Boston: Side Trips

You could, and should, visit Walden Pond, a 20-mile drive west of Boston near Concord, Mass. This is, of course, the pond on the shores of which writer Henry David Thoreau lived for two years, between 1845 and 1847, and produced Walden; or, Life in the Woods.

But if you've simply tired of the oldness of things, you could go a few miles farther to the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, a refreshing jolt of the present, which nevertheless manages to be both tranquil and meditative. Situated on the museum's 35 acres of gently sloping hills and wooded areas are 75 contemporary, often massive, sculptures. The museum is open year-round but (and do I really need to repeat this?) it makes a wonderful daylong outing in pleasant weather as you can picnic on the grounds, read a book under a tree or, if you are truly feeling anti-Thoreauvian, nap under a hulking man-made monument of steel.

• 1. Walden Pond State Reservation
  Concord, MA 42.4384-71.342
• 2. DeCordova Museum
  51 Sandy Pond Rd., Lincoln, MA 01773; 781-259-8355 42.4298404-71.3140247 decordova.org