Free things to do north of Boston

Halibut Point and the Rockport Art Association & Museum are both in Rockport, so a morning on the ledges can end in the galleries on Main Street, and Ravenswood Park is in neighboring Gloucester. In Salem, the Salem Arts Association gallery on Pickering Wharf is next door to Salem Maritime National Historical Park, and one waterfront walk covers both. Our notes on each spot come straight off its official site, read at the tail end of October 2026 and on November 1, and they note any parking fee or seasonal closure those sites mention.

Halibut Point Reservation · Rockport
Ledges and tide pools on the Rockport shore, with two and a half miles of trails; the reservation is a link in Rockport's Atlantic Path. Nonmembers pay to park from May to October, and parking is free from November to April. Next door, Halibut Point State Park surrounds a former granite quarry now filled by underground springs (swimming in it isn't allowed), and its small visitor center has public restrooms and tells the story of Cape Ann's granite industry. Granite cut here went into buildings such as Boston's Custom House Tower. Website

Ravenswood Park · Gloucester
Samuel Sawyer, a 19th-century businessman, left his land to become a park named after the castle in Sir Walter Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor, and its 600 acres now hold ten miles of carriage paths and trails. Bow hunting is permitted from the first Monday in October through December, Monday to Saturday, and mountain bikes must stay on designated trails and are kept off all of them in March and April. Walk the two-mile Ledge Hill Trail among fern-covered boulders, take the boardwalk through the Great Magnolia Swamp, where native sweetbay magnolias grow, or head to the overlook to Gloucester Harbor. Website

Coolidge Reservation · Manchester-by-the-Sea
A pond and a small pine and oak forest lead to the Ocean Lawn, an open, grassy expanse at the tip of Coolidge Point edged by rocky headlands. The lawn is open Friday to Monday and closed to dogs, and the lot holds only 10 cars. Gray (Magnolia) Beach is open to Trustees members for sunbathing and picnics from May through September, and nonmembers may walk there only. Climb Bungalow Hill for views of Magnolia Harbor, and in the fall look for monarch butterflies in the wildflower meadows. Website

Long Hill · Beverly
Ellery Sedgwick, editor of The Atlantic Monthly, made Long Hill his summer home starting in 1916, and The Trustees have owned it since 1979. Woodland trails, including a 1.2-mile loop, surround its five acres of garden rooms, and the gardens are at their peak in May and June. The Trustees list garden admission, and self-guided tours of the first floor of the house on Friday to Sunday, as free from April to September; the grounds are open year-round, so look at the Trustees page before a visit between October and March. Dogs are welcome on a leash, and bow hunters with permits may be on the grounds from the first Monday in October through January, Monday to Saturday. Website

Greenwood Farm · Ipswich
Pasture and marsh beside the Ipswich River estuary, with two and a half miles of trails and a view of the 1694 Paine House, a yellow clapboard saltbox where six generations of Paines lived, among them Robert Paine, foreman of the Salem witch trial jury. The house isn't open to the public, and the trail out to the islands in the salt marsh is closed. Dogs must be leashed, and bow hunters may be on the land from the first Monday in October through January, Monday to Saturday. In summer, swallows and dragonflies swoop over the fields while great blue herons and egrets wade in the marsh. Website

Old Town Hill · Newbury
Three miles of trails cross salt marsh and woods along the Parker River, and the reservation is a link in the Bay Circuit Trail. The 10-car lot is on Newman Road; dogs can be off leash under control except from April 1 to August 15, when they must be leashed, and hunting is allowed in season. The short River Trail passes an old pasture at the marsh's edge and loops into oak forest along the Little River, while the Ridge Trail climbs moderately. From the top of the 168-foot hill, the view takes in the Great Marsh and New Hampshire's Isle of Shoals. Website

Weir Hill · North Andover
Four miles of trails climb over this 305-foot hill (pronounced "wire hill") and follow the shore of Lake Cochichewick for more than a mile. Leashed dogs are allowed on the trails, but the lake is a public drinking water supply, so swimming and wading are restricted; there's parking on Stevens Street and on Pleasant Street, and whatever you carry in, you carry out. Take the Edgewood Farm Trail to the water, or climb the Weir Hill or Scrub Oak trail through rare barrens habitat to hilltop views of the lake and, to the west, Mount Wachusett and Mount Monadnock. Website

Addison Gallery of American Art · Andover
A museum of American art in its own building on the Phillips Academy campus, with an elevator to every floor of its wheelchair-accessible galleries. Admission to every exhibition is free, and so is parking along Chapel Avenue and in the lot between Cochran Chapel and the Andover Inn. By train, the museum is about a mile's walk from Andover station on the Haverhill Line. It's open Tuesday to Sunday, and models of American sailing ships are on view as an ongoing display. Website

