Things to Do & Trip Ideas

The Armory Grounds are a perfect place to reconnect with nature and escape the hustle and bustle of the urban center, if only for a short time. Find a picnic table, bench or a tree to sit beneath and take a break and enjoy a snack. What do you hear? Do you hear the workers milling about? Horses moving supplies and firearms? Or just the squirrels and birds?

Take a walk behind Quarters 1 to escape the urban center and reconnect with nature! Behind Quarters 1 there is a large grassy lawn where one can sit and relax and look out over the City of Springfield. The Armory Victory Garden is also located beside Quarters 1; take a look at our garden and all the vegetables and flowers we grow there.

Become a Junior Ranger at Blackstone River Valley NHP! The park has two different Junior Ranger programs you can complete. Books are available at Old Slater Mill and the Blackstone River State Park.

Visit the Historic Pullman Exhibit Hall located at Cottage Grove and 112th Street. Volunteers and partners from the Historic Pullman Foundation are on-hand to answer questions and provide suggestions on how to enjoy your visit to the Historical Park. There are informational displays, artifacts and an introductory film available.

Park Ranger Tours

Our partner, the Historic Pullman Foundation, offers a free self-guided walking/driving tour pamphlet. It is available at the Pullman Exhibit Hall and the Administration-Clock Tower Building. The Pullman Exhibit Hall also has a brochure box with the tour map available at its entrance door on the outside of the building.

The Boott Cotton Mills Museum at Lowell National Historical Park is the best place to learn about Lowell’s industrial past. Explore the stories of the workers, engineers, inventors, and investors who made Lowell the first successful planned industrial city in the United States. Learn more about the city’s role as a cutting-edge developer of technology and hub of social and economic change in the American Industrial Revolution.

Take a walk around Millbrook Village.

Do you have half a day to explore Pullman National Historical Park? One of the features that went into the design of the 1880s historic Pullman town was that everything you needed was within walking distance. You can explore everything the Park has to offer on foot.

The museum exhibit Forging a Nation: Iron Making in Colonial America features artifacts from the 18th century iron industry and puts the industry in the context of the American Revolution.