Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

The six states that compise New England contain only 5% of the US population, half of them in the four I was to visit but only 3 million in the three rural ones I was focusing on for the Autumn colours. October here is an entire month of Halloween, with pumpkins and scarecrows everywhere. Then there was another scarecrow fighting a presidential election, something you can hardly ignore in this nation that’s just as divided as my own.

I find land borders rather exciting. The traffic across the one from New Brunswick, Canada to the ironically named Calais in Maine is mostly US and Canadian citizens, so this Brit was singled out for a bit of a grilling. Well, I suppose I do have the look of a terrorist about me. Even though the trips were before my current passport, I answered the question ‘Have you ever been to Iran, Lybia, Iraq or Syria?’ truthfully – three out of four! – which brought a lot of supplementary questions all starting with Why? How do you explain the attraction of Lybia’s Greek, Roman and Byzantine ruins or Iran’s spectacular Persepolis or what was once a nation of historical wonders called Syria? After a thorough search of the car and questions about my relationship with my Massachusetts hosts (who are no doubt now on a watch list) I was allowed to enter the country.

Here’s the photos https://goo.gl/photos/oAd1rgtZRk7Eafqe7

After an initially quiet drive, the traffic got heavier and people drove faster (and worse – indicators seem optional). I’d just got used to kms and now it was miles again, in a car with a dashboard calibrated in kms. I eventually entered the Acadia tourist trap that is Bar Harbour and the culture shock was complete. Fortunately, my B&B, a lovely early 18th century coach stop, was out-of-town, so I didn’t need to enter Bar Harbour again!

After the spookily quiet National Parks of Canada, Acadia, with it’s one-way roads and hunts for parking spaces, was tough at first, but nothing could really spoil the 360 degree views from the top of the wonderfully named Cadillac Mountain, or the lakes surrounded by trees beginning to change colour or the rugged coastline and sleepy harbours. It proved to be a great choice for my first stop in New England, with the early fall colour hinting of what might be yet to come, and it didn’t take long before the hint became a joyful vision.

The SatNav (well, google maps on my iPhone!) took me on a very pretty route along the minor roads of Maine to my next destination in the far north, but when I took a wrong turning in Madison, it was unable to re-route me as I’d lost signal. I drove around the town for a while to get back on track (as long as you’re on the programmed route a signal isn’t necessary) and the autumn colours got ever more spectacular as I continued for Rangeley. The Inn had no hot water so I got upgraded to a lovely lakeside cabin. The restaurant couldn’t operate without hot water so I had to find somewhere else to eat and landed on my feet in the area’s finest restaurant (to which I returned the following night). Things were looking good….. until I woke the following morning to thick fog and my heart sank – this was meant to be a whole day Fall drive. I was assured it was common and would lift, so I waited a while before I set off. When I got to the first lookout the lake was still covered, as it was at the second, highest, point. There was something eerie and beautiful about the low-lying fog, but I did want it to lift, and as I watched for 45 minutes, so it did and I was all smiles as I continued to drive slowly, stopping regularly, to take in this riot of colour – reds, browns, oranges, yellows, greens…..spectacular.

Because I’d driven along the Eastern edge of the White Mountains, I decided not to take that planned scenic route to my next destination, but instead to leave early and get a dose of (small) city in Portland before heading into Massachusetts. Two weeks of villages and small towns and I think I was getting city withdrawal symptoms. By the time I got near, it was heavy traffic, road tolls and eventually the hunt for parking, but it was all worth it. Portland is a cool city to mooch around, with an excellent art gallery and a buzzing harbour, where a Maine Lobster Roll seemed mandatory. It was soon time to join the Friday afternoon traffic and head for Ipswich, MA for the weekend at the home of some good friends.

I’d been to Boston twice before and didn’t have time to do it justice on this trip, so I settled for a view of its skyline from the other side of the Charles River while we explored Cambridge and Harvard, the highlight of which was coming across an extraordinary Frank Ghery building by accident. Sunday was the first really bad weather of the whole trip, but it was relaxing in good company, ending the evening shouting at the TV during the second presidential debate; these really are compelling viewing.

