I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine without stopping at Lie Nielson... Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool museum type places in New England?
On U.S. 1, the Maine state prison has a store where they sell the wood craft stuff the prisoners make. It's been several years since I was there but I was impressed by the quality of their work. I think it was just south of Lincoln, Maine.
You could see about stopping by the offices of Taunton - the publishers of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding. They're in Newtown, CT. Not sure if they offer tours, but if you call I bet they'd let you take a peek at their testing and photography shops.
JP
Old Sturbridge Village might be worth a look--it's "Intepretive history" like Willamsburg and may be a bit touristy for you, but they do have a working cooper shop and a sawmill using pre-1840 technology.
Also, if you get to Boston, the U.S.S. Constitution is worth seeing--200 years old and still a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy.
Where are you coming from and what route are you taking?
-Jim
The shipbuilding school in Newport, RI is also pretty cool to see.
-Jim
The shipbuilding school in Newport, RI is also pretty cool to see.
-Jim
All of the suggested places sound great. As a native New Englander I have been to a lot of them.
I am not when you are coming or how long you are here but if your trip coincides with one of the open houses at the Lowell Boat House in Amesbury, MA
Larry C
If your trip happens to coincide with one of our guild meetings, feel free to stop by and say "Hi!"
The prison store is in Thomaston. An interesting visit. Thomaston was also the site of the prison, since torn down, that was the model for the Shawshank Redemption.
The Owls Head Transportation Museum is terrific - planes, cars, motorcycles, stagecoaches, etc. - all in immaculate, running condition.
Jim
It was my understanding that the Mansfield reformatory located in Mansfield, Ohio is where the movie was actually shot just before it was torn down.
Back in the days when prisons like that were built stone walls, several feet thick, with walkways for the guards on top was the design standard.
I grew up about 30 miles from Mansfiled, and the site of those black stone walls made an impression on me as a 10 year old.
Lew
Hard to tell what route I will be taking... My wife has been tasked with planning the trip. That's why I am trying to get a few suggestions to "guide" her along... Right now it looks like we fly into Boston on Oct 4th and out on Oct
18th. She is leaning on heading straight out to the end of Maine and then looping back through the White Mtns in NH. Over to the edge on Vermont and down the west side to Mass. Definitely through Mystic and Newport before back to Logan. 14 nights and probably 15 motels!!! LOTS of driv>>> > >> >> I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
Yea, right . . . like my wife was tasked with planning the itinerary for our trip. She assigned the task herself. She did a great job though . . . I was along for the ride. :-)
It has nothing to do with woodworking, but the cog railway at Mount Washington in Vermont is an interesting stop.
We flew into Providence.
Don't know if you've been to New England before--it's a lot smaller than it looks on a map. If you live in Hartford, then New York and Boston are a day trips (i.e. you get up in the morning, drive to one or the other, do your shopping or whatever, and come home--be aware though that parking in NYC is hideously expensive, but it's not nearly as unpleasant a place to drive as it's made out to be--most of the traffic is commercial with professional drivers, and somebody who drives for a living in NYC learns to do it well or doesn't last very long). Hartford to Quebec is only a few hours as well (and don't neglect Canada, but that probably won't be an option for you if you're after foliage in October). If you don't have reservations then plan on stopping early, and carry camping equipment just in case--in the peak areas lodging fills up fast.
Something else that might go well on the trip is covered bridges--New England has more than 70 of them, some of which are still in daily use for road traffic, while others are exhibits. A covered bridge with good foliage can be a nice image.
By the way, something to try for if you want an absolutely _spooky_ experience--try to drive through NYC (I mean down Broadway in Manhattan, not across town on one of the expressways) just at sunrise on a Sunday morning. I did it once, just by an accident of travel timing and taking the wrong turn, and, well, that was 30 years ago and it's still a strong memory.
Mount Washington is an interesting stop regardless, especially if you time it right on a foliage tour. But carry clothing for _anything_--highly variable weather at the top and when Mount Washington decides to hit an extreme, it doesn't believe in half measures.
Must be a long cog rail line. Mount Washington is on the other side of New Hampshire from Vermont. ;-)
snip
Thinking back on our trip, my wife acquired the itineraries of some bus tours and pretty much followed that. It was a good trip. We flew into Providence and rented a car there. It was a convenient place to work out of.
Beware the cost of lodging in the Boston area though. I think the most expensive was at Bar Harbor in Maine.
It's difficult to do that time of the year (hotels tend to be booked far in advance), but I'd try to keep the schedule flexible. Each year is different, but the peak leaf can vary by a couple of weeks and in a given year will vary by two or three weeks depending on where you are. More Northerly and higher elevations being substantially earlier. She's right about having to drive to them. ...and "they" move.
If you can get there, I'd recommend Smuggler's Notch and Lincoln Gap in Vermont. Stowe, VT (close to both) is a nice day trip too. VT100 and VT108 are very pretty roads that time of year. When we lived in Vermont, Newport was a favorite early season leaf peeping destination. Lake Memphremagog is outrageous when the leaves are in full color.
If you like watching leftist loons in their natural habitat, Church Street in Burlington is good for lunch.
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