Holiday Attractions to Visit at Night
December is the season of peace, and I enjoy nothing more than getting out at night to visit holiday displays, parks and museums and zoos, some with nearly a million lights! Here are a few of my favorites.
Going to the Zoo
Zoo animals tend to hide at night, but a zoo makes a great destination when they add holiday lights! The Stone Zoo in Stoneham adds a plaza of Christmas dioramas as well, many of which are animated. In New Bedford, the Buttonwood Park Zoo offers caroling and holiday train rides during the day. You’ll find petting zoos at light displays in Lexington and Northampton.
Visiting History
If you haven’t visited the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich on Cape Cod, you must add it to your list. They have extensive grounds for strolling that are even more beautiful when lit for the holidays, and to warm up, visit their art and automobile museums. You’ll find live re-enactors of a 19th century Christmas in Concord at the Louisa May Alcott House and near Worcester at Old Sturbridge Village, my favorite re-enactment destination.
Lights, Lights, Lights!
The largest destination in Massachusetts is Edaville Railroad’s Christmas Festival of Lights, with 7 million lights and a Ferris wheel to see them from. Ride the carousel or take an extensive carousel ride. It’s great fun! The second largest is Springfield’s Bright Night at Forest Park, which you drive through, staying snug in your car. While the above are suitable for anyone in a Holiday mood, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the La Salette Shrine Festival of Lights in Attleboro is more religious but so beautiful that I recommend it to all anyway. It has several acres to walk through and a museum of tiny creches from around the world showing how Christmas is celebrated in foreign lands.
The nights are cold, but they’re going to get colder before they get warmer. So don’t just sit around. Get out and have some fun at night this holiday season!
See the huge list of Xmas Destinations by scrolling way to the bottom at Events INSIDER, New England’s most popular events blog.