Spies, baseball, witches and robots star in these US East Coast attractions.
The East Coast of America has so many blockbuster attractions – the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Statue of Liberty, the National Air and Space Museum are just a few. But tourists soon reach museum fatigue, wondering if they have the stamina to endure the crowds and queues for cloakrooms and food.
Pretty soon, most pine for something smaller, more intimate, less demanding. The good news is that New York, Boston and Washington DC, the three heavy hitters of culture, also have a range of attractions out of the spotlight.
Some, such as Ellis Island in New York Harbor and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, stand in the shadow of more famous competitors. Others are relatively new (the International Spy Museum and Newseum in Washington) and have yet to gain a reputation. Then there are those that are too niche to ever be major attractions, such as the Neue Galerie in New York and the Salem Witch Museum, near Boston.
Those listed here are by no means the only examples of “museums less travelled”, but they capture the experience many look for in America: galleries bequeathed by lifelong passions, museums started by strong social consciences, institutions that make the big world more personal. They cover design, art, immigration, language, commerce and espionage. They share a sense of social history, outstanding research and rich detail. Above all, they’re easy to enjoy.
New York
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
2 East 91st Street.
+1 212 849 8400.
Ellis Island
Circle Line Ferry.
+1 212 269 5755.
The Frick Collection
1 East 70 Street.
+1 212 288 0700.
Museum of Arts & Design (MAD)
2 Columbus Circle.
+1 212 299 7777.
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue (at 103rd Street).
+1 212 534 1672.
Neue Galerie New York
1048 Fifth Avenue (at 86th Street).
+1 212 628 6200.
The Tenement Museum
108 Orchard Street.
+1 212 982 8420.
Washington DC
International Spy Museum
800 F Street, NW.
+1 202 303 7798.
National Portrait Gallery
Eighth & F Streets, NW.
+1 202 633 8300.
Newseum
555 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
+1 888 639 7386.
Boston
John F Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Columbia Point, Boston.
+1 866 JFK 1960.
MIT Museum
Building N51, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge.
+1 617 253 5927.
Salem Witch Museum
Washington Square North, Salem.
+1 978 7441 692.
Source: Qantas The Australian Way June 2009