Things to Do in Winchester Center

As the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, the Rock Cats clubhouse is baseball's equivalent of an arboretum, blossoming in the summer with big-league-ready talent while nurturing future pros, a laundry list of baseball all-stars that has previously included Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, David Ortiz, and Torii Hunter. Following the frenetic lead of Rocky, a full roster of mascots entices eyes with various forms of family-friendly entertainment throughout each game. An extra dose of off-the-field entertainment can also be savored inside the ballpark's Fun Zone, where fans test their skills by smacking baseballs in a homerun derby, throwing fastballs with speed pitch, or swinging an oversize hot dog to prepare for the day when professional baseball decides all bats must be meat-based.

Founded in 1903, New Britain Museum of American Art was designated the first museum in the country to be dedicated exclusively to American artwork. Upon its founding, wealthy industrialist John Butler Talcott endowed the museum with a hefty sum of gold bonds and bottled phoenix tears with which to purchase modern oil paintings. The collection blossomed to include other artistic media over time, and it now consists of more than 10,000 works spanning more than three centuries of American creative endeavor. The museum's permanent collections showcase works by noted American artists ranging from Norman Rockwell to John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt to Georgia O'Keeffe. Along with rotating exhibitions and borrowed collections, the museum showcases work by emerging artists.

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is dedicated to producing the plays of Shakespeare with an economy of style that focuses its energy and resources on script, actors and audience. We communicate the stories with energy, clarity and invention and we distill rather than embellish the language and action.

At the turn of the 20th century, bowling alleys routinely locked their doors for the summer, forcing bowlers to brainstorm alternatives. And so, in the early 1900s, a group of bowlers decided to tweak their pastime to accommodate off-season play, shrinking both bowling balls and pins. Modified rules allowed bowlers to roll their scaled-down balls three times per turn. And upon impact, the lighter-weight balls caused pint-size pins to skitter like a flock of ducks. Thus, duckpin bowling was born.

The accessible sport spread throughout the world and, near the peak of its popularity, found a home at Johnson's Duckpin Lanes in 1955. After undergoing renovations in 2009, the alley's synthetic lanes continue to delight duckpin bowlers all year long. The alley also entertains guests with an arcade, onsite snack bar, as well as personalized birthday parties, which unfold on weekdays and during weekend sessions of Glo & Bowl.

In 2012, the Bluefish became the first team in Atlantic League history to reach 1,000 victories. It was a huge milestone for a franchise that today, stands as one of only two remaining charter teams throughout the entire league. The 'Fish initially brought baseball back to Park City in 1998, and advanced to the league championship series in a losing effort. A year later, though, they returned with their first league title after defeating the Somerset Patriots.

The team's early success established a winning tradition–in fact, the Bluefish didn't suffer their first losing season until their eighth year of existence. Winning hasn't been the only tradition in Bridgeport, however. The Bluefish battle the Long Island Ducks every season for the Ferry Cup, trying to establish regional supremacy on the baseball diamond instead of by firing a barrage of used baseballs across the Long Island Sound.

The Amherst College–owned Emily Dickinson Museum preserves the memory and work of the poet and hyphen master by maintaining the estate where she lived and composed many of her nearly 1,800 poems. The museum includes The Homestead, her birthplace and longtime residence, which stands near The Evergreens, where her brother, Austin, lived with his family. Emily and her siblings were all avid gardeners, cultivating flowers and hedges throughout their 3-acre estate. Emily herself maintained a conservatory for her collection of exotic plants, and she drew endless inspiration from her natural surroundings for her work.

The Emily Dickinson Museum welcomes field trips for groups of students and schedules events throughout the year to celebrate her poetry and role in American literary history. Interactive poetry discussion groups meet at various Amherst locations, keeping Dickinson's style relevant by communicating only in rhyming quatrains.