Pine trunks crowd the wooded pads at Spacious Skies Minute Man in Littleton, and the pool and the rec hall wait just through the trees at the end of a long day on the T. Neither Cambridge nor Boston has a campground of its own, so families who bring a motorhome to see the city settle in out here, at the park RV regulars still call by its old name, Boston Minuteman. From the site the week points east, to Harvard Square one day and the footpaths of Minute Man National Historical Park the next.
The rig stays put all week, which is what makes the plan work for a family. The operator lists full hook-up sites with water, electric and sewer, plus water-and-electric sites, on 30- and 50-amp service, with cable and wifi on many of them, and the park opens April through November, so winter is out. Summer afternoons in eastern Massachusetts get hot and sticky, and a site with power for the air conditioner earns its keep. Lock in the site before you choose the motorhome, since the site decides how big a rig makes sense.
Harvard Square by train, Minute Man by day
On the Harvard Square day the motorhome stays on its site. The Red Line carries everyone in for Harvard Yard, the bookstores around the Square and a walk down to the Charles. By dinner you're back under the pines with the city a train ride behind you, and a slow morning at the pool makes a fair trade for the next day.
Minute Man National Historical Park lies between the campground and the city, so that day starts with a short drive east instead of a train. The park keeps the ground where the first fighting of the Revolution moved between Concord and Lexington, and most of the visit happens on foot, walking its path from one marked site to the next with a picnic somewhere in the middle. It's the day the kids remember, because the history is a field and a road they can stand on.
Concord's village center and Walden Pond, the clear kettle pond where Thoreau built his cabin, sit on the same drive. For a couple who would rather sleep near the pond than base at a hookup park, the Cambridge campervan page builds the whole trip around Concord and Walden.
If your week leans south of the city, the Boston RV page works from Normandy Farms in Foxboro, with the commuter rail into town.
Lake Dennison and Otter River State Forest in Winchendon
Once the family has walked enough history, Winchendon, up near the New Hampshire line, trades the T for pond water and woods. Otter River State Forest has swimming at Beaman Pond, and nearby Lake Dennison Recreation Area has a beach of its own and more than 50 miles of trails reachable from the campground. Moving the rig up here turns a city week into a lake week without another booking at the other end.
Both campgrounds take reservations through the state's system, and this half of the trip suits a slower, parked stretch by the water. Lake Dennison lists trailer and RV dumping among its facilities, so empty the tanks there before the drive home. For Cape Cod and the Berkshires with a rig, the Massachusetts RV page covers the rest of the state.