At last – a trip that has been on our wish list for several years!  Travelling with several friends, we went with Carolina Tours in search of fall colors in New England.  It was a ten-day trip, travelling in style in a brand-new coach named “Anne” (for Anne of Green Gables).  Not only did we have an excellent driver, we enjoyed other amenities, including extra leg room, satellite television, on-board Wi-Fi, and a hospitality area with an endless supply of soft drinks and snacks.  

VIRGINIA

Our first stop for pictures was in Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley, where the pumpkins were ripe for picking.  We are nowhere near New England, but the tree colors were pretty impressive, too.  

 

PENNSYLVANIA

Near Harrisburg PA, we got a good look at the Rockville Bridge, which is listed in the National Register of Historical Railroad Landmarks.  At the time of its completion in 1902, it was the longest stone masonry arch railroad viaduct in the world – it still holds that distinction today.  The bridge has forty-eight arches, with a total length of 3,820 feet.    

Lancaster County PA is Amish country.  This is America's oldest Amish settlement, where thousands still live the centuries-old "Plain" lifestyle. Arriving here is like a step back in time; the pace is slower, more peaceful.  The Amish farms are invariably beautiful, with occasional glimpses of windmills and horse & buggy transportation.  

 

In Intercourse PA, we enjoyed a family-style lunch at the Good ‘N Plenty restaurant.  The menu featured traditional Pennsylvania Dutch food, served in a never-ending parade of platters – appetizers, fried chicken and other meats, lots of veggies, lots of starches (fresh mashed potatoes and browned butter egg noodles), and several desserts.  The award –winning bakery here is delightful; don’t miss the red velvet whoopie pies (two round mound-shaped pieces of cake filled with a sweet creamy filling).   

 

In Reading PA, we visited the Vanity Fair Factory Outlet Center, worth mentioning only because it was the first outlet center in the United States.  VF Outlet got its start in 1970 when the company held a Saturday morning sale to get rid of excess inventory.   The sale was a smashing success, so a bigger sale was held two weeks later. That one was an even bigger hit.  Before long, a factory store was opened to sell surplus products, and this eventually grew to an outlet center - the first of its kind in the country.         

In Easton PA, we stopped by the Crayola Experience, which is advertised as the only place in the world where the “magic of Crayola comes to life.”  There are four floors housing 26 different hands-on attractions, perfect for entertaining kids all day long.  Grandparents might enjoy the gift shop, where all things Crayola are for sale.   

 

NEW YORK

Tarrytown NY is best known for its proximity to the village of Sleepy Hollow, home of the Washington Irving’s headless horseman.  Another landmark here is the Tappan Zee Bridge, which crosses the Hudson River at one of its widest points.  The cantilevered bridge is the longest bridge in the state of New York; it is just over 16,000 feet in length.  It is about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan, the skyline of which can be seen from the bridge.   

 

West Point NY is home to the United States Military Academy, commonly known as West Point.  It is a four-year co-ed federal service academy located on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River.  Its motto is “Duty, Honor, Country;” for cadets at the academy this translates to what you should do, how you should do it, and why you do it.  

 

The entire central campus is a national landmark – home to scores of historic sites, buildings and monuments.  Perhaps the most impressive is the Cadet Chapel, which sits high on a hill overlooking the dining hall and parade ground  This is the place of worship for Protestant denominations; there are five other chapels on campus – Catholic, Jewish, Orthodox, Community, Interfaith. Its interior is simple but striking.  The Cadet Chapel organ was installed in 1911 and has been enlarged by memorial gifts; it is now the largest church organ in the world.

 

Other scenes around campus:  the West Point Museum, one of the Cadet dormitories, a monument honoring West Point men who died in the Civil War, and a replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall.  

 

 

MAINE

Ogunquit ME is a bit like a postcard come to life – a pristine beach, waves crashing onto granite cliffs, evergreens rising above the birch trees.  The Native American tribe that lived here called it “beautiful place by the sea.”  Today it is one of Maine’s most popular summer resorts. 

We stayed at the Anchorage by the Sea, Ogunquit’s lovely year-round resort hotel.  The hotel was quite caught up in the local competition for best or most Halloween decorations.  Lots of color - pumpkins, flowers, and monsters. 

