Karen T. Hammond - Backroads & Byways of New England: Drives, Day Trips & Weekend Excursions

If you dont know where you are going,
any road will get you there.

Lewis Carroll

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

Yogi Berra

S incere thanks to everyone at Countryman Press, especially editorial director Kermit Hummel, managing editor Lisa Sacks, copy editor Melissa Dobson, and acquisitions editor Kim Grant. I appreciate the input of several freelancing colleagues, including Jackie Dishner and Lisa Halvorsen, and the technical assistance of Barry Gauger. Susana Soltero Liebow, Nancy Marshall, Lori Moretti, Melissa Rubin, Rebecca Schinas, Charlene Williams, and the representatives of the convention and visitor bureaus in all six New England states provided helpful background information. Many thanks!

On the road trip of life, it helps to have a traveling companion, especially one with a sense of direction and a sense of humor. Special thanks to my husband, photographer Nathaniel Hammond, for navigating us through the winding roads and hidden corners of the New England that both our families have loved for generations, and for dealing with snow, floods, blazing heat, and one crotchety moose while taking all the photos for this book.

T here is a little bit of New England in all Americansthose whose families have been here for generations and those who have recently arrived on our shores. Much of Americas history began here, after all, with the arrival of a hardy group of Separatists seeking a better life. Each fall we celebrate their fortitude with a holiday focused not on gift giving or a particular religious or political belief, but on giving thanks and gathering together with our families.

Drive through New England in the autumn of the year and here are some of the things you will find: farm stands heaped with a late harvest of apples, potatoes, pumpkins, and squash; maple trees blazing crimson and gold in the slanted light; dried cornstalks tied together to bracket the sturdy wooden doors of centuries-old homes; country fairs, festivals, and baked-bean suppers.

Autumn slides swiftly into winter in this part of the country, and one morning you awake to lacy tracings of ice on the windows. A few days later, the first snow falls. New Englanders spend a lot of time talking about the weather, especially in the northernmost parts of the region. Old-timers, just slightly tongue-in-cheek, tell visitors, We have two seasons: winter and the Fourth of July.

But weather rarely slows things down. Plows and sand trucks wait at the ready in every New England city, village, and town, and most of the time its business and school as usual, even after a heavy snowstorm.

Winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, and ice skating bring many travelers back year after year. Few things compare to returning to a country inn after a day on the slopes and being greeted by a roaring fire in a great stone fireplace or a bowl of stew in a convivial pub.

Or, drive here to enjoy the winter holidays. Stores pull out all the stops to decorate, and virtually every home sports a wreathusually balsam or another fir, simply decorated with a big red bow. But as you drive along, watch for creative homeowners twists on the traditional, such as seashell wreaths in Maine and the cranberry wreaths so popular in Massachusetts.

Along wintry back roads you may come across people gathering bouquets of scarlet winterberries or cutting down one of the Charlie Brown Christmas trees so beloved by New Englandersslightly crooked, often harboring a vacated birds nest (said to bring good luck), and fragrant with the smell of a winter forest. A day later, catch a glimpse of one of these trees in a lighted window and youll find it decorated with Grandmas antique glass ornaments, crocheted snowflakes, and childrens construction-paper angels.

Winter gives way to mud seasonsometimes called the fifth seasonwhich in turn gives way to a glorious spring. Owners of antiques shops dust off treasures accumulated over the winter, seasonal restaurants and lobster and clam shacks open, and botanical gardens welcome early visitors. Although its impossible to give a lot of space to cosmopolitan Boston in a book about backroads and bywaysit is, after all, the hub of New England (in days gone by, Bostonians claimed it was the hub of the universe)some readers will no doubt add Boston to their itineraries or begin their tours of New England in the city, and thus should note that two important spring rites take place here: the first home game at Fenway Park, Americas oldest professional baseball field, and the return of the Swan Boats, owned and operated by the same family for more than 130 years, to the Boston Public Garden. With the weather moderate, and before the summer influx of visitors, spring may be the best time to take a break from driving and stroll through Americas Walking City.

Its also a great time of year for foodies to come to New England. Chefs lighten their menus using seasonal, local produce, and as spring progresses, its warm enough to picnic in a park or on the cliffs beside a lighthouse, or to hike New Hampshires White Mountains or the Green Mountains of Vermont with a backpacked lunch to eat along the way. Hard-shelled lobsters, which many aficionados prefer, are available in coastal towns throughout New England; as spring wears on and the lobsters shed, much of the catch will be soft-shelled (but still delicious), and the price for hard shells will rise accordingly.

And finally its summerall too fleeting in New England but wonderful while it lasts. This is the time for boating, swimming (by June in Connecticut, by Augustmaybein Maine); fishing; leisurely drives through the mountains and along the coast; craft fairs on village greens; quiet evenings chatting with other guests on the deck of a bed & breakfast or historic inn; and memorable Fourth of July celebrations complete with rootin-tootin parades, fairs, and fireworks.

Chances are that travelers with special interests will find something to intrigue them along New Englands byways. Museums range from the vast Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, to the elegant Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. There are even tiny museums in many lighthouses, which devotees will find in every New England state including Vermont, despite its lack of an ocean shoreline.