Lowell in Winter: Park Hours and Cambodia Town
The National Park drops to winter hours on Nov. 29. What stays open, where to eat in Cambodia Town and a River Hawks game at the Tsongas Center.
On Sunday, November 29, Lowell National Historical Park switches to its winter schedule, and several of the places people think of first close for the season. Until Saturday, November 28 the park runs on its fall schedule, with the Boott Cotton Mills Museum open daily from 9 am to 4 pm. From November 29 through March 2027 the National Park Service posts this:
- Boott Cotton Mills Museum, 115 John Street: Monday to Friday, noon to 4 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 9 am to 4 pm.
- Boarding house exhibit (Into an 1840s Boarding House) and One City, Many Cultures, both at 40 French Street: daily, noon to 4 pm. The boarding house has ranger talks at 2 and 3 pm.
- Canal walkways and Boarding House Park: open daily. The Northern Canal Walkway is closed for the season.
- Visitor Center, 246 Market Street: closed for the season.
- Suffolk Mill turbine exhibit: closed for the season, and the trolley shuttle is offline.
- Tours: no public tours in winter. Groups can call 978-970-5000.
The park is closed Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving), Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The NPS page was last updated November 5, so check the hours page before you go.
Cambodia Town for lunch
Lowell’s Cambodian food is concentrated on Branch, Middlesex and Westford streets, with Pailin Plaza as the commercial hub. New England Today’s piece on the neighborhood, published in April 2020, points to three places:
- Red Rose Restaurant, in Pailin Plaza, for Phnom Penh noodles (kuy teav), a pork broth noodle soup.
- Yummy Express, a snack shop, for nom kong, a Khmer doughnut, and num pang, stuffed baguette sandwiches.
- Simply Khmer, owned by Sam Neang and Denise Ban, which the article ties to Andrew Zimmern’s orders of beef salad with tripe, rice porridge with pork and spicy head-on shrimp.
The article is several years old, so look up a restaurant’s current hours before you make the trip. It also says the city’s Southeast Asian Water Festival in August draws more than 60,000 people.
A game at the Tsongas Center
The Tsongas Center, at 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, is the home of UMass Lowell’s River Hawks. The venue lists hockey games against Union on Friday, November 13 and against RPI on Saturday, November 14, and against Vermont on November 20 and 21. The Harlem Globetrotters are booked for Wednesday, December 30. Tickets and the full schedule are at tsongascenter.com.
Getting there
Lowell is the end of the MBTA Commuter Rail’s Lowell Line from North Station. The MBTA’s schedule page has current times. For the rules on parking and snow in the city, see the Lowell town page.
Get your town’s notices by email
Parking, trash and snow changes your town has posted, with the source.
Free bonus when you join: the printable December plan. Unsubscribe in one click.
Sources
- National Park Service: Lowell hoursnps.gov
- New England Today: Welcome to Cambodia Townnewengland.com
- Tsongas Centertsongascenter.com
- MBTA V3 API: Lowell Line stopsapi-v3.mbta.com
Details such as dates, hours and prices come from the sources above and can change. Check with the organizer before you go.
How we report: every date, price and address comes from a linked source.