 

 

The weather was sunny, but cold.  Nevertheless, the hotel’s oceanfront location dictated that we get up in to see the sunrise at least once.  At that hour, it’s even colder, but well worth the effort.   

 

The hotel had a nice restaurant and we enjoyed every bite of the traditional Maine lobster bake.  We each had a one-pound lobster, surrounded with sides dishes – steamed clams, corn on the cob and red bliss potatoes.  

From Ogunquit, we enjoyed a beautiful walk along the Marginal Way, an Oceanside pathway that passes tide pools, pocket beaches, a lighthouse, and rocky bluffs - all worth exploring.  

 

 

The Marginal Way leads to the little fishing village of Perkins Cove.  Perkins Cove was once an integral part of Maine’s fishing and shipping industries; today many of the boats in the harbor are active fishing and lobstering boats, but they are outnumbered by sailboats and other pleasure craft.  Perhaps the niftiest feature of Perkins Cove is a unique draw-footbridge that spans the entry to the harbor.   Manual operation of this narrow drawbridge is officially the duty of the Harbormaster, but many a boatman, as well as countless visitors, have performed this task.  

 

Kennebunk ME is a modest working-class town, with few tourist attractions other than its extraordinary homes and beautiful white beaches.   The famously elaborate Wedding Cake House is said to be the most photographed house in the state of Maine.  It was built in 1825 by a shipbuilder who was enamored with the Gothic beauty of the cathedral in Milan, Italy.  The home’s intricate hand-crafted woodwork, including buttresses and pinnacles, came to be known as Carpenter Gothic style.   

 

Also in Kennebunk is the St. Anthony Franciscan Monastery, which was established in 1947 when Lithuanian Franciscans purchased the property, including an imposing Tudor-style home.  The monastery property is like a gracious English park, embellished with gardens, walking paths, sweeping lawns, and unique shrines and monuments.  The sculpture of the Militant, Suffering and Triumphant Church once decorated the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.  It was given to the monastery by the Vatican and was dedicated in 1967 to the silent church in Lithuania.   

 

The nearby town of Kennebunkport is a world apart - this proudly Waspy village crawls with tourists year-round.  It is the summer home of President George H.W. Bush, whose family has summered here for decades.  The Bush compound is located on a protected spit of land called Walkers Point; the whole neighborhood is loaded with opulent summer homes.  

Kennebunkport’s historic village center features narrow streets that were laid out in the days when people mostly traveled by boat or horse; traffic jams are common.  Dock Square is filled with cafes, art galleries and upscale boutiques selling preppy essentials, but the real attraction is found along the side streets, which are lined with one of the nation’s richest collections of Early American homes.  The meeting-house style South Congregational Church dates to 1824.   

 

 

Alisson’s Café in Kennebunkport is a great place to enjoy a lobster roll.  For the uninitiated, the traditional Maine lobster roll is a sandwich filled with lobster meat soaked in butter, mixed with mayonnaise and served on a hot dog bun or similar roll.  Delicious. 

York ME is the home of the Cape Neddick Light Station, built in the late 1800s.  The lighthouse became known as the Nubble Light because it was built on an island, a tiny ‘nub’ of land.  A cable trolley stretching from the mainland to the island was used to transport people and supplies.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Travelling through the White Mountains and into the Waterville Valley area, we stopped to visit Squam Lake – the place where the movie “On Golden Pond” was filmed.  Squam Lake is New Hampshire’s second largest lake; it has 67 islands and 67 miles of shoreline.  The lake is a nesting site for loons and bald eagles, a place of great beauty.  We took a boat tour to enjoy Squam Lake’s natural wonders and to see various locations of significance to the movie. This we did on one of the coldest October days in New Hampshire history … brrr!     

 

 

Next stop was Lake Winnipesaukee, the largest lake in New Hampshire; it is a glacial lake, 21 miles long and up to 9 miles in width.  The lake has been a popular tourist destination for more than a century, especially for Boston and New York residents seeking escape from summer heat in the city.  Heat was in short supply on the day of our visit – no more boat rides!  We hopped aboard the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad Train for a lovely excursion along the lake’s western shore.  Views of the lake were great, while we were treated to a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.   

