker community that was founded in 1790 and remained active all the way to 1960, with original buildings, demonstrations, and exhibits that bring the lifestyle into focus.
New Bedford
Once a major center of the global whaling industry, New Bedford remains one of the most important fishing ports in the United States. Herman Melville shipped out from here on a whaling voyage in 1841, and the city’s maritime streets and landmarks ended up shaping the New Bedford scenes in Moby-Dick.
That long history is still etched into the cobblestone streets, gas lamps, and brick buildings, all of which wear their years without apology. The New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park is the obvious place to dig into the city’s past, with multiple sites and exhibits packed into a walkable downtown stretch.
For something a little less obvious, swing by St. Anthony of Padua Church. The Catholic parish is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, and a strong contender for the prettiest in the state.
Amherst
Amherst sits in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts and gets pegged as a college town more often than it deserves. Yes, it is a college town, but it is also full of the kind of history and architectural personality that has nothing to do with the campus crowd.
Amherst College is the obvious anchor. The campus dates back to the early 1800s and the architecture wears those years openly, leaning into a New England academic style that has aged remarkably well.
For a different angle on the town’s character, head over to the Emily Dickinson Museum. The poet’s childhood home is now a guided-tour attraction, and walking through the rooms and grounds delivers that quiet sense of slipping back into a slower era. It is small in scale but big on atmosphere.
Salem
Salem is best known for its role in the 1692 witch trials, when 20 people, men and women, were executed after being accused of witchcraft. The town has long since leaned into that legacy and now wraps it into a full Halloween season of festivals and events that build through October.
The downtown is more colorful than the dark reputation might suggest. Wooden storefronts get painted in whites, pinks, and reds, lifting the mood of the streets and giving the historic core a cheerful vibe.
For a deeper dose of the architecture, head to the Witch House (the Jonathan Corwin House, run by the City of Salem) and to the Custom House at Salem Maritime National Historical Park. The Witch House stands out from its colorful neighbors with its dark exterior, severely steep roof, and an overall look that does its job a little too well.
Chatham
Each summer, locals pour into Chatham to swap city noise for the town’s slower pace and a long stretch of beaches. Out on Cape Cod, Chatham holds up year-round, but it really hits its stride in warm weather.
The two main architectural draws are the Chatham Lighthouse and the Atwood Museum. The lighthouse stands tall and white along the town’s expansive beachfront, still guiding ships into safe waters and giving Chatham a steady piece of its identity.
The Atwood Museum is built around the Atwood House, a gambrel-roofed home from 1752 that has stayed largely intact, with electricity being the rare modern concession. Walking through gives you a real glimpse of what daily life looked like in rural New England all those generations ago.
Final Thoughts
New England, and especially Massachusetts, is one of the most history-rich parts of the United States. Its distinctly European style of architecture shows up in the brick buildings and landmarks across the state, giving it a charming and eclectic vibe that is hard to find anywhere else in the country.
(WGGB/WSHM) – With the rain continuing on Sunday night into Memorial Day, some towns across western Massachusetts have announced they will be canceling or rescheduling Memorial Day parades and ceremonies;
List is as follows:
Amherst – Parade canceled, Memorial Day ceremony moved inside Bangs Community Center at 9:30 a.m.
Belchertown – Memorial Day parade canceled, outdoor ceremony will be held at South Cemetery on 143 Mill Valley Road at 8:30 a.m., indoor ceremony will be held at 20 Park Street at 10:30 a.m.
Deerfield – Memorial Day ceremony will be hosted inside Frontier Regional School at 8:45 a.m.
Easthampton – Memorial Day parade and ceremony has been canceled
Granby – Memorial Day parade canceled, Ceremony will be held at Granby Veterans’ Memorial at 9 a.m.
