Adventure Awaits

Worcester Passport

Explore, discover and engage with Worcester in entirely new ways.

Where Will Your Passport Take You?

Ready. Set. Explore.

Bring history to life with your free WORCESTER PASSPORT issued in celebration of two significant anniversaries—the 150th of the Museum of Worcester and the 177th of the incorporation of Worcester as a city on February 29, 1848. Experience a year of adventure and exploration throughout our city and our shared stories.

Your limited-edition PASSPORT TO WORCESTER s available at the Museum of Worcester beginning Friday, February 28, and Saturday, March 1—the best we could do during a non-leap year—and while supplies last. (No ID is required, just your excitement to explore.)

A World of Discoveries Awaits

Your MOW PASSPORT is your guide to exciting monthly challenges, leading you to different locations across Worcester. Each month new questions and activities for PASSPORT holders of all ages will appear here with details, directions, and questions. Each will inspire the PASSPORT holder to explore, discover and engage with the city in new ways—as an individual, family, organization, or class.

April

Worcester Poetry

The Worcester County Poetry Association has created some interesting tours celebrating the lives and times of two of Worcester’s many famous poets.  While you are certainly welcome to complete both tours in their entirety, for the challenge you are asked to…

  1. Read through the tours and choose one of the landmarks from either tour to visit and take a photo.
    “In Worcester, Massachusetts”: Elizabeth Bishop Tour, revised March 2022 (5-minute read, 20-minute drive, or 85-minute walk along Main Street from City Hall Plaza to Hope Cemetery)

    The Home Run: Stanley Kunitz Tour 1, revised July 2022 (5-minute read, 20-minute drive, or 40-minute walk from Polar Park to Green Street and up Vernon Hill to 4 Woodford Street)

  2. If you were to write a poem about Worcester, what one location would you want to include in this poem?  What three words you would use in your poem to describe Worcester?

  3. For discussion at the dinner table, in a classroom, or with an interested group (not required for the passport): Robert Frost said, “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”  What other art forms allow someone to express their emotions?  Do you think one is more powerful than the other? Do you use any form of art to express your emotions?  Discuss how this feels.

  4. Once you have finished the challenge, visit the Museum of Worcester to have your Passport stamped!

APRIL BONUS: Go the extra Mile (not required for the passport) and attend a John Hancock trunk event at the Museum of Worcester and get an extra event signature in the back of your passport.  FREE public program on Wednesday, April 16 at 6PM – All ages appropriate. For more information visit our events page.

Photo: Stanley Kunitz reading in the Salisbury Street auditorium of the then Worcester Historical Museum in January 1984 as a program of WATER STREET: WORLD WITH A WORLD.  Worcester Telegram & Gazette portrait collection at the Museum of Worcester.

March

CELEBRATE WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

If you are at Mechanics Hall for a program or visit the Mechanics Hall website at mechanicshall.org. Name six of the portraits of women in the Great Hall, then answer these questions: Which one of these women was the first in Massachusetts to earn a college degree? Which one founded the American Red Cross?

When you’re done, perhaps go the “extra mile,” although it is not required for your passport stamp: 

Take your photo with “The Speaker’s Stand,” the contemporary lectern dedicated to Abby Foster on Main Street near the entrance to Mechanics Hall. Which of her words on the lectern speak to you the most? Or, visit the Museum of Worcester and take a photograph with its portrait of Abby Kelley Foster portrait. The Museum is open free of charge Tuesday through Saturday from 10AM to 4PM. While there, consider visiting the Museum’s Library to read Foster’s transcribed letters. Library hours are Wednesday through Saturday; it is best to call for an appointment to read the letters.

Bring your answers and perhaps a photo—you at Mechanics Hall or an image from its website, or at the lectern--to the Museum of Worcester for your March sticker!

You might also consider these questions in your classroom, at the dinner table, or as personal reflection: How are the lives of women today different from the lives of the women you have listed? How are they the same? How do you think (or hope) the lives of women 100 years from now will have changed?

February

Major Taylor

To get started, your first stop is the Major Taylor Museum or the Major Taylor statue. Once there, take a picture, then answer these questions: What was Major Taylor’s nickname? And, what challenge occurs in Worcester every year in his honor?

Bring your photo(s) and answers to the Museum of Worcester for your February sticker!

You might also consider these questions in your classroom, at the dinner table, or as personal reflection: What qualities do you think make an athlete truly great? Can you think of any other examples of athletes who have used their platform to change public opinion or policies on social issues?