I plan to visit Boston in October.
We will have a few days in the city and then drive round Cape cod.
Can anyone recommend any interesting woodwork related sites I might visit (tool shops included!
Before anyone suggests it, my wife has already vetoed a diversion into Maine!
Regards from the old country
Jim
Replies
Yes indeed. I lived in the city for a while and now live a little further south (and my mother-in-law lives on Cape Cod).
While in Boston visit the North Bennett Street School (http://www.nbss.org, I believe). It's a very well-known and respected school with an excellent woodworking program, but they also teach bookbinding, jewelry-making, preservation carpentry, violin repair, and some other "dying" arts. It's in Boston's North End on, you guessed it, North Bennett Street. Contact them in advance and you can get a tour. Great place and easy to walk to from pretty much anywhere you might be visiting as a tourist.
The original Woodcraft store is about 15 minutes north of the city, in Woburn. It's very easy to get to if you're driving about. It's a smallish but decent shop and they have an excellent selection of Lie-Nielsen planes if that floats your boat.
And Maine is not that far from Boston...when in October will you be coming? You can't sell the DW on the "foliage tour"? It can be a pretty spectacular drive up that way.
You'll be amazed at how cheap petrol is over here.
Feel free to contact me via email if you want to talk more about this.
Edited for multiple typos.
Most nights are crystal clear, but tonight it's like he's stuck between stations.
Edited 8/24/2007 9:58 am ET by JJV
Edited 8/27/2007 9:19 am ET by JJV
"The original Woodcraft store is about 15 minutes north of the city, in Woburn."
Wait a minute.... thats the original Woodcraft in Woburn?! Thats pretty sad. I never go there unless I have to. That place is hit or miss at best as far as decent, freindly help and they're so called "sales" are laughable.
It really would be a sad state indeed, if in fact that is the original WC. I never knew.
The Salem, NH Rockler is my store of choice. Bout 30 minutes north of the Bean. (Skip the woodcraft)
Yeah, as far as I know, that's the original. It's pretty much my only option because there really isn't much available to me otherwise (I live in Franklin but work in Westwood, and if the traffic on the XWay cooperates, a trip to WC in Woburn is a long lunch).
Of course I've never gone looking for help, just a product, so I can't complain about the staff.
The last time I went to a Rockler was in 1996, and that was to the one in Cambridge.
There really is nothing south of the city. Beaver Woodworking in Brockton, perhaps, but I don't really like that place either. If you know of anything, let me know.
Most nights are crystal clear, but tonight it's like he's stuck between stations.
Thanks to all for your suggestions all noted.
Get the wife to change her mind Ha!, does SWMBO mean anything to you lot!
We are visiting partly to see the fall.
However time is at a premium.
What we are planning is fly in (logan?) on 10th 3 nights in Boston.
So.....public transport & shanks pony only whilst there.
Then the fast ferry over to Proviencetown on Saturday morning.
Then hire a car - we want then to slowly drive around Cape Cod and back to the Airport (for 17th) - this is a problem as we can't find a hire company that will let us do a "one way".
We hope to take advantage of the exchange rate and did buy our Dollars for around 49 p.
As LN stuff sells this side of the pond for around double your side I hope to take advantage of that. We hear nasty rumours about your airport security people however.
advice welcome
"Nasty Rumours"
They are generally fair but you will not in any way get a plane iron or chisel in the plane's cabin.
That is assuming you can find a place in the city proper that actually sells such items. I think you'd be hard pressed. If you want to spring for a cab to Woburn I don't think it would be that much. Just a thought.
When you say "hire a car" do you mean a car and driver? I would think that would indeed be difficult but if you just mean a car rental (and you drive yourself) I'm surprised you can't find something like Hertz or Enterprise to let you go one way and drop off at the airport. It can't be that uncommon.
BTW once you have that car, it's a short ride from the airport to Woburn.
And yes, SWMBO has all too much relevance for me. :-)
Most nights are crystal clear, but tonight it's like he's stuck between stations.
Maybe they are generally fair to US citizens but it seems anyone else (I have been on the recieving end of this) is assumed to be hellbent on destroying your country. Which says lots for our so called special relationship. Never again will I fly to NY !! UK laws would prohibit that happening to cattle.