Western Avenue Studios Open Studios · Lowell
On the first Saturday of most months, artists in this historic Lowell mill building open their studios so visitors can meet them where they work; the Open Studios page lists the dates. There are five floors of working studios, plus two floors of live/work lofts in a separate building that open to the public only for special events such as Open Studios. Admission is free, and so is parking in the on-site lots, with an overflow lot and shuttle. On any day of the week the studio buildings are open to wander, and almost all of the artists hang work on the walls outside their studios. Website

Montserrat College of Art Galleries · Beverly
The art college puts on about 40 exhibitions and more than 30 public programs a year, all free. The Montserrat Gallery, for established artists, and the Carol Schlosberg Gallery, for alumni, faculty and visiting artists, share the Hardie Building at 23 Essex St and are open Monday to Saturday. Visitors can park in the college's visitor spots at 23 Essex St or 9 Dane St, and the Beverly Depot commuter rail stop is a short walk away. Frame 301, a streetside space for site-specific installations, is at 301 Cabot St, and the student-run Bare Gallery is at 275 Cabot St. Website

Essex Art Center · Lawrence
The center has been in a historic mill building beside the canal in downtown Lawrence since 1995. Its galleries are open Monday to Thursday and by appointment on Fridays and Saturdays, and there's free parking in the lot next door; the Lawrence commuter rail station is less than ten minutes away on foot. Enter through the brick archway on Island Street and take the ramp up. Every show is bilingual, with text in English and Spanish, and the galleries are always free and open to everyone. Website

Salem Arts Association · Salem
A community art gallery and shop among the shops and restaurants of Pickering Wharf, next to Salem Maritime National Historical Park. It's open Friday to Sunday, with free admission to the gallery and shop and street parking when there's space. The gallery and shop have locally made fine art, photography, crafts and jewelry. Website

Rockport Art Association & Museum · Rockport
Artists who spent their summers in studios on Bearskin Neck founded the association in 1921, and its galleries now hang more than 40 exhibitions a year. Admission is free, and it's open Tuesday to Sunday from April to December and closed January to March; downtown parking is metered, along Main Street, Mt. Pleasant Street, Broadway and School Street. The museum collection covers more than a century of Cape Ann art, with work by founders such as Aldro T. Hibbard and by Childe Hassam, who painted on Cape Ann, and rotating shows from it hang in the Stow Wengenroth Gallery. Website

Lowell National Historical Park · Lowell
The park charges no entrance fee, and its canal walkways and Boarding House Park are open daily; tickets are needed for the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, with its working 1920s-era weave room, and for park tours. City garages charge for parking, but the Hamilton Canal Innovation District garage at 350 Dutton St is free with a park voucher from the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, and street meters are free on Sundays and holidays. The commuter rail runs from North Station to Lowell's Gallagher Terminal. The Northern Canal Walkway, along the 36-foot granite Great River Wall, opens only from May 15 to October 15, on days when the river is low enough. Website

Salem Maritime National Historical Park · Salem
Established in 1938 as the first National Historic Site in the country, the park covers nine acres and twelve historic structures on the Salem waterfront, among them the Custom House and the Derby Wharf Light Station, first lit in 1871. All buildings and programs are free, and Derby Wharf and the park grounds are open every day. Leashed dogs are welcome on the grounds and wharves but not inside any building. The historic buildings' open days change with the season, so check the park's hours page before you go. Website

Buttonwoods Museum · Haverhill
The Haverhill Historical Society, founded in 1898, runs this museum of Greater Haverhill's past, with more than 10,000 artifacts from Native American heritage and colonial life through the industrial era. Its visit page lists admission as free, with donations encouraged, and there's a free lot on site, reached from John Ward Avenue; from Haverhill station on the commuter rail it's about a mile, or 20 minutes on foot. It's open May to October, and from November to April visits are by appointment and for events, some of which charge admission. Website

Lowell Folk Festival · Downtown Lowell
Held on the last full weekend of July since 1990, the festival takes over most of downtown Lowell, with stages at Boarding House Park, St. Anne's Churchyard, Arcand Drive and Market Street. The performances and activities are free, and city garages charge event rates for parking. Bring a blanket or low lawn chairs for the grassy amphitheater; the festival goes ahead whatever the weather. Dancing is encouraged everywhere, especially at the Rockland Trust Bank Dance Pavilion. Website

Concerts in the Park · Andover
Andover Recreation's free summer concerts are meant for the whole family, so bring a lawn chair. Games are set up at each concert, including the department's own mini golf course, cornhole and Jenga. Website

North of Boston Weekly lists things to do on the North Shore and in the Merrimack Valley every Thursday morning, with free and cheap picks in every issue. The newsletter is free too.