Lowell - Boott Cotton Mills Museum

Perhaps the highlight of Lowell's National Historical Park is the Boott Cotton Mills Museum. It is located in the 1873 mill built by industrialist and former British officer Kirk Boott. Guided tours of the facility take visitors to the first floor weaving room where 88 turn of the century looms pound away incessantly. The looms are powered by an ingenious system of shafts, belts and pulleys all driven by the force of the Merrimack River.

Park rangers interpret Lowell's role in the history of the industrial revolution in the U.S. The second floor of the museum contains historical exhibits and former mill workers' taped accounts of the hard life working in the textile industry.