 


Our first day in New Hampshire ended in the lovely lakeside town of Meredith, where we stayed at the historic (and warm) Inn at Mill Falls – a former mill converted to a hotel.  The picture below (provided by the hotel) shows what it looks like on a perfect day ...

 
  

It was tempting to stay inside by the fireplace, but the day was young and the village called us to walk.  There was some spectacular color in trees around town, some charming old churches, and an interesting sculpture trail. 

It didn’t get one bit warmer overnight, but what the heck – off we went to visit Franconia Notch State Park, located in a mountain pass (or notch) through the White Mountains.    We hiked the Flume Gorge trail, then along the mountain ridge and back to the visitor center through woods littered with glacial boulders.  Did I mention that it was cold?  Twenty-eight degrees and snow on the ground! 

 

Table Rock is a section of granite (500 feet long and 75 feet wide) that has been exposed by the rushing waters of the Flume Brook.  It looked like a good rock for sliding – but not today.   

The Flume Gorge is a natural gorge extending some 800 feet at the base of Mount Liberty.  The walls of granite rise perpendicularly to a height of about 100 feet and vary in width from 12 to 20 feet.  A boardwalk along one side allows up close views of ferns and mosses and icicles.  

 

At the top of the Flume is Avalanche Falls, a 45-foot waterfall that creates quite a roar as the stream enters the gorge.    

At the top of the falls, we picked up the Ridge Path.  This was just a beautiful place to walk – good trail, pretty colors, cascading mountain streams to cross, and some nice views of the White Mountains.  

 






Eventually, we made it to the Sentinel Pine Bridge over the Pemigewasset River.  This footbridge is named after the Sentinel Pine Tree, which was used for its construction.  This great tree (circumference 15 feet, height 175 feet) once stood on the high cliff above the stream – in its day, it was one of the largest trees in the state.  It was over 200 years old when a hurricane in 1938 uprooted it – along with many other trees throughout the White Mountains.  

 

Just below the bridge is the Pool, a deep basin in the river, formed at the end of the last ice age by a silt-laden stream flowing from a glacier.  The Pool is 40 feet deep and 150 feet in diameter and is surrounded by cliffs 130 feet high.  A cascade rushes into the Pool over fragments of granite that have fallen from the cliffs above.  







Next stop along the trail was the Wolf Den, a narrow one-way path that involves crawling on hands and knees and squeezing through rocks.  Not an exercise for the faint-of-heart.    

 

Throughout this area of the trail, there are many boulders.  Some a quite large, weighing over 300 tons.  These boulders are known as glacial erratics, left behind as the glacier retreated some 14,000 years ago.  

 

Nearing the Visitor Center, there were more nice views of the mountains and a photo to document the hikers who thawed out enough to enjoy a beautiful walk in the woods.  

 

Bath NH was our last stop in the Granite State.  We came here to have a look at the Bath-Haverhill Covered Bridge, the oldest covered bridge still in use in New Hampshire.  Constructed in 1829, it is the first and only bridge to be erected at this site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Bath is also the home of the Brick Store, said to be the oldest general store in the U.S. 

 

VERMONT

Stowe VT, one of Vermont’s original winter vacation resorts, was our base for exploring.  In spite of nearby ski complexes, the area has mostly preserved its New England character.  Covered bridges, for example – this bridge is commonly known as "Emily’s Bridge,” due to the fact that it is haunted by a ghost named Emily. The story is that Emily was supposed to elope with a lover who was meeting her at the bridge, and when he didn't show, she hung herself from the rafters.   Or, how about the Vermont Witch Windows?  A witch window is one placed in the gable-end of a house and rotated about 45 degrees from vertical, leaving it diagonal, with its long edge parallel to the roof slope.  They are known as Vermont windows because they are found almost exclusively in this state, while the name “witch window” comes from a superstition that witches cannot fly their broomstick through the tilted windows.  

 

Our hotel here was the charming Trapp Family Lodge, a four-season resort specializing in European-style accommodations and cuisine, spectacular mountain vistas, upscale amenities, and 2500 acres of outdoor activities.   If the name sounds familiar, think “Sound of Music” – the movie was based on the real-life story of the von Trapp family.  The family left Austria in the early 1940s and toured the United States as the Trapp Family Singers.  They eventually settled in Stowe on a farm with sweeping mountain vistas reminiscent of their beloved homeland.  Family members still own and operate the lodge.  

