Member Insights | Resource List: Northeast Chapters

A Member Insights blog post by 2017 SLA President Dee Magnoni highlights a few favorite sites and foods of members from the northeastern United States chapters. (Learn more about the Member Insights Series.)

Here is a more detailed list compiled from responses from members of the Northeast Chapters:

If a non-local SLA member is visiting your region, what is a must-see site to visit?

• Fairfield County
  • The local countryside has great natural beauty and variety, from water views and water sports to parks, hiking trails, mountain vistas and more. There are wonderful sources of shopping, antiques, art galleries and artist coops, craft fairs, flea markets, and the like. For cultural events, there are theaters, symphony, ballet, opera, and a wide variety of music venues close to home.
• New England
  • One must-see is Fenway Park in Boston.  They offer daily tours all year round.
  • If someone is visiting Boston, there are the usual historical things to see (Tea Party Museum, walking the Freedom Trail, strolling through Back Bay to look at the old brownstones), and the typical entertainment “must-sees” of the Children’s Museum, Science Museum, New England Aquarium, hitting up a Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins or Celtics game. Duck Boat Tours are always fun in the warm weather!
  • For Boston (Beantown), because it is such a walkable city, I would list not only specific sites, but also walking itineraries.  An excellent starting point is the Boston Public Library, the oldest urban free library in the world, with its fabulously just redone Johnson wing and view towards Trinity Church, and from there you can walk up Huntington Avenue/Avenue of the Arts to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Gardner; to the South End with its mixture of extensive Victorian townhouses and contemporary coolness; to Newberry Street, the Public Garden and Common over to Beacon Hill and the harbor downtown; or various other points along the Emerald Necklace.
  • Head west of Boston about fifteen miles to Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick.
  • In Salem, MA, the Peabody Essex Museum.
  • Take a tour of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. See the battlefields and tour the houses.
  • Head to Maine and visit Acadia National Park.
  • Maine state parks.
  • Old Orchard Beach is great for its beach and boardwalk.
• New York
  • Check out a couple of things: 1. Great museums—you have Museum of Mathematics to Museum of American Finance to art galleries. With so many to see, focus on your key areas of interest. 2. Visit Queens and the other outer boroughs of New York; there’s so much food and culture outside of Manhattan that will show you how diverse NYC can really be!
  • Must see places to see and food in NYC? That’s a tough one, since there is so much.  A visit can definitely be customized to interests, but possible places would be Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, top of Empire State Building and a ferry boat ride in NYC Harbor to see the skyline and Statue of Liberty!
  • Go see a Broadway show!  Sign up for an account on theatermania.com before your trip to receive discounted ticket notifications or download the TodayTix app on your phone for discounted day-of tickets. Grab dinner before or after your show on Restaurant Row in the Theater District. Visit the flagship building of The New York Public Library centrally located in Midtown on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. The library was officially dedicated in 1911 with the steps famously flanked by two marble lions named Patience and Fortitude. Head inside to see the newly renovated Rose Reading Room. Round out your NYPL trip by visiting the other three research libraries—the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts located by Lincoln Center is a chapter favorite.
• New York – Upstate
  • If a non-local SLA member was to visit Syracuse or the surrounding area of Central New York, visiting the many waterfalls and lakes in the region is recommended. About 20 minutes from Syracuse is the lovely Chittenango Falls which is a 167-foot waterfall and the home of a rare species of snail. Also, nearby in Fayetteville is Green Lakes State Park. These lakes are a beautiful blue/green and very deep. Further south in the Ithaca area are several gorges and waterfalls—Watkins Glen is unforgettable. There are many beautiful lakes and waterfalls throughout New York State (Upstate, Central, Western, Finger Lakes, and the North Country), of course Niagara Falls is the most famous.
• Pittsburgh
  • When the weather is nice, I highly suggest taking a kayak around the downtown Pittsburgh rivers. It offers unique views of the city. http://www.ventureoutdoors.org/kayak-pittsburgh-north-shore/

• Rhode Island
  • Head to Woonsocket to see the Saint Ann Arts and Cultural Center—the “American Sistine Chapel.”
    

And food to experience?

• Fairfield County
  • The farm to table movement is growing in the region, with several excellent examples.
• Hudson Valley
  • Valhalla Crossing: A converted caboose in a charming, centrally located town, Valhalla, and it’s become one of our go-to destinations. The food is basic, but it is cozy and easy to get to.
  • Sapori of White Plains
• New England
  • Boston is lucky to have pretty much every type of cuisine imaginable, and is incredibly friendly to those with food allergies/sensitivities. Everyone should go to Top of the Hub at least once—the food is a bit overpriced, but you get to see Boston in all its glory from the top of the Prudential Tower.
  • If you are walking around downtown during the week, there are always a ton of food trucks and Boston is on TOP of its food truck game.
  • A bowl of Legal Sea Foods clam chowder is recommended.
  • Dinner in the North End of Boston, also known as Little Italy, is a treat—no matter what restaurant you choose.
  • In Cambridge, Salem, or Lowell, Massachusetts, Life Alive is a great organic, vegetarian eatery. It is incredible food that leaves you feeling more energized. Their smoothies are excellent as well.
  • It’s Maine…Lobster!
  • When in Maine look for wild blueberries, local crabmeat, Needhams & whoopie pies.
• New York
  • There is so much. Check out one of the many ethnic cuisines the city has to offer!
  • New York is known for its pizza. Venture out to Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg neighborhood to visit Roberta’s for a hip and unique pizza experience (disclaimer: you will likely wait for a table), or, for the very adventurous, take the Q train to Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood to the legendary Di Fara, ranked the No. 2 best pizza in the country after New Haven’s Frank Pepe. You could also simply grab a slice at any neighborhood pizza counter that you pass by in Manhattan or any of NYC’s boroughs—it’s hard to go wrong with pizza in NYC!
• New York – Upstate
  • If you’re in Syracuse, Dinosaur BBQ comes highly recommended. The Blarney Stone has the best burger in town.
• Rhode Island
  • We have to say Del’s lemonade, and coffee milk, but also Haven Brothers’ Diner, and possibly ice cream from Gray’s ice cream in Tiverton.

Read the related Member Insights blog post.