I'd intended to put any goodies in the aircraft hold: what I meant was some of them would see an unidentifiable lump of metal and assume the worst.
Car - I mean car rental (tranatlantic misunderstanding of the english language there!!) Blimey! the Dollar rate ain't so good I can afford a driver!
Thats what I had assumed but Enterprise have said no, as have Avis.
regarding tool stores - what about coming up from the south?
Further - I've discovered this afternoon that Provience town has: erm how can I put this? -a certain reputation?
Oh, you meant flying to NY. They treat everyone as potential terrorists there. I should have mentioned that I have not traveled internationally since the security clampdowns, so I cannot be too sure about how Customs treats foreign visitors.
Provincetown's reputation precedes it. What you heard is true. I will say that the summer is obviously the most flamboyant time. By October things are much quieter.
Coming up from the south, I can't offhand think of anyplace you could stop. the bulk of the eastern MA population is north of the city, which is why all of the shops are up there too.
Most nights are crystal clear, but tonight it's like he's stuck between stations.
Maybe buy the planes and use them a bit at one of the shops you visit to get a little sawdust on em and fed ex them back home. Customs will never figure out they are worth $250 each...Drew
bungler,
Here are a coupla three things you might want to know. One, there is a sur-charge of $10 a day if you rent a car in Boston, just north of the airport Boston ends. Two, fall comes later on the cape because of the warm water and P-town is a two hour drive from Boston...you'll drive past Plymouth Plantation (very worthy of a stop)as well as Duxbury, Cohasset and Hingham (all on route 3A)very nice towns to tour.
The north shore of Boston is particularly noteworthy. Traveling up 1A to Portsmouth, NH (about 1.5 hours)you go through Marblehead, Glouster, Ipswich and Newberryport. After lunch in Portsmouth, you can hit the Woodcraft up there....drive across route 101 to 93 and then south on 95/128 to Concord. This is where SWMBO gets paid back, she'll want to see Emerson's house and "The HOUSE of LITTLE WOMAN fame" in Concord. If you've worked this right, she should be willing to have you stop at the second Woodcraft in Woburn...which is on the way back to Boston.PS. P-town is perfectly safe. Just remember, if you drop your wallet to kick it along the street back to your car
Edited 8/30/2007 4:24 pm ET by BG
Thanks for all this advice folks, I find a little pre-planning makes a vacation much more enjoyable. I'm noting down all these places you recommend. we want to go to Plymouth for other things. The mention of warm weather on the cape is welcome as we were wondering if we had left it too late in the year. As I say we plan to spend nearly 4 days getting from P.town back to Airport, but want to keep it scenic & cultural as possible.
So....... Boston airport is more customer frienfdly than NY - good because I was not lookng forward to the disembarkation. Took 4 hours to get out of Newark last year!
We rang Enterprise at Logan yesterday - car is all organised! A nice manager there overruled the P.town folks.
Posting goods to myself in the UK is not an option - "they" get you this end!! We are limited ($300) to the amount of goods we can bring back so "smuggling" is always the only way I can get stuff back.
I usually stock up on clothes in USA - I'm a little, what shall I say, portly? Not a great selection over here. Over there, I'm sort of Medium sized ;-))))
The Woburn place is a definite. I'm after a small bronze block plane and a load of Irons (Hock I believe?) for my Stanleys.
Further question - what about bookshops for woodworking books?
bungler,
I have no personal recent international travel experience but my daughter just returned from India/London and brought me an antique knife about 9"...my guess is they're being a bit more reasonable.
Both Woodcraft and Rockler(two in Boston area) have a fairly good selection of new books and videos. I rely on the library for most of my book needs.
Around the middle of October, the color line should be about an hour and a half north of Boston. I'm sure there is something on line that can help you tract this daily when your here, usually there are daily reports on TV at the very minimum.
