Fun Best Friend Trip to a Cranberry Bog in New England!
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My best friend, Cindy, and I grew up watching the movie Mystic Pizza on repeat when we were probably around 15 years old. So, naturally, we planned a trip to Mystic Connecticut to go to Mystic Pizza! We had never really been to New England so we went for a week to make the most of it and while looking for fun things to do and places to see, Cindy found a cranberry bog we could visit. To be honest, when she mentioned it, I thought it was a little weird and didn’t understand the appeal, haha! But, I figured, what the heck?
Where are Cranberry Bogs?
Stone Bridge Farms in Acushnet, MA is the cranberry bog we visited. I had no idea cranberries were even grown in Massachusetts, but it turns out, it’s the 2nd largest producer in the US. Wisconsin is number one, and New Jersey, Oregon and Washington round out the top five states that grow cranberries.
We visited in October, which happens to be the only month you can do tours because that’s when they harvest the cranberries. They grow in beds of sand, peat and gravel – and surprisingly, that is actually what is called a bog. I thought the bog was the water. They can be dry harvested – that’s the fruit that’s sold as fresh cranberries. Or, they can flood the bogs and wet harvested cranberries are used to make juice, sauce, jellies, etc. I actually learned a lot – if you want to learn more, you can visit the Massachusetts Cranberries site here.
We did the morning tour and lucked out that we were the only people on the tour, so we got to go at our own pace and have the whole experience to ourselves! Stone Bridge Farms is family owned and operated and one of the owners was our tour guide and he told us a little bit about how cranberries are grown, how they’re harvested and a little about their farm.
What’s it Like to Visit a Cranberry Bog?
I had zero expectations going in and wasn’t even sure what we would do at a cranberry bog. After the brief tour, he gave us each a pair of overall waders and a water rake-type thing that you would use to water harvest the cranberries. He helped us in and let us play! It was so fun – just being in the waders and trying to walk in the water was cracking us up – you feel absolutely ridiculous and it’s awesome!
He took pictures of us with our phones and cameras and even helped pose us based on what other people had wanted pics of. It was so fun – who knew what a blast walking in a bog of cranberries would be?
The tour was maybe 30-45 minutes. After we got out of our waders, we went back to the little storefront at the entrance and did some shopping at the giftshop where you can grab some goodies and souvenirs. There’s also a neat old truck that sits out front and makes a great photo op. I give Stone Bridge 5 stars, it was a wonderful experience!
Getting to/from the Cranberry Bog
We flew into Providence, Rhode Island for our trip because we’d never been there and wanted to see as much of the area as we could. So after spending one night in Newport, we drove to Acushnet. It took about an hour to get there.
After the tour, we headed to Mystic, CT, which took about 2 hours - just in time for lunch at Mystic Pizza! I’m working on a blog post about that, so stay tuned.
Would You Visit a Cranberry Bog Again?
Heck yeah! That short tour ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. It’s so different from anything I have access to where I live and nothing I ever thought about doing before. It’s such a special memory Cindy & I have together. If you’re ever in the area to visit one – or want to plan a trip around a visit – I highly recommend it and I would do it again if I have the chance.
Looking for other girls’ trip ideas? Check out my blog about The Elms Spa near Kansas City, it was a great trip!
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