A prototype hardscrabble town, Rockland on the South Shore was never perfect for cultivating because of its rough territory.
Instep, industry boomed here within the 19th century with exchanges like shoemaking and stumble. Many of the production lines from those times have since been turned into private improvements and artists’ lofts.
Since the conclusion of WWII Rockland has ended up a comfortable southern suburb for Boston, well-served by adjacent family attractions, shopping goals, sports conveniences, and culture, with a little but vigorous commercial locale along Union Street.
To appreciate the outside in Rockland there are some town-owned preservation properties, a rail path that cuts through the center, and the separated lake at Ames Nowell State Stop, minutes absent.
1. The Company Theatre
For a few live excitement, there’s a cherished non-profit theater putting on five large-scale preparations a year at a lasting setting a couple of minutes absent in Norwell.
Established in 1979, the Company Theater has earned various awards, including Greenery Hart and IRNE Grants.
An ordinary season brings in gatherings of people of 20,000+, with musicals comprising first-class exhibitions, choreography, music, set plan, lighting, outfits, and course.
Keep an eye on the plan since as well as these appear there’s a yearly celebrity and concert arrangement and four yearly youth preparations.
2. Ames Nowell State Park
To go with the plentiful characteristic space around Rockland you’ll be able to reach this 700-acre DCR property in a matter of minutes from Rockland.
A huge swath of Ames Nowell State Stop is taken up by the stunning Cleveland Lake, which was built in the 1920s when Beaver Tolerate was dammed to form a winged creature sanctuary and chasing ground by the proprietor Edwin Holmes.
There’s wealthy history framed within the woods around the lake, where a maze of stone dividers, two wagon bridges, and a combination of quarries indicate 400 a long time of settlement.
Individuals come to angle for chain pickerel and largemouth bass at the lake, and there are more than ten miles of cleared and unpaved trails driving off into the woods to the west and south.
3. Starland Sportsplex & Fun Park
Nearby in Hanover, there’s a sports-oriented family amusement center, open since 1968.
In 2013 Starland came through a major extension, building a 100,000+ sq ft sports office, with eight hardwood courts, two turf areas, and have of complementary conveniences like a full-service bar, eatery, and coffee shop.
This sportsplex may be a scene for ball, volleyball, soccer, and pickleball associations, whereas somewhere else you’ve got a ton of classic family attractions.
You’ve got smaller-than-expected golf, laser tag, bumper cars, an arcade, go-karts, batting cages, as well as a shake divider, XD dim ride, and an assortment of carnival rides.
4. Derby Street Shops
There’s an upmarket shopping center a small way north of Rockland in Hingham. Fair off Course 3, Derby Road Shops has nearly 70 stores and eateries in a setting outlined like a cozy Unused Britain town, with clapboard storefronts and wide tree-lined sidewalks.
To grant a sense of the shopping scene here, you’ll discover Barnes & Respectable, Francesca’s, Entire Nourishments, Banana Republic, Lululemon, Hole, Allbirds, Anthropologie, J. Group, and an Apple Store.
The eateries at Derby Road Occupations are on the casual side of things, with the likes of Chipotle, Lawful C Bar, and CAVA.
5. Barrett’s Haunted Mansion
You’ll never have to travel distant on the South Shore for a few high-quality alarms at Halloween, and this goes for Rockland, which has one of the most excellent within the region adjacent to Abington.
Barrett’s Frequented House has been running for more than 30 long times and is known for its keen theming, complicatedly planned scenarios, and excited on-screen characters.
When we put this list together the backstory spun around a changing chemical spill at a pesticide plant.
There’s a choice of encounters here, counting Devil’s Night, in which physical contact is allowed for additional dread, and a lights-on visit, in which you get to go behind the scenes to check out the set plan, cosmetics, and outfit within the cold light of day.
6. Twin Ponds Trail
From 1941 until the conclusion of the Cold War, there was a Maritime Discuss Station on the line between Rockland and Abington.
You’ll enter this scene from Spruce St, fair north of Rockland Town Timberland, and after a number of steps you will be in a gigantic field where the runways used to be.
There are few followers of the office remaining nowadays, and the most blue-blazed path leads past the two namesake ponds, as well as historic stone walls from when this was farmland and a few rough outcroppings.
For a longer visit, you’ll walk the most circle, and after that head west into Abington along the red-blazed Thompson Lake path.
7. Rockland Golf Course
You’ll be able to play 36 gaps of golf at this interesting office in Rockland, set in radiant pine and oak woodland, with shake outcroppings, streams, and lakes.
The Challenge Course here is the longest standard 3 west of the Mississippi Stream. There are four sets of tees on this testing track, with a course record of four beneath standard. So while it’s a standard 3 you’re planning to require each club within the pack.
The Players Course may be a small more pleasing less finished players, and is made up of 12 standard 3s and 6 brief standard 4s.
A short time later, you’ll be able to converse over your circular at the Sports Bar & Grille, serving sandwiches, flatbread pizzas, quesadillas, wraps, nachos, and other fulfilling nibbles.
