Planning trip to Boston, MA

Kakapo

Kakapo

Well-Known Member
Dear zoochatters,
This summer (second half of July) I probably will go to Boston in a family trip, and of course I will try to visit the biodiversity related places in the city.
I've found the next places-

BOTANICAL GARDENS IN BOSTON:
Fenway garden society
White birch gardens

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS IN BOSTON
Harvard Museum of Natural History
Museum of Science

ZOOS AND AQUARIUMS IN MA:
Barnum's aquarial gardens
Berkshire museum
Boston aquarial and zoological gardens
Buttonwood park zoo
Capron park zoo
Christenson zoo
Drumlin farm
Frankling park zoo
Lupa zoo
Maria Mitchell aquarium
New England aquarium
Sealand of Cape Cod
South Boston aquarium
Southwick's zoo
Stone zoo
The zoo in forest park
Wolf hollow
Woods Hole Science aquarium
ZooQuarium

Now these are my questions:

1. Which of the mentioned zoos and aquariums are in Boston city?
2. Even within the ones inside the city, there are any that is not very easily accesible by public transport?
3. Of the ones that are outside the city but relatively nearby, there are some that is an obligate visit due to rarity of species held?
4. The two museums mentioned are different things, or two names for same place?
5. Really these gardens are properly botanical gardens? They have an extensive public, labelled and diverse collection of plants?
6. There is some collection not mentioned in the list that is an obligated visit by rarity of species?

Many thanks!
 
I delete part of the former list:

Barnum's aquarial gardens - CLOSED
Boston aquarial and zoological gardens - CLOSED
Sealand of Cape Cod - not a zoological facility??
South Boston aquarium - CLOSED
ZooQuarium - CLOSED

So now we have next zoos in Masachussets:
ZOOS AND AQUARIUMS IN MA:

Buttonwood park zoo
Capron park zoo
Christenson zoo
Drumlin farm
Frankling park zoo
Lupa zoo
Maria Mitchell aquarium
New England aquarium
Southwick's zoo
Stone zoo
The zoo in forest park
Wolf hollow
Woods Hole Science aquarium

Many of them will be not in Boston I assume, and many will not hold interesting species (wolf hollow is just a wolf park it seems, Drumlin farm is mainly for farm animals....) so what remain as interesting zoos in Boston?
 
I live in the greater boston area, so I can answer a lot of your questions. I have to admit though, that I have not even heard of many of the places that are in your list. I had always been under the impression that there were only 5-10 zoos in MA (and only one aquarium outside the cape-cod region), and most of these institutions are not AZA accredited. Most are small and many only have very small animals / domestic animals. You must have done intense research to find such a large list.

In my opinion, the institutions that are most well known are The New England Aquarium, The Stone Zoo, The Franklin Park Zoo, Southwick's Zoo (which is not a member of the AZA), and The Buttonwood Park Zoo. Places like the Lupa Zoo or the Zoo in Forest Park are very very small and not AZA accredited.

1. The zoos and aquariums you have mentioned that are in Boston City include the New England Aquarium, the Franklin Park Zoo, and both museums. The Franklin Park Zoo has some rare animals like Kiwis, Pottos, and Siberian Cranes.

2. The New England Aquarium is easily accessible from Boston's subway system, known as "the T". There is a stop on the T's blue line that is right at the aquarium. The Franklin Park Zoo is much harder to get to if you are not using cars.

3. The two museums are different places, and amazing institutions. The Museum of Science is AZA accredited, and has some parts about animals (and has some small animals), but most of the museum is dedicated to physics and other fields of science. I don't believe that The Natural History Museum has any live animals, but they have an incredible collection of taxidermy animals and skeletons of extinct and extant animals. This museum puts a greater focus on zoology, evolution, and anatomy than the science museum (which focuses on more of the other sciences as well).
 
Thanks a lot! I did not an intense research, just combined the list provided by Wikipedia of Masachussets zoos + MA aquariums. But after that I looked one by one for found the closed ones.

Your reply is very complete and solved most of my questions! Big thanks! It's a shame that Franklin park zoo is not easily done by public transport. I had bad luck with pottos in all the European zoos that hold them, and I hoped that this time I would see them! Also have African pygmy falcon, and according to Zoochat gallery, tentacled snake (maybe deceased since?)

It's Stone zoo easily reachable by public transport (more than Franklin's)? They have whooping crane that I can't miss....
 
