Free, Tues, Wed, Fri. Perfect for those fascinated by early portraiture, maritime oils and lots of equestrian paintings. So, while on the College Tour, or the next time you're visiting your kids - or even if you don't have kids - linger on campus awhile for a (mostly) free cultural immersion. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at State University of New York New Paltz, NY. Open Tues - Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5, free. Bates College Olin Arts Center Museum of Art, Lewiston ME. The Museum also hosts “Tavern Night” on the second and fourth Friday of each month, where you can even sing and dance with Sam Adams himself. See website for summer hours. The museum has a big emphasis on STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math), and you’ll see this brought to life through their permanent and temporary exhibits throughout the year. Boston is a city filled with history, which is one of the reasons it’s a great destination to visit, whether it’s for an extended amount of time or a long weekend. A separate 3,000 sq ft space is devoted to innovative Hudson Valley artist themed show. Publisher, GetawayMavens.com; Northeast getaway expert. Where else can you travel to December 16, 1773 to reenact the Boston Tea Party to protest unfair taxation laws? That would be this five-wing museum on the Colby College Campus - the darling of contemporary artist, Alex Katz, who has donated over 700 of his pieces to this institution. Preserved in hip-level glass cases, these fragile works of art are indistinguishable from the real things and are truly breathtaking. Free, Open Tues-Fri. 10-5, Sat and Sun. Enter through a soaring Victorian Era space, with magnificent arched windows, and continue into the museum's original entrance - a Greek Revival white marble rotunda with glamorous double staircase to the galleries above. You'll find Milton Avery to Max Weber, Thomas Cole to Willem DeKooning, Edward Hopper, Rothko, and generally unsung female artists, Georgia O'Keefe, Lee Krasner, and Joan Snyder. It was her dying wish for the museum to remain with all of her artwork displayed, and in 2012, it was even expanded with the addition of the 70,000-square-foot New Wing. Think of it as "Winterthur on Campus." Given all the hoopla a few years ago around a similar project in the Nevada desert on 7 miles of dry lakebed, this one deserves attention for sure. Come to visit your favorite piece. Davis Museum At Wellesley College, Wellesley MA. Upstairs, you'll find provocative and important pieces of contemporary and European art: downstairs, Medieval and antiquity artifacts second to none. Exhibits are full of fascinating trivia, including remnants from a box of Grape Nuts Cereal that MacMillan loved, and items from the Crocker Land Expedition - a failed attempt to find a new arctic landmass, which was proven to be merely an optical illusion. Larger inside than it looks from the outside, this accessible encyclopedic museum provides bite size exposure to the greats. The "Cathedral" made an appearance in the movies, The Mothman Prophesies, 42, and The Wonder Boys. With a mission to serve both the college campus and the artistic culture of the Hudson River Valley - the "Cradle of American Art" - the Dorsky is unlike any other regional museum. Established in 1974 with 108 pieces from the collection of Roy Neuberger, this encyclopedic museum has grown to over 6000 paintings and sculptures with a concentration on modern, contemporary and African Art.