Its about the time for the cranberry harvest and all the good things that go with it. Plimoth (the old English spelling) is in the midst of it all. Comments have been made about our autumn foliage. It may be not as spectacular as some years. Were in a drought, so our fine hard woods are already aborting foliage to conserve moisture. The northern states have had more rainfall than we have had along the coast here in the southern New England. But its always a good show!The cape, has great sandy beaches, the water is warmer on the southern beaches. I know you probably abstain but your wife might like to try some of our fine local beers. Sam Adams or Harpoon. And don't neglect our best in the world sea food. Our apples are the same as in other parts of the world, but ours are just the best tasting. Take a bite and see. While your in Boston, The "tube" subway here, is called the "T" each track is color coded so getting around Boston is breeze. Be forewarned, You may get caught up in real football, the New England Patriots, the best of the best.
Red Sox fever is a highly contagious illness that afflicts millions across America. So many, they call it "Red Sox Nation" ..........its real baseball! If you should have occasion to dine in a small restaurant or sports bar, during a game, join in the festivities, every body's welcome. That is unless your a New York Yankee's fan. Just a word of caution, NEVER wear Yankee hats or shirts while in New England, you'll get some for verbal abuse, wrong directions, wrong food order, well you get the picture. All in good fun, usually!From Boston you can get to to Portland, Maine by rail, or its just 30 minutes to Salem, Once the capital of New England and the largest sea port in her colonial days. Salem is a very good walking city, from the train to the Peabody Essex Museum (listed below) is a 10 minute walk. Many nice eating establishments. The older wing of the museum when Salem was in her sailing days, was the club for ship owners, captains and merchants. Next door, where I had a small studio was their bank, still with all the iron doors on the second floor.
http://www.pem.org/exhibitions/upcoming.php Samuel McIntire, Carving an American StyleJJV, your description of P-town is well stated. I think there is a large stone tower in P-town, that will give you a good view for miles.Stay posted here, enjoy our great country.Ron
Garrett Hack has his shop and studio in Vermont which is only a short drive from Boston. The colors that time of year there are fantastic. However, realize that everyone feels the same way, so lodging reservations now are imperative any where in the area.
http://www.fullercraft.org/
http://www.gallerynaga.com/
http://www.clarkgallery.com/
Couple of great craft galleries and there's ...
http://www.mfa.org/index.asp
Welcome to the new world. Enjoy the lovely exchange rate. Dollar was 49 p last time I checked.
I was there last week, Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth is pretty interesting. Aside from the Mayflower II there is a crafts center in the village. It's a good day trip and features a number of interesting side trips.
Cape Cod is nothing like you see in pictures,,
I have been there several times in my life and I was.. well I am sort of a straight laced guy! Stay away from the beach these days! Just me..
WillGeorge,
Things on Cape Cod have changed. Remember, the gays can marry now in Massachusetts...so at least half the people in P-town aren't so gay anymore...their in trouble for something they failed to do..just like all us married folks...
If you are interested in wooden boats I can make a few suggestions.
I just carried a bunch of paint brushes to Florida without a hitch, but, as was noted above, it's unlikely you'd get some wood planes aboard as carry-on. On the other hand the chaces are good that the person checking you out wouldn't have a clue. I would think, on that same basis, that you might be lucky if you put them in checked baggage.
Sturbridge Village, IMHO, is better than Plimouth (or however they spell it). To be fair, it's been years since I've been to either place, so Plimouth might be better now.
If you'd like a 'local' contact, email me: [email protected]
Have a great time. To have a really great time, head North; it's much better than Cape Cod.
I live on Cape Cod so perhaps can give you some insight. It is, in my humble opinion, God's country. Quaint towns; no (ok, a little) crazy commercialization; nice people. Provincetown is what you have read: a small town with a very large gay population. The beaches (everywhere as we are surrounded by water) are beautiful, especially if you get good weather, as you should in October. Many towns along route 6a running from Provincetown back to the Sagamore bridge which takes you back to Boston. Driving route 6a (also known as King's highway) will take you through many towns with names familiar to you: Orleans, Brewster, Harwich, Dennis, Yarmouth, Barnstable, and Sandwich. Almost directly along that route is West Barnstable Table. This store has exhibiited the works of local furniture makers for many years. No factory furniture here. Only quite a large display of handmade tables, chairs, etc. I recommend it highly. If you need any more info, please let me know. PMM
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