Community Corner

VIDEO: Venture Out: Horn Pond; Salem; and Hampton Beach

Revisit your younger days when you hopped in the car, started the engine and drove off in search of something fun. The Sunday Patch Passport maps out where you can go on a 15-, 30- or 60-minute drive from your home.

Revisit your younger days when you hopped in the car, started the engine and drove off in search of something fun. Here are three unique options for you, depending on how far you want to drive. Visit one, or visit all of them. How far will you go?

15-Minute Drive: Horn Pond in Woburn

Horn Pond and its surrounding conservation land occupy nearly 700 acres of land in Woburn near Winchester. It is also home to Horn Pond Mountain, also known as Towanda, which is 287 feet above sea level. Trails wind through the area, taking walkers throughout the dry oak-hickory woods. 

Find out what's happening in Stonehamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Horn Pond Conservation Area also has several memorials, including the Leo F. McElhiney Memorial Park and benches dedicated to residents.

Check out the time-lapse video above from the first day of summer at Horn Pond.

Find out what's happening in Stonehamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

30-Minute Drive: Salem, MA

The Witch City has a little something for everyone: Boutique shops for everything from fashion to magic potions; restaurants that showcase the best of local cuisines; and museums and historical sites.

Salem may be best known for its Halloween festivities, but the city is full of things to do year-round. For example, check out the video above from the city's annual Christmas Tree Bonfire at Dead Horse Beach. (Man. Even the beaches' names in Salem can be a little creepy.)

60-Minute Drive: Hampton Beach, NH

Your parents may extol the virtues of Revere Beach's heyday, but you can still catch a sliver of what those days were like in less than an hour by shooting up Route 1 to Hampton Beach, NH.

We're talking beachside stands serving up classic summer food; kitschy shops selling cheesy spraypaint art t-shirts you have to own; and arcades with rows and rows of—what else?—skee ball.

Check out one example of Hampton Beach's attractions in the video above: Bulldozers tearing through the 10 entries in this year's Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Competition, for which sculptors spent 21 hours over three days to build during the competition.


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