Tag Archives: new england

32 ways to explore New England this summer

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

children looking through nautical glasses

How many ways are there to enjoy New England in the summer? Thousands! From beaches and festivals to museums and parades, there’s absolutely no shortage of places to see and activities to participate in.  We’ve compiled a list of 32 of the best ideas and guides to ensure you don’t miss a thing.

AAA offers many great ideas for exploring New England:

Yankee Magazine and its sister site New England Today consistently offer great ideas for seasonal activities.

Visit New England is a state-by-state guide encompassing places to visit, things to see and do and a calendar of events:

Discover New England is another popular travel guide that offers state-by-state ideas for events, activities, and places to visit.

Here’s a list of some other good guides from various sources:

 

 

Autumn in New England: What to see & do

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

colorful fall trees with leaves carpeting the ground

If leaf peeping is on your agenda this holiday weekend, here’s the latest weather and foliage reports from NECN. Overall, the foliage season is always enjoyable here in New England, but meteorologists say that this year will not be among the most spectacular displays. Our recent mild temperatures have slowed things down a bit and erratic weather patters and drought have taken a toll:

“All told, this autumn’s colors in New England will feature a notable absence of some maple oranges and reds. This makes our 2017 dominant colors yellow from birch and poplar, bronze from hickories and red/brown from oak. All of this, taken together, combines for a lovely display … just not the dazzling explosion of colors we’re used to – instead, a display heavily weighted toward yellow and brown.”

Don’t let that stop you — our local fall foliage is one of the wonders of nature and always puts on a show, even in the “off’ years. Here are some ideas for planning things to do over the holiday weekend and the next few weeks. If your wanderings take you north, be alert for wildlife since it’s peak season for human-animal collisions. It’s always a god idea to have your local independent insurance agent’s phone number or app handy on your mobile phone just in case.

Yankee Magazine is a great source of info on seasonal activities. Download their free foliage app, Leaf Peepr, as well as a free Ultimate Guide to Autumn in New England, available at the same link. They also offer:

Live Fall Foliage Map – Where’s the best New England fall foliage right now? The live fall foliage map lets fall-foliage fans report and track the evolution of autumn color in New England.

Peak foliage Map – This is a fun map: “To see how the color rolls through New England, click on the “play” button to the right. As the map changes, so will the calendar as it highlights the approximate peak dates for different parts of the region. Happy leaf-peeping!”

For ideas on where to go and what to do, see the articles listed under each map on the above links. The articles include:

  • 10 Places to Visit in New England in Fall
  • Favorite Fall Foliage Drives in New England
  • The best corn mazes in New England from Maine to Rhode Island.
  • Best Apple Orchards in New England
  • Fall Foliage Train Tours
  • 5 Best Pumpkin Festivals in New England
  • 12 New England Fairs to Visit This Fall

Discover New England also offers many great autumnal suggestions. They offer a brief explanation of what autumn colors are all about. Be sure to check out the Guide to New England in Fall, with a state-by-state breakdown, and information on

  • New England fall events
  • New England fall food festivals
  • New England fall scenic drives
  • New England fall foliage maps

Great road trip idea: Visiting New England Lighthouses

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

Portland Head Lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Looking for a fun summer weekend activity that combines history and scenic splendor? Plan a road trip to visit a few of New England’s many lighthouses – there are almost 200 up and down the coastal states, and even Vermont gets in on the act with lighthouses on the shores of Lake Champlain. This would be a good weekend to make that trip since Sunday is National Lighthouse Day.

Here’s a resource to help you plan your trip: New England Lighthouses: A Virtual Tour is a site compiled by tour guide, lecturer, historian, photographer and author Jeremy D’Entremont, who is an expert on New England’s lighthouses and other maritime subjects. The site offers a breakdown of lighthouses by state. Each lighthouse has a dedicated page with maps, photos, key facts, history, public accessibility info and more. If you’d like to visit the lighthouses by sea rather than by land, the site offers a list of Lighthouse Cruises in New England.

You can also head for the Maine Lighthouse Museum on the waterfront overlooking the scenic harbor of Rockland, Maine. It houses the nation’s largest collection of lighthouse artifacts and mementos, as well as exhibits on exhibits paying tribute to the United States Coast Guard and United States Life-Saving Services. Maine is often called the “Lighthouse State,” but it is not the state with the most lighthouses – Michigan is!

If historical landmarks are your thing, Boston Harbor is also a good destination. It boasts the Boston Lighthouse on Little Brewster Island, Boston Harbor, MA. You can take a tour and actually climb the 76 open spiral stairs and two ladders with hatches to get to the top.

According to Lighthouse Digest:

“This is the oldest light station, but not the oldest tower. The original tower, built in 1716, was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. The tower that stands there today was built in 1783.”

It’s also the only lighthouse that isn’t automated:

“All lighthouses in the United States are automated with the exception of Boston Lighthouse. Because Boston Light is the oldest station in the United States, Congress has declared that Boston Light always be a staffed station where the keepers must still turn the light on at night and turn it off at daybreak. Boston Light is the only official lighthouse with a keeper. However, there are many other light stations around the United States that have people living at them, however they are not keepers, and the lighthouses at these locations are automated and do not require a keeper to turn them on and off.”

Here are some other resources for planning your trip.

Your New England Fall Foliage Toolkit

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

fall foliage at Saco River Covered Bridge in Conway, New Hampshire.With the fall season upon us, our brilliant foliage is the envy of the nation. People from all over the world travel here, but we can just hop in our cars and travel an hour or two in any direction to see the full glory of the season. We have a Live New England foliage map  for you, as well as links to great ideas for drives, destinations and things to do. And if you decide to venture north, we’re also including tips for avoiding collisions with wildlife since it’s peak season for those type of accidents. You don’t want your car to be in a battle with a deer or worse, a moose. It’s always a god idea to have your independent agent’s phone number or app handy on your mobile phone just in case.

Get free guides to the Best of New England Fall Travel, which includes best places to see foliage, best fall drives, things to do, places to stay, and more.

The foliage network offers local foliage reports with maps showing peak color locations, scenic drives and places to stay – and if you can’t find the time to drive to peak foliage locations or want to check out current conditions, check out the webcams.

Here are some great articles and guides for places to go and things to do:

deer-in-highwayAs you’re out on the roads leaf-peeping, visiting apple orchards or commuting to-and-from work this autumn, keep a sharp eye out: The likelihood of striking a deer more than doubles in the fall. Your normal odds of a ruminant-related collision claim is about 1 in 169, but the likelihood more than doubles during October, November and December. See our post: Watch the roads: Autumn is peak deer-vehicle collision season

Make the most of that snow: New England family activities for school vacation week

By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

fun-in-the-snow

Are you still cleaning up after another crazy winter storm that brought substantial snow to many areas Of New England? You’ve put up with the shoveling and the driving part – now with school vacation week ahead of us, it’s time for the fun part. We’ve put together a variety of activities to help you get out there and enjoy the snow. And for all the non-snow bunnies in the crowd, we suggest some other kid-friendly activities too. Just be sure to brush up on some safe winter driving tips before you head out.

New England offers over 60 alpine skiing and snowboarding areas and resorts, dozens of cross-country skiing areas – plus a host of other fun winter activities. Discover New England is a good one-source stop for a variety of ideas in the New England states. Here’s a site for checking New England Ski Conditions at various resorts.

Yankee Magazine’s “best of” lists offer some great ideas:

Here are some other activities: