Lowell is where America's Industrial Revolution began. In the early 19th century, a network of canals was dug to power textile mills, and the city became the largest industrial centre in the United States. Today the Lowell National Historical Park preserves that story — the mills, the canals, the worker housing — and the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, with its deafening operating weave room of 88 power looms, makes the experience visceral rather than abstract.
The city's waves of immigrant workers — Irish, French-Canadian, Greek, Portuguese, Cambodian — left their mark on the neighbourhoods and the restaurant scene. Lowell has some of the best and most varied cheap eating in Massachusetts, from Southeast Asian noodle shops to old-school Greek diners. Jack Kerouac, the city's most famous son, is commemorated with a small park downtown.
Lowell sits about 30 miles northwest of Boston, reachable by commuter rail. It is a day trip for most visitors, but the depth of the industrial heritage — 5.6 miles of canals, 19th-century commercial buildings, and multiple museums — can fill a full day.