Ideas For What To See And Do In New England

[rangerdog]

I have been all over the world, all over the US, but I have never been to New England. Next July/August the Admiral and I are going to visit Maine. We intend to stay as close to the coast as possible on the way up there. Final destination is the Maine Lobster Festival, August 1-5, 2007 at Harbor Park in Rockland, Maine. What are the "must see", "must do" places, etc. between NYC and there?

 

[Pucker]

I've never been but there's a Balloon festival in Pittsfield NH - kind of a hike form the seacoast.

http://www.nhliving.com/events/pittsfie ... ndex.shtml

Also there is a Blues Festival in Portsmouth NH - Not sure on the date
But it's held at the Red Hook Brewery, which you might want to stop by for a pint or two or seven....
http://www.nhliving.com/events/portsmou ... ndex.shtml

Kittery ME has some nice outlets for shopping.

Marblehead MA (also out of the way)is a big boating community. It's a small touristy town and you'll also go thru Salem MA (The witch city) which is nice to check out.

If you like raw-bar you should hit the Seawitch in Peabody MA on Rte 1.
Fresh shellfish, shucked right in front of you.

Joel

 

[rangerdog]

Sounds good Pucker. Also on the list now is Mystic Seaport, Cape Cod, and of course Rockland. Salem sounds fun, as well as Plymouth.

Anyone else with "secret" eateries, etc?

 

[Uncle Matt]

You may want to consider a visit to Kittery, Maine to do some outlet shopping, Freeport, Maine to visit LL Bean or Kennebunkport, Maine to see Walkers Point. All good family type activities that will keep the little lady hapy. Sort of like taking one for the team!

 

[jcurrier]

I have to say I am not sure about south of Portland, but definitly plan on spending a day or two walking around Portland- great city. After that head up the coast through the maze of islnads, come hard to port at the mouth of the Kenebec and head up to the maine maritime museum in Bath. Grab a Pizza at the Cabin pizza parlor and head down through Hells gate on the sasanowa towards robinhood cut accross the sheepscot and head into Boothbay harbor through townsend gut spend the day in the harbor and make your way to Rockland after that. After rockland you may want to venture over to Monheagan Island for a day of hiking and walking through town. Welcome to Maine

 

[blued]

On the way to Maine stop in Portsmouth, NH.
You can stop at the Wentworth Marina & Hotel. Great top notch services.

http://marinas.com/view/marina/4458

You can cruise out to the Isle of Shoals 6 miles off the coast.
Come back in the Piscataqua River and dock up at Prescott Park in Portsmouth.
http://www.cityofportsmouth.com/prescottpark/docks.htm

You can walk around town.
The Dunaway House restaurant is right there 200 yds from the public docks.

Have fun on The Seacoast of NH and Southern Maine.
Jay

 

[SamR]

First off, this sounds like a great trip. Will you be staying on the boat or looking for rooms close to the water along the way? If you have the time and do not mind a "slight detour", I would suggest thinking about running around Cape Cod instead of going through the Cape Cod Canal. reason being, that time of year the whole backside (eastern most part of The Cape) will be full of life. Seals, Whales, Dolphin and if you are luck Tuna. When you hit Provincetown, head 8 miles north and you are on Stellwagen Bank http://stellwagen.noaa.gov/ , again, a ton of life and activity. Depending on the conditions, you could head back in and run the shore or make a 20-30 mile open water run to almost any point in the bay. If you have the chance, I would not pass up Larson's Fish Market in Menemsha on Martha's Vineyard. Nothing fancy but it's a fun working port (Jaws) and the food is fresha dn easy to get to from the water.

 

[Foggylink]

I have to second Jcurrier's Portland Maine suggestion. The Old Port section is right at the harbor edge, and is many blocks of old buildings and shops, cobble stone streets, and some great places to eat. I can send a few links to give you a feel for it. The Museum of Art is top shelf, and we have the Merrill Auditorium if there happens to be a symphony or concert. Lots to do !


8)

 

[chrisn]

Gotta love Camden. Awesome town and some of the best chowder in Maine. Don't forget Red's on your way up for a lobster roll and eat as many fried clams as you can. Maine is truly a beautfiul place with beautiful people!!

