3 Best Sights in The Monadnocks and Merrimack Valley, New Hampshire

This bustling college has a pretty campus in the heart of Keene's charming downtown. A highlight for visitors is the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, which hosts engaging rotating shows and has works by Richard Sumner Meryman, Abbott Handerson Thayer, and Robert Mapplethorpe in its permanent collection.

The focal point of this rugged 513-acre tract of deciduous forest in West Chesterfield are the stone chimney, grand staircase, and foundation of a chateau-style summer house owned by Parisian-born socialite and theatrical costume designer Madame Antoinette Sherri (the house burned down in 1963, and she died shortly after). A short woodland path from the parking area accesses the ruins, which are still fascinating despite a partial collapse of the staircase following heavy rains in 2021. Two fairly easy but hilly trails offer longer hikes through the surrounding forest, including the 3-mile round-trip trek up Wantastiquet Mountain, which offers clear views up and down the Connecticut River and across to Vermont. Trails also lead into the adjacent Wantastiquet State Forest, and there's more great hiking nearby in Pisgah State Park.

At this picturesque nonprofit early-1800s farm and educational center, you can stop by to pick up produce and goods raised on-site (including delicious Frisky Cow Gelato) and procured from other artisanal producers in the area. Leave time to explore the grounds, dairy and small-animal barns, gardens, and chicken coops—a wide range of education tours are offered, plus seasonal hay and sleigh rides. There's also a maple sugaring house and small farm tool museum, and the property is traversed by hiking trails and accesses the 20-mile Cheshire Rail Trail, which stretches from Walpole through Keene and down to the Massachusetts border.