Capron park zoo is in not in boston but is a reasonable 45 minutes to an hour drive. Some species of interest might be visayan warty pigs, amur leopard, pygmy slow loris, a variety of tropical birds and sloth bears. Buttonwood park zoo is a little farther and is anotger fantastic small zoo- home to an extensive waterfowl collection, 6 small primate species, asian elephants and a lot of North American species. If you are willing to look outside of massachusetts, roger williams park zoo in rhode island and squam lakes in new hampshire are excellent facilities.
 
Thanks Neil. I think I could include Capron, as I still lack Visayan warty pigs (despite being a widespread species in European collections I never saw one) and sloth bears. Tough these are species easy to get in future European visits, so I also can skip it.

At the moment I will go to:
-Both museums (obligate visit)
-New England aquarium (recommendable visit)
-Stone zoo? (possible visit)
-Franklin park zoo? (probably will not visit due to difficult transport)
-Maybe one of the botanicals?
 
The Stone Zoo is kind of hard to get to using public transportation, just like Franklin Park Zoo is. They both will require a mixture of taking the train for part of the way, then potentially switching train lines, then taking a bus, and possibly then switching onto another bus, and then walking to your final destination from the last bus stop.
 
I've heard Lupa Zoo keeps some interesting things (White-Eyed Parakeet, Asian Black Bear, Red-Handed Tamarin, Three-Striped Night Monkey), but I've never been there so don't know much more than that. @ThylacineAlive would know more.
 
Why is Franklin Park Zoo difficult to get to from Boston? I just googled it and it seems like 30-40 minutes by bus. There are directions on the zoo website. What's difficult about it?
 
I've done both Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo in a day, but I had a car. Both are worth visiting and both will have species you've never seen before (Ruwenzori Rousette and Jamaican Iguana have gone unlisted here but I mentioned them to you on another thread). I wouldn't think Franklin Park is that difficult without a car as @Chlidonias says, Stone may be more of a challenge but should still be doable.

Southwick's and Lupa are a few hours drive south from Boston. They both have some noteworthy species, but neither are zoos I have much of a desire to revisit unless they renovate themselves quite a bit. Neither are bad per say but neither are great also. Lupa in particular has a long way to go.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I wouldn't think Franklin Park is that difficult without a car as @Chlidonias says, Stone may be more of a challenge but should still be doable.
Click to expand...
Stone Zoo is more complicated than Franklin Park Zoo but (judging from my quick search) still totally possible if there is something there worth the hassle for @Kakapo. It looks like about two hours of travel between Boston and the zoo, with two or three bus/train changes and some walking. It'd need some planning for the bus or train schedules, but there doesn't seem to be anything really difficult about it, just time-consuming.
 
I've done both Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo by public transport - both very easy.

Just use Google maps - tells you exactly what to do, which buses to get etc. If you get stuck just ask at bus terminals. The staff are very helpful.

The bus to Stone Zoo drops you off in a giant car part of an 'Art Hospital' (I kid you not)....deserted......and then very pleasant and very easy 10 min walk straight down one road. The whole journey from downtown Boston took about an hour.
 
Actually - on checking - its the Medical Art Building of the Memorial Hospital

Google Maps

As I remember, it was a subway journey to an end of the line station/ bus terminus, then a bus to Stoneham.
 
Newzooboy said:
And definitely worth the hassle imo
Click to expand...

I think Stone is a much better zoo than Franklin Park, but FPZ has the better collection*. Your thoughts?

I might have to make a return trip to both zoos (and a first visit to the aquarium) sometime in 2019 I think.

*Not that Stone has a bad collection by any stretch, it's just smaller and less diverse.

~Thylo
 
If you really want to see pottos then Franklin Park Zoo is the place to go. We went into the tropical house first thing in the morning and they were very active.

New England Aquarium is world-class.
 
Visits to both New England Aquarium and Franklin Park Zoo on the same day is easily done and here is a list of Massachusetts zoological attractions in case you wish to go farther afield.

18 Massachusetts Zoos:

Animal Adventures: Family Zoo & Science Center (Bolton)
Berkshire Museum (Pittsfield)
Butterfly Place (Westford)
Buttonwood Park Zoo (New Bedford)
Capron Park Zoo (Attleboro)
Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary (Lincoln)
Franklin Park Zoo (Boston)
Lupa Zoo (Ludlow)
Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory (Deerfield)
Maria Mitchell Aquarium (Nantucket)
Museum of Science (Boston)
National Marine Life Center (Buzzards Bay)
New England Aquarium (Boston)
Southwick’s Zoo (Mendon)
Stone Zoo (Stoneham)
The Zoo in Forest Park (Springfield)
Wolf Hollow (Ipswich)
Woods Hole Science Aquarium (Woods Hole)
 
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