|
Connecticut River Byway
Thanks to those of you who responded for my pleas for help for ideas for New England in the Fall! We're looking at doing the Connecticut river byway from the top to the bottom in 6 days as part of our vacation from UK. We'd much appreciate ideas for places to visit & stop along the way if you can help please?
Many thanks, |
In CT there are a variety of things of interest, museums, dinosaur state park, Gillette's Castle, steam train, rail trails, etc. within a short distance of the river, so let folks know the kinds of things you are interested in and perhaps you can get a bit more help.
|
When you get to White River Junction, VT , drive a short distance west to Quechee to see Simon Pearce Glassblowing Studio, shop and restaurant. It's run off of hydro,power from the waterfall. Simon is from Ireland and his pieces are sold all over the USA. You can also head west to Hanover, NH, home of Dartmouth College.
|
Agree with recommendation for Simon Pearce. Fascinating place that was one of the Vermont treasures devastated a few years ago by flooding. Glad they re-built. According to the website, the byway only covers VT and NH. We stayed in Norwich for a class at King Arthur Flour which you might want to visit if you are interesting in baking products. Nice store and nice place to eat. The Norwich Inn was delightful place to stay with a good restaurant. It's right next door to Dan and Whit's, a real country store not a reproduction for tourists. Picked up a Fodorite who had journeyed up by train in White River Junction. The town's life blood used to be trains and warehouses, looks like it's starting to get revived and I'd like to go back just to look around.
This is also not far from St. Gauden's historical site. Beautiful statues, grounds and interesting house tour. (NH) If you are interested in cider, Poverty Lane orchards specializes in growing cider apples. http://www.povertylaneorchards.com/ This is getting a little east of the byway into NH. Near Quechee VT is Woodstock VT which is a good place to visit if you want to see people from NY. It's an upscale town, very pretty, but I don't consider it a good representation of VT. I am intrigued by Brattleboro VT. It seems to be populated by independent minded folk with ties to the land. We went to the Strolling of the Heifers Parade last June. Yes, they parade cows and tractors thru town. I have been to farmers markets in Brattleboro, Montpelier (a little west of the byway) and Norwich, all of which would be a great place to graze for lunch. There seems to be more cheese vendors at VT farmers markets than we have in NH. Up north, Colebrook NH is probably more lively in winter when it's snowmobiling season. There's a great ice cream shop in Littleton NH plus a great diner for breakfast. For a hardy walking adventure, drive over to the Great Vermont Corn Maze in Danville VT (I would do that instead of visit Colebrook). We had to take the emergency exit to the top. Nice view. Plan to spend a couple of hours being lost. Get a map of the cheese, beer, wine and ice cream trails for both VT and NH if you like any of those items. It would be a great time to visit an orchard if you aren't used to getting freshly picked apples although early October is getting pretty late in the season. They'll still taste good but the early varieties will be gone. (I love Ginger Golds.) |
|
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:12 AM. |