Battleship Cove

A couple years ago, while scouring the Internet for something fun to do in New England that we hadn't already done, we came across an attraction in Fall River, Massachusetts called Battleship Cove.  Their brochure boasts the world's largest naval ship exhibit, and sure enough they lived up to their promise.  You could tour four old naval vessels including the battleship Massachusetts, destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., the submarine Lionfish, and a missile corvette Hiddensee.

Apparently, the name Fall River was derived from the Wampanoag word Quequechan which means "falling river."  I assume that since Fall River is easier to pronounce than Quequechan, the name stuck.  What was once a thriving textile mill city is now blossoming as a tourist destination, and one of its star attractions is Battleship Cove.

We arrived early on Monday, Patriot's Day, and found a parking spot right away.  From the parking lot we could see the battleship U.S.S. Massachusetts whose towering gray mass rose ominously from the harbor.  We paid our $35.50 entrance fee for two adults and one child (thanks to some $2 off coupons my wife found in a brochure rack) and headed for the gangplank of this floating piece of history.

Ashton standing below the 16" guns.

Once on the deck, you are immediately struck by the size of the 16 inch guns and the enormity of the ship.  As I was taking pictures, my son urged me along, like any 10-year-old boy intrigued by what lies below the deck of this massive vessel.   Ok, I admit it.  I wanted to get inside too.

Mess deck on the U.S.S. Massachusetts

The tours are self-guided, so we went to the first entrance we could find to go below deck.  One of the first rooms we came to was the mess deck.  Given that this ship would have a crew of about 2,000, I'm sure the guys who worked here kept extremely busy.

Barber Shop on U.S.S. Massachusetts

For nearly two hours, we explored every nook and cranny on this ship.  I was fascinated by the number of services on board.  We saw a print shop, shoe shop, clothing shop, laundry, and barber shop, among others.  The thing that surprised me most was the size of the barber shop.  I believe there were six barber chairs in it.  I grew up in Montpelier, Vermont and the most barber chairs I ever saw in one place in that town of 8,000 was three.

On the bridge of the U.S.S Massachusetts

We continued wandering aimlessly from deck to deck, going up ladders and down ladders.  And when we thought we'd seen all of the ship, we discovered another place we hadn't yet explored.

Eventually we wound our way back up to the deck and out into the fresh air because we were supposed to meet some friends who were on their way back from Mystic, Connecticut.  After hooking up with them, we opted to check out the submarine.

If the battleship was the sprawling university, the submarine was the one-room schoolhouse.  When operational, it was manned by a crew of 85, and I'll be darned if I could figure out how that many people fit on this sub. 

It didn't take us long to go through this and then it was on to the Hiddensee.  One thing that struck us while touring this ship was that instructions were written in both English and Russian.  This puzzled us until we found out that this vessel was built in St. Petersburg, Russia for the East German Navy.  It was decommissioned in 1991 and somehow got recommissioned in the U.S.  Okay, I'm still puzzled, but at least we know why it had Russian writing.

Shells in U.S.S. Massachusetts

We had a picnic lunch at Fall River Heritage State Park, overlooking Battleship Cove before touring the last vessel, the U.S.S. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.

By about two-o'clock we called it a day.  Had we spent time reading the exhibits more carefully, this could easily have been a full day affair.  They also run a show entitled "The Pearl Harbor Experience" on an outdoor screen that includes sound effects, giving you the feeling of experiencing the invasion first-hand.

On the way out, we let the kids take a ride on the old Fall River Carousel, an antique ride that was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company.  For one dollar, you can ride one of the four dozen wooden horses on this beautiful piece of historic entertainment.

Fall River Carousel

View of Fall River from Battleship Cove

As we left Battleship Cove, we drove past the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Museum and the Marine Museum at Fall River, giving us at least two reasons to perhaps visit another day.

Boston Museum of Science

One of the nice things about living in Maine is that we're not very far from Boston.  And one of the nice things about Boston is that there are many things for families to enjoy.  About three years ago we did the New England Aquarium through which my son, who was about 7 at the time, set a land-speed record visiting.  I don't think we were in there more than 20 minutes before we exited to stand in line at the IMAX theater where we watched one of those 3-D shows.  We spent about $120 for the aquarium, movie and parking, making me think it might have been cheaper and we could have entertained ourselves longer if we'd gone to Atlantic City and played Roulette.  During that same trip we wandered through Faneuil Hall and did the observation deck at the to of the Prudential Skywalk Observatory.

This time around we went to the Boston Museum of Science.  My son's now 10 and he is much more interested in science and some of the other cool stuff in this very worthwhile attraction.  This time around we spent about $100 including museum admission, IMAX movie and lunch, and we were there for about four hours.

It was a Sunday morning, the day before the 2013 Boston Marathon.  We arrived around 9:30 a.m., found a parking place in the parking garage about 50 feet from the entrance to the museum, and didn't have to wait in line to pay admission.  We figured since most people tend to start on the first floor and work their way up, we would start at the top and work our way down.  On the top floor, we practically had the place to ourselves.

Ashton liked the Science in the Park exhibit best, which presented the essentials of physics, but through fun, interactive exhibits.  His favorite display was the bed of nails.  In this exhibit, you lie on a plastic bed and when someone pushes the button, about 1,000 nails rise up through the plastic, so you are literally lying on a bed of nails.  Ashton was very excited to try it out, but only after dad, the Guinea Pig, did it first. However once he did it he went back and tried it a couple more times.

Ashton lying on a bed of nails.

The Light House exhibit was not about lighthouses, but about light and how it refracts, reflects, etc.  There was a neat exhibit where you could sit on a stool and see your self in a wall full of mirrors based upon how the mirrors were angled.  I shot the photo below from directly over Ashton's head and left wondering what it would be like to have quadruplets, eight times over.

Ashton's reflection in 32 mirrors.

We laid in a replica of a space capsule from the Apollo missions and stood in a big tube, which looked like a big test tube, to experience what 78 mph winds would be like in a hurricane.

Ground Control to Major Ashton.

Dorothy and Toto would be proud.

After exploring three floors of exhibits, it was off to the IMAX movie called Journey Into Amazing Caves, that showed cavers exploring regular caves, ice caves and underwater caves in search of new micro-organisms that they hope could some day help cure disease.

We ate lunch at the Riverview Cafe in the museum where you could find pretty much anything you wanted to eat.  I don't like the term "Something for everybody" because I often think that it really means "nothing special for anyone", but this place had a good variety of foods.  My wife and I split a Southwest chicken wrap, but you could get burgers, fries, pizza, spaghetti, PB&J, Mexican, Starbuck's coffee, salads and many other things.  And for what we got, I didn't think $28.50 was bad for lunch for three.

After the museum, we boarded the Boston Duck Tour for a 75 minute tour with Guido Gondolier at the wheel - or is it helm?  It's an interesting tour as you pass by many historical and modern-day landmarks and end up boating about in Back Bay, where Ashton (and other kids) got to drive the duck.  The tour was about $90 for the three of us, but it's a nice way to see the sites of Boston and think about other places we might visit on a future trip to the city.

Riders disembarking after the tour with Guido in the striped shirt.

We found that with the museum, IMAX movie and Duck Boat tour, we filled up our day pretty well and we went back to the hotel for a dip in the indoor pool and to rest our weary bones in preparation for day two - our trip to Battleship Cove.  Stay tuned for this.

P.S.  We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Danvers which is about half hour north of downtown Boston.  If you ever find yourself in Danvers and want a good pizza, check out Captain Pizza in Middleton.  They serve very excellent Greek style pizza.