In addition to being a perfect “home base” for group travel, the Marlborough area is an excellent group destination in its own right. Our region has scenic, rolling hills, meandering streams, and broad vistas which come alive during fall foliage. Groups love to stop at the quaint farm stands and interesting shops which dot the countryside.

Here are some suggestions for how your group can spend a day in and around Marlborough.

Start your day by taking in some of the local sights. In downtown Marlborough, see an incredible variety of historic architecture from the Colonial, Federal, Victorian, and modern eras. The Rockport Shoe Factory Outlet is a reminder of Marlborough’s heritage as a prominent shoe manufacturing center.

Visit the Wayside Country Store, built in 1790 and restored in 1929 by automaker and history buff Henry Ford, and the historic Wayside Inn in neighboring Sudbury (a good spot for group dining). Explore the quaint New England towns surrounding Marlborough, featuring plenty of white steeples and antique shops. Farm stands abound in the nearby hills, many with a seasonal offering of pick-your-own apples, berries, and pumpkins. If your group includes autumn leaf-peepers, nothing beats a hayride and mug of cider.

Culture-lovers will want to visit Worcester for the acclaimed Worcester Art Museum, nearby Framingham for the Danforth Museum of Art, the Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington, the sculptures of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, and the Fruitlands Museums in Harvard.

Kids of all ages love Worcester’s Higgins Armory Museum, the Discovery Museums in Acton, and the quirky Museum of Plastics in Leominster. Horticultural enthusiasts will want to visit renowned Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston, and the charming Garden in the Woods in Framingham.

Henry Ford’s Historic Village
Marlborough and neighboring Sudbury are home to one of the country’s earliest historic preservation projects. At the beginning of the 20th century, Sudbury’s Wayside Inn, America’s oldest, was beginning to show its age. Made famous in 1863 by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his Tales Of A Wayside Inn, the property attracted the attention of automobile giant Henry Ford, who purchased the inn and thousands of surrounding acres in 1923. Ford restored the inn, and over the years transformed the area into a charming historical attraction. He moved the 1798 Redstone School House, allegedly the school in “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” to the site in 1926, then constructed or restored a working grist mill, cider mill, barn, gate house, chapel, ice house, and the Wayside Country Store in Marlborough. Today, Ford’s historic village continues to be a wonderful place to visit.

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