Things to Do in Shrewsbury

Nestled within 164 acres of mature pine trees and hardwood forest, the secluded golf course at Quail Ridge Country Club surrounds visitors in natural splendor. Course architect Mark Mungeam of Cornish, Silva, and Mungeam, Inc., designed the fairways to harmonize with the naturally rolling terrain, where occasional stone walls line the edges of what were once farmers’ fields. After teeing off, players choose carefully among their bag’s fairway woods, long irons, and golf-ball-sized blowguns as they confront a number-one handicap first hole whose fairway unfurls over nearly 600 uphill yards. The course doesn’t let up, keeping golfers on their toes right up to the end of each round.

Off the course, players gain the skills needed to meet such challenges by frequenting the chipping area or practice putting green. During lessons held in these practice spots, head teaching pro John Carco harnesses more than 15 years of experience to help students eliminate slice and perfect their swing. The country club’s family center hosts a snack bar where golfers can fuel up for a round, stash their belongings in lockers, or build ball-driving muscles at the fitness center.

Just a hop and a skip from the family center, the club’s 3,200-square-foot outdoor pool entices visitors of all stripes with its widely varied facilities. Athletes zip down 75-foot swim lanes, parents and kids splash in a baby pool with zero-grade entry, and sunbathers bask on more than 4,500 square feet of deck. On four adjacent tennis courts, serves rebound off of Har-Tru clay surfaces, and windscreens keep out distracting breezes and lost pool-goers murmuring "Marco?"

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 66 course
• Length of 5,426 yards
• Course rating of 67.9
• Slope rating of 122
• See the scorecard
• See the course layout and hole details
• Five tee options

Golfers across the handicap spectrum practice bogey-thwarting skills at Natick Golf Learning Center, where PGA- and LPGA-certified pros preside over a multifaceted outdoor practice facility. The center’s outdoor driving range offers 75 artificial and natural-grass hitting mats; two chipping greens, a putting green, and a practice bunker let players practice their finesse shots. During daily lessons, the pros enlist video analysis and other teaching aids to help pupils tackle new skills or correct recent on-course weaknesses.

Climbers cling to a large steel building, strategizing their way up the side of the rock-like cliff. They have come to conquer Central Rock Climbing's 14,000 square feet of indoor mountains, climbing walls reaching 15–40 feet in height. Resident instructors and staff members stand by to offer guidance and expertise to novices as they strive to master the basics of belaying. The gym's members enjoy unlimited climbing as well as 3,500 square feet of bouldering and more than 60 climbing stations. Guests also hone their physiques with free weights, yoga, and Pilates classes. The staff furnishes gear rentals for those who don't have their own. To get to the top of the climbing walls, climbers are required to carry, at minimum, a harness, climbing ropes, and a clear yodeling voice.

Saba Alhadi was visiting her retired father when she received the phone call. A man on the other end, with a British accent, informed her he'd seen her photos of the city of Boston. He worked with Random House and wanted to publish her work—provided she write a book about the city and furnish it with her photographs of 16 historic sites. More than five years later, Saba's book, Boston in Photographs can be found on gift-shop shelves in the Old State House. Formerly a travel agent, she began building her portfolio as she turned her lens on the city and developed photography walking tours through historic neighborhoods.

On each of her tours, she reveals historic details such as brick sidewalks, verdant cemeteries, Romanesque courtyards, and flower-packed window boxes, and encourages those on her tour to look for unlikely subjects. Meanwhile, she interlaces the history with photo tips on how colors on different buildings complement each other, how a reflection of a historic church in a window can become a composition, and how to keep a historic interpreter from startling when the shutter goes off. She also devises scavenger hunts throughout Victorian neighborhoods, sending participants scattering to decode cryptic clues that draw on notable local facts, such as which districts were once home to wealthy citizens and which homes have pools in the backyard.

In Boylston, 132 acres rest untouched by modern society, where warm breezes send flower petals dancing and sidewalks give way to winding trails. Tower Hill Botanic Garden envelops visitors in fields of green grass, tall trees, and colorful flowers across both outdoor areas and indoor garden spaces. Staff members educate guests on the gardens’ various flora and fauna in classes and programs calibrated for students of every age. Special events, such as the African Violet Show, shine the spotlight on even more species of flowers, much like the wildflower-identification portion of standard driving tests.

In 1843, Charles Lane and Amos Bronson Alcott—father to writer Louisa May Alcott—founded a utopian and transcendentalist community in the fields of Harvard. More than 70 years later, visionary Clara Endicott Sears was so moved by their experiment that she decided to establish a museum on the same site to preserve its history. Today, the Fruitlands Farmhouse stands as a testament to the original settlers’ ingenuity, which surfaced in their trailblazing thoughts on veganism, sustainable living, and harnessing moon beams to power home stereo equipment.

Clara has incorporated the Shakers’ original office into Fruitlands, where it now shows off Shaker artwork and artifacts, many of which were donated by the Shakers themselves. Since then, the museum has also collected a curated assortment of more than 1,000 Native American artifacts, as well as a longhouse, dugout canoe, and traditional garden.

The brains behind the museum are still innovating today, curating permanent additions such as an art gallery with Hudson River School Landscapes. In addition to organizing school field trips, the staff also hires experts to teach classes and workshops on sketching scenes from nature, painting watercolor landscapes, and constructing 3D sculptures.