Stoneham, MA Outdoor Activities

At the head of Stage Hill Polo, owner and instructor Peter Poor—who has been featured in The Boston Globe—draws on more than 50 years of polo experience to teach the game to students of all skill levels. After guiding students to their provided horses and mallets, Poor teaches his students all about polo strategies and the game's terms and phrases, such as "chukkers," "bumps," and "that's a football." He holds lessons in a small paddock so that riders can learn the sport in a low-intensity atmosphere. Poor welcomes all skill levels and oversees friendly scrimmages during which students can put their newly acquired skills to the test.

Paramotor Tours sends adventurers skyward on the wings of motor-powered paragliders. Nationally certified pilots adhere strictly to FAA safety regulations as they strap in for tandem flights, lifting thrill seekers to heights of up to 8,000 feet. To help ensure smooth takeoffs and landings, each glider boasts several safety features, including reserve parachutes, GPS navigation, and a pause button. Adventurers who wish to pilot their own glider can sign up for a solo-flying course, available on select days.

A floating dining and entertainment center, the Odyssey I cruise ship was constructed with open decks for hosting elegant cruises that drift by Boston’s scenic vistas. Cruises pass by historically significant sights, including Charlestown Naval Yard and Castle Island, or drift under an illuminated night sky on full-moon cruises. A cappella brunch cruises combine music from an a cappella quartet with champagne and chocolate, and, on the Fourth of July, the world’s oldest commissioned warship—the _USS Constitution_—offers a view of history during its trek across the harbor while guests enjoy a lunch of lobster and mussels. Regular lunch, dinner, and brunch outings serve guests with delectable multicourse meals. Live music accompanies evening cruises, which means guests can hit the boat's dance floor and show off their Nobel Prize–winning dance moves before the night’s end.

Lasting friendships could be a natural side effect of the fast-paced match play that occurs atop Franklin Park Tennis Association’s Shattuck Grove courts. The nonprofit organization enlists certified tennis pros to teach fundamentals during summer classes and camps and winter indoor lessons, while fostering a sense of community among players.

On Saturdays during the summer, classes for kids, youths, and adults are scheduled one after the other. This gives parents an opportunity to chat as kids play, and players get some time to connect before hitting the courts. Competitors can walk away with new comrades and a greater appreciation for active, healthy living that’s usually only obtained by blending a year’s worth of fitness magazines into a morning smoothie.

Bastions of the abolitionist movement, Boston and its progressive citizens helped motivate activists across the nation to stand against slavery, thus fanning a flame that contributed to the Civil War. During a 90-minute Boston Civil War tour, groups walk among historically significant sites where figureheads such as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison publicly asserted their outrage and sought refuge from enraged mobs. While strolling through Beacon Hill on Sunday, knowledgeable guides point out the African Meeting House—a recruitment center for Massachusetts' all-black regiment—and the homes of famous authors such as Louisa May Alcott, who pulled from her experience as a Union Army nurse to write Hospital Sketches in 1863.

An antique paddleboat churns the water. Its gleaming white hull cuts through gentle waves and reflects the sun. Passengers gaze out of lower-level windows or rest their arms along the railings on an open upper level, where they stand sheltered from the weather by a striped fabric canopy. Cruise Boston_’s captains ferry visitors through the Boston Harbor along the city's waterfront and up and down the winding Charles River aboard this antique vessel and the _Henry Longfellow, a powered one-story tour boat. On sightseeing tours guides divulge the history behind the city and its waterfront buildings, explaining why most opted to construct stairs instead of water slides, as they pass the USS Constitution, Long Wharf, Bunker Hill, Back Bay, and Fenway Park. During warmer weather captains also pilot tours at sunset—during which bartenders sling cocktails from a full on-board bar, and summery music wafts from the deck and into the night.