I decided to break the journey to Vermont at Strubridge for another of those open air ‘living’ museums, this time recreating a New England village of the eary 19th century. I was surprised to find so many kids on a Monday until I discovered it was the Columbus Day holiday (when’s Viking Day?). On to Stockbridge, the most perfectly manicured town I think I’ve ever seen, ooozing period perfect style and wealth. Here was the Norman Rockwell Museum, and even though I’m not a fan of his twee, sentimental, quintessentially American illustrations, it proved to be a whole lot more, as his work was much more varied, his life and career interesting and half the space was given over to other American illustrators, both historical and contemporary. On to the lovely village of North Bennington in Vermont, where the colours became more spectacular, covered bridges more common and a monument – a conspicuous giant needle – to the 1777 battle where the Americans defeated the British. I covered my face in shame as I took the escalator to the top for views of the multi-coloured landscape of four states.

My Vermont Fall drive was gentle and pretty rather than spectacular, as in Maine. There were a couple of bonuses en route – the home of poet Robert Frost, who I studied for something called O levels a lifetime ago, and the home of the Lincoln’s at Hildene, an American stately home with an organ in the hall played through pipes embedded in the stairway! Another lovely day full of joyful colour. Vermont is a small (600k people) quirky state, a bit off-the-wall, perhaps more West Coast than East Coast in feel. Very cool, mostly organic and the home of Bernie Sanders. In Wilmington, the bus company is called Moovers and the buses are painted like cows. That, and the fact there is public transport at all, just about sums the state up.

En route to my penultimate stop in New Hampshire, I took in some art, which was just as well as the afternoon saw rain. The first was in Williamstown, a picture perfect college town way too good for students and perhaps a little too perfect. I first heard of The Clark when I saw a selection of their extraordinary collection of impressionist paintings in a touring show in Fort Worth, Texas (as one does), a show that also made it to the Royal Academy in London. It didn’t disappoint, and the setting was lovely. Nothing could be more of a contrast than Mass MoCA, the state’s premier contemporary art venue in a former factory. It was more ‘distressed’ and edgy than Tate Modern and there was some great work on show too, much better than most modern art collections.

My final Fall drive in New Hampshire, a circular route around Mount Monadnock, was lovely. The colours just as good, with a couple of small towns to mooch, notably Jaffrey, decked with entrants to its (scare)crow competition. I have been so lucky that all three of these drives had great weather and really have been captivating.

I broke the journey to my final destination in Historic Deerfield. You may have gathered that I have a penchant for open air ‘living’ museums and this was the fourth on this trip – but with a real difference. Instead of moving properties from elsewhere to create a village, they’ve acquired thirteen properties in a real, very unspoilt, village with a mile-long wide tree-lined Main Street. There’s a public (British meaning) school, boarding late teen pupils of both sexes, at the heart of it and the rest of the houses are lived in by the faculty or real people with other occupations. They greet you genially as you wander. Each of the thirteen houses is effectively a museum, some with guided tours, some you can wander around alone. I loved it.

Back on the coast, my final night was spent in Rockport, a lovely if touristy fishing port, most importantly in pole position for my final day in Salem, where I’d failed to secure accomodation as its the hotspot of Halloween month. Somehow the location of the infamous witch trials has become the focus of all things ghostly and deathly. Arthur Miller is turning in his grave. My Salem morning was wonderful. The world-class Peabody Essex Museum had an eclectic collection of American, Chinese, Japanese & Indian art & artifacts, plus a 200-year-old Chinese house shiped over and reassembled and three historical houses nearby you could visit on guided tours. I particularly loved the juxtaposition of old and new. It was brilliantly curated and the building was lovely. From there, Salem delivered tacky tourist tosh. Halloween-a-go-go. The wanderlust began to leave me. I think it was a message telling me its time to go home, so I got in the car and headed for Boston airport.

My final reflection was on something I read what seemed like forever ago when I was at the Viking site in Newfoundland. The human race probably originated in East Africa, where some headed into Asia and on to North America, and some headed north-west to Europe. When the Vikings met the indiginous North Americans 1000 years ago in Newfoundland, it may have been the first meeting of the two branches. To use an American phrase I hate – awesome!

So that’s it. My longest trip in 35 years (just). My longest ever road-trip. 36 days, almost 5500 miles (a third more than the plan) and nineteen different beds. Time to go home for a rest…..