Looking for weird things to do in Massachusetts? The Bay State has the history everyone expects, but it also has a 40-foot milk bottle, a house made from newspaper, a three-story globe you can walk through, and an entire museum devoted to art that went wonderfully wrong.
Fun Facts About Massachusetts
The Mapparium still shows the political borders of 1935. It was originally supposed to change as the world changed, but instead it became a giant stained-glass time capsule.
The Paper House began as a summer-home experiment in 1922. The walls are newspaper, and so are pieces of furniture inside—including a piano, because apparently ordinary recycling was not ambitious enough.
The Clam Box of Ipswich was built in 1935 to resemble the folded paper boxes used for fried clams.
The Museum of Bad Art has a collection of nearly 900 works, although only a portion can be displayed at once. Admission to its Boston gallery is free.
Massachusetts mixes New England history with oversized food containers, strange little museums, factory tours, and roadside landmarks worth interrupting a perfectly sensible itinerary for. These are places we’re tracking for future trips, so links lead to official sources whenever one is available.
Unique Attractions & Weird Things to Do in Massachusetts
Weird Roadside & Oddities
Boston
Hood Milk Bottle – A 40-foot milk bottle standing outside Boston Children’s Museum. It arrived at the waterfront by barge in 1977, which feels like the only suitable entrance for a milk bottle this size.
Mapparium Globe – Walk through the middle of a three-story stained-glass globe depicting the world as it appeared in 1935. Its unusual acoustics also let a whisper travel from one side of the globe to the other.
Museum of Bad Art – A gallery dedicated to sincere artwork where something went spectacularly sideways. The Boston collection is displayed inside Dorchester Brewing Company, and admission is free.
Ipswich
Clam Box of Ipswich – A seafood restaurant shaped like a giant folded takeout box. It has been serving fried clams since 1935, so the building has had plenty of time to become part restaurant and part roadside landmark.
Rockport
The Paper House – An actual house built from newspaper, complete with paper furniture and a newspaper piano. It operates seasonally on an honor-system admission.
Large-vehicle warning: The Paper House specifically tells tour-bus operators not to drive up Curtis Street. The road is too narrow and has nowhere to turn around, so this is one to scout carefully before arriving in anything bigger than a standard vehicle.
Factory Tours & Behind-the-Scenes
Somerville
Taza Chocolate Factory Tour – Learn how Taza makes stone-ground chocolate with hand-carved granite millstones, then taste the results. Online reservations are required, and Taza warns that nearby construction can make parking limited.
Plan Your Massachusetts Road Trip
We’re always adding new weird things to do in Massachusetts, so check back for more roadside attractions, unusual museums, giant objects, and places that make a sensible road trip considerably less sensible.
Where to next? Continue through New England with our Rhode Island roadside attractions guide, browse the Northeast guide, explore our complete roadside attractions by state, or get our practical tips for traveling with pets.
Interactive Map: Weird Roadside Stops We’re Tracking
This map includes roadside attractions, places we’ve visited, and future stops still waiting on our running road trip list across the country.