Hadley – Memorial Day parade canceled, Hadley Veterans and Fire Department will still host ceremonies at these cemeteries;
- 11:00 a.m. Russellville Cemetery 442 River Drive
- 11:15 a.m. Plainville Cemetery 137 Mount Warner Road
- 11:40 a.m. Olde Hadley Cemetery 12 Cemetery Road
- 12:05 p.m. Hockanum Cemetery 199 Hockanum Road
- 12:40 p.m. Holy Rosary Cemetery 134 Huntington Road
- 1:10 p.m. North Hadley Cemetery 254 River Drive
- 1:40 p.m. Hadley American Legion 162 Russell Street
Holyoke – Parade canceled, observance ceremony will be held at the Holyoke War Memorial at 8:30 a.m.
Ludlow – Memorial Day parade canceled, candlelight vigil postponed until later date that will be announced.
Montague – Memorial Day ceremony will be held inside Montague Common Hall at 11:15 a.m.
Monson – Parade, ceremony canceled
Palmer – Parade canceled, rescheduled for June 20th to be a part of Mass. 250th anniversary festivities. Ceremony will be held inside at Amvets Post 74 at 2150 Main Street in Three Rivers at 11 a.m.
Southwick – Parade canceled, ceremony will held in held at Town Hall Auditorium at 10 a.m.
Suffield, Conn. – Memorial Day parade cancelled, ceremony will be held at Suffield High School auditorium at 10 a.m., doors will open at 9:15 a.m.
Copyright 2026 Western Mass News (WGGB/WSHM). All rights reserved.
Massachusetts
In Massachusetts governor’s race, it’s the economy, stupid. For Healey, it’s abortion, too. – The Boston Globe
In a Globe interview, the first-term Democrat said preserving access to abortion is not just a social issue, but also an economic one, a framing that appears intended to tap into residents’ deep-seated concerns about being able to afford to live in a state that’s simultaneously emerged as a major national provider of abortion care.
“Make no mistake about it, abortion is economic, and the ability to access abortion care or not has real consequences for women across this country,” she said. “It has consequences in terms of their health — sometimes consequences are life or death — and it does have economic consequences.”
Healey is facing pressure to find ways to help ease Massachusetts’ high costs. Residents are leaving the state, some in search of lower-cost locales; energy bills are reaching new highs; homeownership is out of reach for many; and child care costs here are among the nation’s highest.
“Lowering costs should be the focus of every elected official in America,” Healey said during her State of the Commonwealth address in January. “It’s certainly mine.”
Scott Ferson, a Massachusetts-based Democratic political strategist, said Healey is “most comfortable” discussing protections for reproductive health care because of her background as a former attorney general who sued the Trump administration over access.
“There’s enough crises here to occupy voters’ . . . time,” Ferson said of fears over both abortion access and the economy. “And so she’s right to talk about both.”
Healey has long argued for increased access to abortion.
The state stockpiled 15,000 doses of mifepristone in 2023 amid an early legal challenge to the drug, and Healey issued an executive order in 2024 confirming access to emergency abortion care in the state. Last year, she signed a bill that bolstered protections for doctors providing reproductive health care from legal repercussions in other states.
Jane Rayburn, a Massachusetts-based pollster who has worked with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Maine US Senate candidate Graham Platner, agreed that access to abortion has economic consequences, as people consider whether they can afford to have a child.
“Restricting economic freedom, removing folks’ autonomy from making these choices on how they build their family and their family’s future, cuts right at the heart of the cost of living and affordability issues that we’re all experiencing firsthand,” Rayburn said.
Healey has tried to bring her work on reproductive rights into sharper focus this year as two Republicans battle each other for their party’s nomination.
Brian Shortsleeve, who led the MBTA under former governor Charlie Baker, said he supports the US Supreme Court’s decision to maintain, at least temporarily, access to mifepristone through the mail. He also said he supports abortion rights, including the state’s “current law as it is.”
“I wouldn’t change it,” he said.
Mike Minogue, who won the Mass. GOP’s gubernatorial endorsement last month, has described himself as a “pro-life” Catholic.
