John Alden House

The John Alden House (105 Alden St., Duxbury, 781/934-9092, www.alden.org, noon–4 p.m. mid-May–mid-Oct., $5 adults, $3 children under 18) is remarkable not only as a piece of 17th-century architecture built by one of America’s original settlers but as a family heirloom; it is still owned today by the Alden Kindred of America, Inc.

Maritime and Irish Mossing Museum

Likewise the Maritime and Irish Mossing Museum (301 Driftway, Scituate, 781/545-1083, www.scituatehistoricalsociety.org, 1–4 p.m. Sat.–Sun. July–Aug., $4 adults, $3 seniors, free children under 18), housed in the 1739 residence of Capt. Benjamin James. The museum spotlights the South Shore’s place in history as a seafaring center through an epic collection of photos, a history of original families, and a dramatic “Shipwreck Room,” which, true to its name, relays the stories of some of the area’s most historic storms.

Hull Lifesaving Museum

Pity that some of those storms’ victims didn’t find themselves closer to the heroes featured in the Hull Lifesaving Museum (1117 Nantasket Ave., Hull, 781/925-5433, www.lifesavingmuseum.org, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Sat.–Thurs.; 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Fri., year-round, $5 adults, $3 seniors, free children 18 and under). Here find all kinds of tributes—exhibits on lifebuoys, tours, and collections of gear—to the local maritime culture and, in particular, 19th-century coastal lifesavers.

World’s End

In Hingham, the bucolic World’s End (250 Martin’s Ln., 781/740-6665, www.thetrustees.org, 8 a.m.–sunset daily year-round, $5 adults, free children 12 and under) makes for a magnificent walk—the 251-acre property designed by Frederick Law Olmsted overlooks Hull and Boston Harbors, and is particularly stunning in the fall. Trees, however, hardly have a lock on fall foliage.