Stowe was chartered as a town in 1763.  Today, the Stowe Village Historic District is a maze of narrow streets, old buildings, and churches with tall steeples – it’s quaint, quiet and peaceful – a great place for walking.     The original covered bridge over West Branch was built in 1848; it was later rebuilt in deference to changing modes of transportation, but the pedestrian walkway was covered to retain the feel of the old bridge.  

The steps of Town Hall were lined with jack-o-lanterns, some of which are pictures here.  We asked if there was a contest; the answer was no – school kids do this each year just to see who can be the most outrageous. 

The main streets of town are lined with shops, many featuring genuine Vermont products that are hard to resist.  Shaw’s General Store, in the heart of town, has been there forever (since 1895) and carries things you never thought about.  Laughing Moon Chocolates features delicious handmade chocolate.   

The most famous sight is Stowe probably is the Stowe Community Church.  It was built in 1863 by the Universalists (aka the Unitarians) at a cost of $12,000.    Around 1920, the Universalists merged with two other Protestant churches, Methodist Episcopal and Congregational, thus forming the first non-denominational church in the U.S.    The church is said to be the most photographed building in town; we did our best to keep that reputation alive.    

 

 

In nearby Waterbury VT, we got a real taste of Vermont – ice cream, cheese and apple cider donuts.  This is the home of the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory, where we learned how two childhood friends turned a $5 correspondence course on ice cream-making into a global phenomenon.  We toured the factory and the Flavor Graveyard, sampled the Flavor of the Day (Cotton Candy), and enjoyed a great big cone of Cherry Garcia.  A delicious place to visit!  

 

Waterbury also is home to one of the Cabot Creamery annex stores.  Cabot Creamery is a cooperative of 1200 dairy farms, with four plants making some of the best cheese and dairy products in the world.  The store had plenty of samples and we tasted many a cheese - sharp, extra sharp, seriously sharp, bacon, Tuscan, Worcestershire, herb, private-label (?), vintage, chipotle, buffalo wing…the list goes on and on.  Another delicious stop.  











Down the road a bit is the Cold Hollow Cider Mill, home of ‘legendary’ cider donuts – rated by Gourmet magazine as one of the four best donuts in the country.  They were pretty good, but we’ll stick with Krispy Kreme when we need a donut fix.  The apple cider was another matter – it was fresh, cold and refreshing – and we watched it being made.    

 

Pressing cider is quite a process.  Apples, with all the parts – seeds, stems, skins, everything - go into a high-speed grinder where they become a mash that is pumped onto a heavy-duty cheesecloth on the press cart. The cheesecloth is a heavy close-knit nylon material which acts as a filter during the pressing process. The cloth is folded over and an oak rack is laid on top; the rack is designed to make the cider flow easily from the center of the batch to the edge. This is repeated 18 times, creating a sort of apple-mash wedding cake with each layer containing roughly 5 bushels of apples. Then a hydraulic piston applies 2,500 pounds-per-square inch of pressure to squash out every last precious drop of the apple nectar, leaving nothing but dried-up leftovers that are fed to livestock.   

 

Next door to the cider mill is the historic Waterbury Center Methodist Church.  It was built in 1833 and added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1978. 

           

Montpelier VT is the state capital.  We slowed down to get a glimpse of the State House, built in 1858.  It’s a pretty Greek revival style building.   

No time for history, we have more important things to do today – our destination is the Morse Farm Maple Sugar Shack.  The Morse family is the oldest maple sugar family in Vermont – they have been in business here for eight generations.  The earliest Morse ancestors were taught to tap maple trees by Native Americans and encouraged by Ben Franklin who promoted New England sugar production to make the country less dependent on foreign supplies.  It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup; color, thickness and flavor can vary from batch to batch, year to year. 

 

During our visit we enjoyed a unique Vermont treat: sugar on snow!  When cooked and thickened maple syrup is drizzled over shaved ice, the warm syrup turns to taffy.  To offset the nearly overwhelming sweetness, this snack is served with donut holes, pickles and coffee.  Sounds a bit weird, but it sure was a tasty and memorable way to wrap up our visit to New England.