Massachusetts Museums That Speak to Children

Art museums can be a tough sell for young children. Traipsing through quiet galleries hung with serious-looking paintings can quickly take on the feel of a forced march.

So while my husband and I love to look at painting and sculpture, we have tried to kindle a passion for art in our children by introducing them to museums of all kinds, but in small doses. Though only 6 and 9, they have been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art more than a dozen times, as well as more esoteric venues, from P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens to the Picasso Museum in Paris.

It seemed fitting, then, to plan a weekend trip entirely around museumgoing, with two experiences not easily duplicated in major cities. In early spring, we settled in at the Porches Inn, directly across the street from Mass MoCA. Consisting of eight Victorian row houses once occupied by factory workers, the inn has 47 smart guest rooms whose décor the owners call “retro-industrial-granny-chic” — in other words, a synthesis of the two museums we had come to visit.

Best of all, at least from our son and daughter’s point of view, was the heated outdoor pool — open year-round and around-the-clock. After a day of art-gazing, nothing rejuvenates like the yin and yang of warm water and chilly air, with wisps of steam rising toward the darkening sky.

When it opened in an abandoned industrial plant almost a decade ago, Mass MoCA became an instant hit, providing an outlet for sculptures that were too large for all but a few museums. The center also gave a boost to North Adams, a moribund mill town whose largest employer, the Sprague Electric Company, left in 1985, laying off nearly 2,000 workers.

Set against a New England backdrop of buxom hills flecked with steeples, the Sprague plant, with 27 buildings on 13 acres, had an undeniable charm. With a proud clock tower, worn brick facade and multi-paned windows, the 19th-century complex begged to be reinvented.