 

[DaleH]

Gotta love Camden. Maine is truly a beautfiul place with beautiful people!!

You bet! If I didn't live in Mass due to work ... ay yuh, Maine is where I'd be!

 

[jcurrier]

I am waiting to hear how rangerdogs trip was. Chrisn mentioned Reds Eats in Wiscasset, I have lived within a few miles for the last 10 years and never been. Always busy with the tourists and locals alike. For my seafood I always head into Boothbay Harbor, because you can tie up right there at many of the places.

 

[Uncle Matt]

I'm with you Dale. I'm a prisoner in central Massachusetts because this is where my family and my job is. My heart is in Maine though. I like the Phippsburg area and am watching some land that is for sale. I figure I'll buy the land now and build and retire there in 29 years.

 

[dcunniff]

Uncle Matt, 29 years away??

Now that is planning.

Dana

 

[rangerdog]

Sorry about some confusion, we went by car, well truck, not by boat!

We are back from vacation. Below is a bulletized list of the highlights of what we did. What we saw of New England was beautiful. I had imagined one big city from Baltimore to Boston and boy was I wrong! I added a few comments, for you-all to comment back on. It is a trip worth the taking. I would have needed two more weeks to even make a dent in a thorough itinerary. A huge history lesson and interesting to learn of the differences in the American settlement from a New England point of view as opposed to my knowledge of Virginia history from the same 1620 and beyond perspective.

Also I was amazed at the tidal difference at that latitude. My word. I always wondered why everyone moored at a buoy.

I took a lot of pictures of interesting boats and ships and even swung by a Parker dealer in Maine. Jeff’s I think? I’ll post some pictures later. :idea:

We ate well, mostly seafood and chowdah, and loved the lobstah rolls that were available everywhere. :wink:

Plymouth, MA
•Rock (It is, in fact, a piece of the original)
•Mayflower II (Awesome replica of the original launched in 1957 from England and sailed to Plymouth)
•Old Plymouth (Way cool. Looks at the impacts of the settlers on the Native People)
•Fishing (Deep drop charter for Cod but we only caught Sharks)
•Cape Cod (Very nice. Not what I expected. I figured it was a parking lot.)
•Provincetown (Nice, fun place. Quite colorful, lots of history)
•Boston (Awesome. Walked the Freedom Trail.)
•Old Sturbridge (Somewhat less than expected although we were quite tired by then. Expected more antiquing opportunities there.)
•Beach
•Touring/Exploring (Mid MA coast is beautiful)
•Antiquing
Rockport/Rockland CamdenME
•Lobstah Festival (Good old home town fun complete with parade.)
•Light houses (The Maine coast is simply beautiful.)
•Touring/Exploring (See above.)
•Moose Spotting (No luck but fun lake hopping)
•Kittery (Outlets)
•Kennebunkport (Very nice and quaint but crowded)
•Antiquing
Mystic, CT
•Mystic Seaport (Don’t miss history lesson, spent all day there)
•Mystic Aquarium (Don’t go when school’s out)
•Nautilus and Submarine Museum (Way cool, my dad’s a retired WWII submariner)
•WWII Submarine Memorial
•Touring/Exploring
•Mohegan Sun Casino (Lost our $100 each but it took all evening. Lots of fun.)
Chester NY
•Orange County Choppers (Had to see the shop and the retail store to look at the custom choppers)
•Woodbury Common Outlets (Huge outlet mall,)
•New York City (Manhattan). (Rain. Tour bus then explored all the downtown areas. Went to Chelsea Market where they film Emeril Live. It’s not all that. I am NOT a city boy.)

Thanks for all the thoughtful advice, it was appreciated.

Rangerdog

 

[susqking]

Sounds like a great trip.

My family is thinking about heading north next year in a pop-up camper, We want to check out Boston, Cape Cod, Martha's Vinyard, etc. We want to do about a 10 day trip.

Rangerdog what would you consider the best to see in 10 days, we are leaving from north of Baltimore?

Does anyone know of any nice camp grounds?

Anthony