He runs a nearly $23 million family foundation with his wife, Renee Minogue, that has donated to groups that have touted pro-life stances, including $8,000 between 2018 and 2024 to Prager University, a conservative media organization whose founder, Dennis Prager, has said most abortions are not moral.
The foundation also gave $5,000 in 2015 to the Massachusetts Family Institute, an antiabortion “pro-family” advocacy group, and $55,000 between 2023 and 2024 to Taylor University, an Indiana-based Christian institution that promotes a “sanctity of life statement.”
Minogue did not respond to questions about the donations, but said Healey ”and the liberal media will try to weaponize” abortion politics.
“I cannot change the Massachusetts abortion law. Politicians approach this issue to drive hate and divisiveness,” he said in a statement to the Globe. “As a leader with faith, I have compassion and will support women with counseling, financial aid, and medical care.”
Healey cast both Republicans as threats to access here, arguing that neither will proactively stand up for reproductive rights.
“I’m going to be there to protect abortion access, and my opponents are not, and that’s demonstrated by their actions, their words, their records,” she said.
Healey’s campaign has capitalized on the abortion-related court rulings in fund-raising emails, casting a federal appeals court decision restricting medication abortion by mail as “dangerous.” (The US Supreme Court later issued a ruling preserving access to the drug.)
The Massachusetts Democratic Party has also targeted Minogue directly, dubbing him “Anti-Abortion Mike Minogue” because of his “pro-life” beliefs.
Claire Teylouni, interim executive director of Reproductive Equity Now, an abortion rights group, said voters have a lot on their minds this election cycle and accused the Trump administration of “creating chaos and uncertainty” on a range of issues, including reproductive rights.
“It might not be that abortion is the only issue shaping this race,” she said, “but we do really believe it will be a significant one.”
Voters, too, say that the Massachusetts economy is a top issue, and likely Democratic voters said cost of living should be Healey’s top focus, according to an April Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll.
But they also have mounting concerns about the future of abortion access. A UMass Amherst/WCVB survey from 2025 found a decrease in the number of people – from 70 percent in October 2024 to 62 percent in February 2025 – who believed abortion would remain “safe, legal, and accessible” in Massachusetts following the US Supreme Court’s decision to end the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022 by overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.
Erin O’Brien, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said abortion, at the very least, is a good “wedge issue” for Healey. But she said the gubernatorial race will largely focus on affordability.
“Having [abortion] there helps her for turnout,” O’Brien said, “and to prevent people from going to the GOP.”
Chris Van Buskirk can be reached at chris.vanb@globe.com. Follow him on X @byChrisVan
There are few things we Boston sports fans love more than a hometown hero story. The latest report coming out of the Boston Celtics camp indicates that general manager Brad Stevens and the Celtics front office have taken particular interest in one Massachusetts-born prospect.
Alex Karaban is a legendary University of Connecticut player in his own right. The 6-foot-7 forward was a key piece of the Huskies back-to-back National Championship-winning squads. Nobody in the history of college basketball won more tournament games than Karaban.
In addition to national collegiate records, Karaban’s name is all over the UConn record books. Karaban holds the university record for games played (151), starts (150), three-pointers made (292) and most minutes played (4,909).
The 23-year-old was born in Southerborough, Mass. He attended St. Peter-Marian High School, Algonquin Regional and North Hampton School in New Hampshire.
Karaban is currently on the fringe of being a first-round draft pick with a consensus prospect ranking in the low 30s.
He is a perimeter scorer in nature, taking more than five threes a game during his four-year college career. He is praised for his basketball IQ and passing ability, which is to be expected from the face of Dan Hurley’s team.
Karaban is knocked for his defensive ability and pure athleticism. He is not a day-one starter for many, if any, teams in the league, but has a chance to carve out a role if he’s able to hit shots over NBA defenders.
More NBA: Celtics Predicted To Add ‘Fast-Rising Center’ Who Could Elevate Frontcourt Next To Jayson Tatum
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