Your weekend starts here.
A hilltop observatory, a 2,000-seat stage, a Michelin-recommended kitchen, summer baseball under the lights and a beach five minutes from downtown. Here is how Lynn spends its time off.
Climb High Rock Tower
The stone tower on High Rock was completed in 1905, on the hilltop where the abolitionist Hutchinson Family Singers once lived and held rallies. The Olmsted Brothers designed the park around it.
The observatory on top opens to the public on scheduled nights for free stargazing through its telescope, and the hill has some of the best views in the city, from downtown Lynn to the Boston skyline and the Atlantic.
The Grand Army of the Republic Hall
After the Civil War, Union veterans formed the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). It grew to hundreds of thousands of members, became one of the most powerful voices in American public life, and gave the country Memorial Day, first observed as Decoration Day in 1868.
Lynn's General Frederick W. Lander Post 5 built its hall in 1885. With 1,847 members, it became the largest G.A.R. post in the country. The veterans turned the building over to the City in 1919, and the meeting hall upstairs looks much as they left it.
Today it is one of the last G.A.R. halls in America still used for its original purpose. Six rooms of memorabilia cover American conflicts from the Revolutionary War through Korea.
Plan a visit →Lynn Museum
590 Washington St.Founded in 1897, the museum holds nearly 10,000 objects telling Lynn's story of shoemaking, industry, labor, abolition and women's rights. Wednesday evenings are free.
Visit the museum →Lynn Public Library
On Lynn CommonOpened in 1900, the Renaissance Revival library is on the National Register of Historic Places, with murals inside by the artist F. Luis Mora. It celebrated its 125th birthday in 2025.
Mary Baker Eddy House
8 Broad St.Mary Baker Eddy finished writing Science and Health here in 1875 and founded the Christian Science church in this house. Tours by appointment through Longyear Museum.
Book a tour →
An open-air gallery
Since its first festival in 2017, Beyond Walls has turned downtown Lynn into one of New England's best-known public art destinations, with building-sized murals by artists from around the world and light installations that brighten the rail underpasses after dark.
Walk the murals on your own, or join a guided tour and meet the stories behind them.
Explore the murals →
Lynn Memorial Auditorium
3 City Hall SquareA 2,000-plus-seat Art Deco hall, opened in 1949, that brings comedians, rock legends and touring shows to downtown year-round.
See what's on →LynnArts Studios
25 Exchange St.Part of the Lynn Museum and Arts Center: affordable studios, gallery shows and classes for artists, musicians and makers.
Lynn Vintage Warehouse
545 Washington St.A treasure hunt for vintage clothing, furniture and collectibles in the heart of downtown, and a favorite stop for thrifters from across the North Shore.
Woods, beaches and fairways
Lynn Woods covers about 2,200 acres of forest. Hike to Stone Tower, explore the pirate legend of Dungeon Rock, or ride more than 30 miles of trails.
On the other side of the city, Lynn Shore Drive runs along a sandy beach with a seaside promenade for walking, running, surfing and sunsets.
Gannon Golf Course
60 Great Woods Rd.A public 18-hole course designed by Wayne Stiles and built in 1929 at the edge of Lynn Woods, with bent grass greens and water in play.
Book a tee time →Lynn Shore and King's Beach
Lynn Shore Dr.A sandy crescent with a promenade, ocean breezes and views to Nahant and Boston. Some of the best sunrises on the North Shore.
Red Rock Park
Lynn Shore Dr.A grassy point on the rocks where Lynn Shore Drive begins, made for picnics, sunsets and watching the waves crash in.
A table for every taste
From family-run kitchens cooking the food of a dozen home countries to a Michelin-recommended tasting menu, Lynn eats well, and a short walk covers a lot of the map. And the Fluff in every Fluffernutter? It is made right here in Lynn.
Nightshade Noodle Bar
73 Exchange St.Chef-owner Rachel Miller's Viet-French tasting menu put downtown Lynn on the national food map: a James Beard Award finalist for Outstanding Chef in 2023, a Best Chef: Northeast semifinalist in 2024 and 2025, and a Michelin Guide recommended restaurant in the first Boston guide.
Bent Water Brewing
180 Commercial St.Lynn's first brewery and taproom, brewing since 2015, with a Lynn Tribute series of beers and a busy calendar of events.
Visit the taproom →
Summer nights at Fraser Field
Built in 1940 as a New Deal project, 3,804-seat Fraser Field is home to the North Shore Navigators of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, where top college players, and future pros, spend their summers.
Pro baseball has played here too: the Lynn Sailors, a Seattle Mariners farm team, called Fraser Field home from 1980 to 1982.
Manning Field
Thanksgiving traditionBuilt on the site of the 1937 Manning Bowl, it hosts the Thanksgiving Day showdown between Lynn English and Lynn Classical, a rivalry more than a century old.
Navigators baseball
June to AugustAffordable tickets, kids on the concourse and sunsets over the outfield. A Lynn summer tradition.
Stories every local knows
At its peak, Lynn had 234 shoe factories turning out more than a million pairs a day, and "Lynn shoes" were sold around the world. The Lynn Museum tells the story of the shoemakers who built the city.
On November 26, 1889, fire swept through the downtown shoe district. Lynn rebuilt fast and in brick, and many of the downtown blocks you walk past today date from that rebuilding.
Fluff was invented in Somerville, but it grew up in Lynn. In 1920, H. Allen Durkee and Fred Mower, two Swampscott High graduates and World War I veterans, bought the recipe for $500 and started making it here. Their company, Durkee-Mower, moved to a factory on Brookline Street in East Lynn in 1929, sponsored the "Flufferettes" radio show across New England, and still makes Marshmallow Fluff in Lynn today.
Anthony Athanas bought the Hawthorne Cafe downtown in 1938. By the early 1950s it was the highest-grossing restaurant in Massachusetts, and it launched the family business behind Boston's famous Anthony's Pier 4. Generations of North Shore families celebrated there. The building came down in 2019.
On November 28, 1981, fire tore through the old shoe factories near the waterfront, destroying 17 buildings, leaving nearly 800 people homeless and causing $80 million in damage. The rebuilding helped shape the downtown and waterfront Lynn is redeveloping today.
Hours, prices and schedules change. Please check with each venue before you go.
Bring your team to Lynn
Talk to Danya Smith at EDIC/Lynn: dsmith@ediclynn.org · 781.581.9399