Things to Do in Somersworth

Inside a mint-green Victorian Home, the experienced artists at Artascope Studios share their expertise in various mediums with adults and teenagers of all skill levels. Throughout a schedule of workshops, instructors provide all the necessary supplies as they teach groups how to craft jewelry out of wire, beads, or metal, arrange glass bits into colorful mosaics, and use paint to expressively capture a mountain landscape's majesty or a urban wilderness's hidden Waldos. They also lead three-hour intensive Art Night Out sessions that focus on specific projects such as crocheting wire or setting a resin pendant. Through reservation, Artascope's experts can host private parties and one-on-one lessons.

With a seasoned captain and crew at the helm, Boothbay Whale Watch's 100-foot Harbor Princess ferries up to 149 passengers into the glistening Atlantic in search of exotic marine life. Voyages meander from scenic Boothbay Harbor into the feeding grounds of whales, dolphins, sharks, and seals, with each marvelous sight indicated and explained by the boat's naturalist, Mechele Vanderlaan. Equipped with an open-air top deck and heated cabin, the boat grants sightseers the ability to watch for marine life year-round without baking in the sun or warming up next to a sympathetic harbor seal. Though alcohol is banned from the boat, the Harbor Princess houses a full-service galley that slings light meals and soft drinks throughout each cruise.

After six years of guiding thrill seekers through winter snowmobiling tours, SledVentures' team of White Mountain wayfarers decided to parlay their spirit for adventure into a year-round enterprise, establishing DirtVentures ATV Rentals and swapping snow-covered runs for the rugged terrain of spring, summer, and fall. A typical tour begins with a crash course in vehicle operation and safety before cruising through the trails of the New Hampshire mountains, including old carriage roads paved by some of the area's original settlers and sasquatches in search of sugar from the neighbors. Brief stops along the way allow amateur explorers to relax and take pictures of the burbling streams, mountainside panoramas, and tree-lined scenery that surrounds them at every turn. All riders must wear long-sleeve shirts, pants, and boots in order to operate DirtVentures' brand-new Brute Force 300 ATVs.

Built between 1858 and 1860 as a summer home for hotelier Ruggles Sylvester Moore, the Victoria Mansion continues to dazzle visitors more than 150 years later with its Italian villa-style low-pitched roofs and soaring architecture made from locally sourced Connecticut brownstone. After a hurricane swept through the region in 1938 and badly damaged the mansion, it was scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt as a gas station until a retired educator, Dr. William Holmes, rescued the property. He turned it over to the Society of Maine Women of Achievement, which now operates it as an historic house museum and National Historic Landmark.

Conservation efforts have gradually restored the mansion’s brownstone front steps, balusters, and decorative carved finials; the Islamic-inspired paintings in its Turkish Room; and the Pompeian-style painted walls of its preserved mid-19th-century water closet. Elsewhere, palatial gilded surfaces and stained glass add color to the interior, juxtaposed by modern conveniences such as hot and cold running water, central heating, and robot janitors.