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The Atlas Obscura Guide To Cambridge

30 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Updated June 13, 2024

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Atlas Obscura Itineraries

Rogue Routes: The Road to the Ice Castles

Sponsored by Nissan

A deep blanket of snow often covers New England in the winter. But there’s adventure to be found in the frozen landscape, with its steep mountains and frozen ponds—and not just for skiers and snowboarders. This route blazes a unique path through Massachusetts and New Hampshire that is filled with bright colors, bold flavors, and the legacies of pioneering thinkers.

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Explore Cambridge, Massachusetts

Art 4
Universities 4
Colleges 4
Plants 4

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Stories About Cambridge

Longfellow House is a stately manor on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, owned by the literary family for nearly 130 years. It was also used as a headquarters by George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

Preserving the LGBTQ Legacy of One of America's Most Historic Homes

Boston’s Longfellow House was a 19th-century refuge.
by Anya Gruber

Podcast: Forbes Pigment Collection

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
by The Podcast Team
Cambridge, MA 2018.

Meet the Artist Who Does Extreme Close-Ups of Utility Poles

Rosamond Purcell finds stories, landscapes, and more on their mottled surfaces.
by Winnie Lee
Glass strawberries, or Fragaria, gone white with imitation Penicillium.

Feast Your Eyes on These Delicate Glass Models of Decaying Fruit

Blighted, century-old produce goes back on display for the first time in decades.
by Jessica Leigh Hester
Broadway Bicycle School, founded in 1972, is one of the few countercultural spaces in Devin's book that are still around today.

Mapping the Lost Countercultural Hotspots of Cambridge, Massachusetts

Local librarian Tim Devin has found hundreds of buildings that once housed utopian groups.
by Cara Giaimo
The catalog entry for Fanny Brawne's hair demonstrates the sometimes-labyrinthine routes these samples take to get to libraries.

Untangling the Secrets of One of Harvard’s Historic Hair Collections

The university's Houghton Library is home to a number of famous tresses.
by Cara Giaimo

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