Epic Travel → North America → The Northeast → Massachusetts → Castle Hill

♦ Intrepid Top Pick!

Location: Crane Estate, Ipswich, Massachusetts

Time Required: 1 hour to have a quick wander around the trails, more time if you’d like to actually enjoy the beach or visit the wildlife refuge

Red Tape/Notes: Ground open year-round, daily, from 8am – sunset. Hours for the Great House are more complex – visit this website for details.

What’s Nearby?: Crane Beach, Salem, Connors Farm

The area now known as Castle Hill has been farmed since the mid 1600’s, but it began its transformation into a country estate when it was purchased by Chicago Industrialist Richard T. Crane Jr. in 1910. The Great House currently standing was built in 1928 (apparently they didn’t like the one they built in 1910 because they tore it down and replaced it with this one). The house has lovely grounds and gardens, including various estate buildings, and is also home to a wide variety of wildlife. Since it was pouring rain much of the time we were there, we had the place to ourselves (which was awesome!) and ran across deer and turkey and sampled the apples from the orchard. Totally worth it, despite the rain.

Epic Travel → North America → The Northeast → Massachusetts → Castle Hill