New England's Fall Spectacle

Travel America, Sept, 2001 by Randy Mink

Autumn colors dapple hillsides and pretty Yankee villages

Changing leaves paint many parts of North America when pumpkin time rolls around every fall, but nowhere do branches blaze so brilliantly as in the hills of New England. Travelers from around the world flock to its storybook villages and mountain overlooks for this color-splashed spectacle, a symphony in scarlet and amber, crimson and gold.

Flaming maples frame postcard views of weathered barns, village greens and white-steepled churches. Crunchy oak leaves carpet sidewalks and trails. Farm-stands brim with fat orange pumpkins and bushels of shiny red apples. Skies are at their bluest.

Cozy and compact, the region lures nostalgia buffs with its wealth of historical treasures, antique and craft shops, and country inns. Short distances between points of interest mean a well-paced trip.

Because of fall's crush of tourist traffic, room reservations are strongly recommended; some inns require a minimum two-night stay. Keep in mind that midweek is less hectic.

To get acquainted with the locals and experience true Yankee hospitality, some travelers plan their trips around seasonal events like apple festivals, antique shows, crafts fairs, auctions, and harvest suppers in churches and town halls.

A two-week fall foliage fling might begin in Connecticut, then move north to western Massachusetts, the mountains and valleys of Vermont and New Hampshire, and on up to Maine, New England's largest and northernmost state.

CONNECTICUT

While the joys of autumn are bountiful in Connecticut, they are sometimes overshadowed by the fabled color displays up north. To the surprise of many outsiders, though, woodlands cover four-fifths of our third smallest state, a manageable package that measures only 60 miles long by 90 miles wide. There are dozens of state parks and forests. Back roads snake under leafy awnings, curling past classic villages graced with white clapboard houses. Even the interstate highways are scenic and largely free of industrial landscapes.

A magnet for legions of "leaf peepers" is the Litchfield Hills region of northwestern Connecticut, a collection of 26 towns nestled in the Berkshire foothills. Litchfield County, with its lakes, rivers, and rolling landscapes, is the perfect place for "shunpiking," a New England term for, in Webster's words, "the practice of avoiding superhighways, especially for the pleasure of driving on back roads."

Serious shunpikers will target the quintessential New England town of Litchfield, whose entire center is a National Historic District. Its wide maple-lined streets showcase well-preserved architectural gems from the 18th and 19th centuries, and its 1828 Congregational Church faces a picture-perfect town green. The 1773 house of Judge Tapping Reeve was America's first school of law. Just outside of town, visitors can tour Haight Winery and perhaps witness the fall grape harvest.

A short drive to the east is Bristol, home of the American Clock & Watch Museum and once the leading clock manufacturing town in the world. The largest such museum anywhere, it boasts more than 1,700 American-made clocks and 1,600 watches, many of them working models that create a delightful background of ticking and chiming. Also in Bristol is the New England Carousel Museum, a treasure trove of brightly painted horses and other carved figures from the golden age of the carousel.

West of Litchfield, close to the New York State line, is one of Connecticut's prime foliage-viewing byways, Route 7. Two highlights include the covered bridges at West Cornwall and Bulls Bridge. Spanning the Housatonic River, they are the state's only two covered bridges open to automobile traffic and have been in continuous use for more than a century.

The quaint village of West Cornwall, adjacent to Housatonic State Forest, has several outstanding craft shops, including the famous Cornwall Bridge Pottery Store. The nearby town of Cornwall Bridge is a good jumping-off point for Mohawk State Forest, where the Lookout Tower affords fine vistas of the Catskill, Taconic, and Berkshire ranges.

Bulls Bridge is at Kent, from where a two-mile jaunt down Route 341 leads to Macedonia Brook State Park and its Cobble Mountain Trail, a favorite with fall hikers seeking vantage points high above the color-flecked valleys. Kent, noted for its restaurants, art galleries, and antique emporiums, is a short hop from Kent Falls State Park, whose staired pathway provides photo opportunities of the 200-foot-high falls.

Several outfitters can provide canoes and kayaks, an option for foliage fans eager to paddle through the Housatonic's rapids. The 10-mile float trip from Falls Village to Cornwall Bridge involves a combination of fast and flat water, while the stretch of river north of Falls Village toward the Massachusetts border is quiet and smooth, ideal for observing the golden landscapes.

MASSACHUSETTS

Route 7 crosses into western Massachusetts, passing through major towns of the Berkshire Hills, the state's mecca for foliage fans. The drive between Sheffield and Williamstown is scenic in itself, but most motorists stray from the beaten path for satisfying side trips.