In Lowell, there are old Mills that have not been converted to condos. If you start at the Visitor's Center there is a video about the time of mills (we skipped it) and a kiddos area (try your hand at weaving and driving the trolley). We then walked along the canals to a park (maybe 0.5 miles) that had an old Boarding House to tour and a Mill. The mill did have a fee to enter (I think it was $9 for 1 adult and 1 child). The Boarding House was free. The boarding house had a couple of rooms to look at, letters and stories from the girls who lived/worked there, and a piece about immigration in Lowell. The boys were not as interested in this place (if you lean over the ropes into their rooms that they've set up an alarm, that will go off....not sure if the boys were scared or intrigued...we didn't set it off).
The Jr Ranger Program packet, consisted of a tic-tac-toe board to find sites in Lowell (if you walk the canals, from the Visitor Center to the Boarding House you see all of them), a dot-to-dot and various activities to be completed in the Visitor Center, Boarding House and Mill. The Boarding House had a couple of rooms set up as if it were 100 years ago. Eat dinner with 50 of your closest roommies, read letters from the girls who lived there and try to imagine working 14 hours a day, running home for a 30 minute lunch and then back to work. We happened to go to the mills on a day that Lowell was offering a free concert for the kiddos (with free healthy snacks!). So, we had a picnic in the park, listened to info about dinosaurs (that was the concert) and then toured the Boarding House.
When touring the mill, kids can wear an apron, do a time stamp of when they entered the mill and complete various activities. The first room you go through is a weaving room. It is a giant room, they offer you ear plugs before you go in... The room houses many looms (there would have been more had the walkway for the visitors not been there). The belts going to the gears on the looms were all running and as we walked by a worker (with ear plugs in) started up four or five looms. The smacking, clacking of wood in addition to the sound of the belts flying made baby bro cry and Little Man remarked on the loudness of the area. What was amazing was how quickly one could get a headache in there and that was with only a handful of the looms going. I can't imagine the racket with every loom in the building (there were at least 3 floors) going, let alone the entire town.
The activities for the kiddos began on the second floor. They could try their hand at spinning wool into thread, carding wool (with the scary mallets and a machine), and weaving. They enjoyed the weaving the most. There was a lot of historical articles and things to read, but the boys were more interested in playing with the clothing (that had prices to let you know how much money actually went to the people making the clothing...very little) and rebuilding Lowell from a Mill City to a 21st century city.
After tour the mill we were able to get our pins (saying the Park Ranger Oath) at the Mill itself! We then boarded a free trolley back to the Visitor Center.
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