8. Rockland Ice Rink
There’s a well-regarded open arena in Rockland, open all year and facilitating recreations for a number of competitive alliances, counting the Eastern Hockey Alliance, Inlet State Hockey Alliance, and South Shore Conference.
On the off chance that you fair need to induce out onto the ice there are a few open skating and adhere & puck sessions (protective cap required), with extra openings amid school breaks.
The Winterland Skate School here offers five learn-to-skate classes each week, catering to all ages from three-year-olds to adults.
In the event that you need to choose a few hockey essentials, there’s the Hockey Bounce Begin, educating skating abilities like front and back hybrids, as well as puck dealing with and in-game situating.
9. Magoo’s Ice Cream & Sandwich
A little, family-owned trade, this ice cream stand opened in Rockland in 2007 and highlights an 18-hole smaller-than-expected golf course and a bounty of open-air seating.
Magoo’s serves 40 distinctive flavors of difficult ice cream, sourced from the award-winning Richardson’s Cultivate in Middleton, MA. You’ll be able moreover select from more than 50 sorts of delicate serve, as well as forte sundaes, frappes, and razzles.
On the nourishment menu in the meantime are comforting quick nourishment plates, from chicken fingers to cheeseburgers. Scattered with boulders and water highlights, the scaled-down golf course is well looked after and has unused lighting for longer hours on summer nighttime.
10. George Anderson Rockland Town Forest
Named for the devoted nearby protectionist who secured, kept up, and made strides this property over decades, the Rockland Town Timberland is more than 40 sections of land of woods along French’s Stream.
Bordered by rural private neighborhoods, this allocation has calm stands of beech, pine, oak, and cedar, investigated by means of a tie of trails.
These have wooden bridges that extend off the boardwalk and have segments decorated with small knickknacks, shake landmarks, and elevating messages. For a longer walk, you’ll be able to exit within the north at Spruce Road and choose the Twin Lakes Path, which we’ll talk about almost afterward.
11. Rockland Center
The town’s fundamental supply route is the north-to-south Union Road, which is flanked by terrific open buildings, turn-of-the-century commercial squares, and a few stately homes.
A few of the more amazing buildings are the Sacred Family Church (1896), the Primary Congregational Church (1894), and the Rockland Open Library, a Beaux-Arts Carnegie library from 1904.
Advance south, where Union Road is crossed by the Hanover Department Rail Path, there’s a cluster of flawlessly protected houses dating back 200 a long time, as well as a lineup of stores, counting Rockland Cycle (215 Union St), serving the path.
One eye-catching home here is the Minister Reed House (c. 1818), within the Ruler Anne fashion with prior Government subtle elements from the time of its development.
12. Rockland Day
The greatest community occasion of the year goes down in Rockland’s center over two days in mid-June.
At the heart of the Rockland Day celebration is live music, with an organized setup at Rogers Center School on Friday.
The occasion at that point moves to Experienced Commemoration Stadium on Saturday with a pressed plan of however more live exhibitions, awesome nourishment, a larger cultivate, expressions & makes, and all sorts of exercises to engage small ones.
Within the evening the celebration wraps up with conventional firecrackers.
13. Rockland Fall Festival
Rockland comes together for another huge occasion afterward within the year, when the Rockland Drop Celebration changes Union Road for a day in early October.
There’s a part going on, with a lineup of live music, more than 100 merchants, a petting zoo, horse rides, nourishment sellers, exhibits by nearby clubs and organizations, and a sweet drop.
Adults will be satisfied with the larger plant, speaking to more than 90 cellars, whereas one of the best exercises for youths is “Touch a Truck”, showing the town’s armada of benefit vehicles.
14. Rockland Farmers’ Market
Happening each other end of the week through the drop, Rockland incorporates farmers’ advertising that gets greater with each year. The area is Hartsuff Stop, a mile or so northwest of Rockland’s center, where you’ll experience nearly 50 merchants on a normal week.
Normally there’s a riches of new deliver from the South Shore and southeastern Massachusetts, as well as new broiled coffee, create brew, wine from the locale, sauces, nectar, heated products, mocktails, and natural pet treats.
As numerous as half the merchants are neighborhood specialists and producers, offering anything from fine woodcarving to ceramics. In early October the Rockland Farmers’ Showcase coincides with the yearly drop celebration.
15. Hanover Branch Rail Trail (Rockland Rail Trail)
Connecting the Ancient Colony Railroad in Abington with Hanover Four Corners, 7.8 miles absent, the Hanover Department Railroad opened in 1868 and became a portion of the Modern York, Unused Safe House, and Hartford Railroad afterward that century.
Industrialist E. Y. Perry was a driving drive behind the line, with trains serving his tack and shoe production lines, but too carrying travelers.
Since the 2000s three miles of the right-of-way between the Hanover/Rockland town line and North Abington have ended up a cleared shared-use way.
The path is ten feet wide and has well-marked crosswalks where it meets streets. In 2022 financing was granted for an expansion over West Hanover to the Drinkwater Waterway.
