New England Historic Sites/ Antique & Craft Shopping?

My husband and I are looking into a New England vacation at the end of
October for our 10 year anniversary. We would like to stay in a small
town- possibly in a bed and breakfast, but we are open to options. It
would be nice to be fairly close to a larger city (day's drive).
Specifically, our interests are historic sites and antique/craft
shopping (quilts, country decor, etc.) Does anyone have any
suggestions?

Well, first of all, don't worry about being more than a day's drive from
anything in New England. Excepting for far northern Maine, and depending on
what you call a 'larger city' , I don't think there are many small towns
much more than two hours away.

The town that jumps to mind (though many fill the bill) is Newfane, VT.
It's a small, quaint, typical New England village, with a pretty healthy
crafting/quilting scene, and short (scenic) driving distance to many other
such villages. It's only a few minutes north of Brattleboro, which I
believe counts as a city in Vermont. Brattleboro is about an hour north of
Springfield, Massachussetts, and it's another half-hour down to Hartford,
Connecticut. Keene, NH isn't far, nor is Manchester, VT, which is fakely
quaint in the way that New Englanders do that sort of thing.

If you do stay in that area, and you can find someone willing to give you
directions, you might find the unpaved road from Brookline (just across a
bridge from Newfane) that leads up to Grafton, which offers a 'real'
interpretation of old New England, but only because it's the real thing.
It's neat to arrive by dirt road, and find yourself in such a pretty little
village. I'm sure you can even find someone willing to sell you an antique
or two, and then have a good meal at the Old Tavern.

It's only too bad that your anniversary falls at the end of October, because
the leaves will be down by then. By the same token, the hordes of leaf
peepers will be gone, too, and the skiers won't have shown up, so you should
have the place pretty much to yourselves.

Seriously, most of New England is equally attractive, and you can have as
nice a time along the Mohawk Trail in MA, along the Connecticut River almost
anywhere, in the Gloucester area in MA, anywhere north of Manchester in NH,
anywhere south of Truro in Maine, and anywhere at all in Rhode Island.
These are generalizations, but the far north of Maine will be of more
interest to the adventurer than the tourist, and the southern NH/Boston area
may be more cosmopolitan than what you're looking for. There are things
worth seeing everywhere, though. For instance, Lowell, MA has a downtown
National Park that includes canals, a trolley, and factory museums that are
very interesting to me, but not likely to everyone.

The food is excellent, too; especially lamb in VT and seafood anywhere. If
you get to Connecticut, look up a steamed cheeseburger by all means.

k
"Tammy" wrote in message
oups.com...
My husband and I are looking into a New England vacation at the end of
October for our 10 year anniversary. We would like to stay in a small
town- possibly in a bed and breakfast, but we are open to options. It
would be nice to be fairly close to a larger city (day's drive).
Specifically, our interests are historic sites and antique/craft
shopping (quilts, country decor, etc.) Does anyone have any
suggestions?

"k" wrote in message
ink.net...
Well, first of all, don't worry about being more than a day's drive from
anything in New England. Excepting for far northern Maine, and depending
on
what you call a 'larger city' , I don't think there are many small towns
much more than two hours away.

The town that jumps to mind (though many fill the bill) is Newfane, VT.
It's a small, quaint, typical New England village, with a pretty healthy
crafting/quilting scene, and short (scenic) driving distance to many other
such villages. It's only a few minutes north of Brattleboro, which I
believe counts as a city in Vermont. Brattleboro is about an hour north
of
Springfield, Massachussetts, and it's another half-hour down to Hartford,
Connecticut. Keene, NH isn't far, nor is Manchester, VT, which is fakely
quaint in the way that New Englanders do that sort of thing.

If you do stay in that area, and you can find someone willing to give you
directions, you might find the unpaved road from Brookline (just across a
bridge from Newfane) that leads up to Grafton, which offers a 'real'
interpretation of old New England, but only because it's the real thing.
It's neat to arrive by dirt road, and find yourself in such a pretty
little
village. I'm sure you can even find someone willing to sell you an
antique
or two, and then have a good meal at the Old Tavern.

It's only too bad that your anniversary falls at the end of October,
because
the leaves will be down by then. By the same token, the hordes of leaf
peepers will be gone, too, and the skiers won't have shown up, so you
should
have the place pretty much to yourselves.

Seriously, most of New England is equally attractive, and you can have as
nice a time along the Mohawk Trail in MA, along the Connecticut River
almost
anywhere, in the Gloucester area in MA, anywhere north of Manchester in
NH,
anywhere south of Truro in Maine, and anywhere at all in Rhode Island.
These are generalizations, but the far north of Maine will be of more
interest to the adventurer than the tourist, and the southern NH/Boston
area
may be more cosmopolitan than what you're looking for. There are things
worth seeing everywhere, though. For instance, Lowell, MA has a downtown
National Park that includes canals, a trolley, and factory museums that
are
very interesting to me, but not likely to everyone.

The food is excellent, too; especially lamb in VT and seafood anywhere.
If
you get to Connecticut, look up a steamed cheeseburger by all means.

k
"Tammy" wrote in message
oups.com...
My husband and I are looking into a New England vacation at the end of
October for our 10 year anniversary. We would like to stay in a small
town- possibly in a bed and breakfast, but we are open to options. It
would be nice to be fairly close to a larger city (day's drive).
Specifically, our interests are historic sites and antique/craft
shopping (quilts, country decor, etc.) Does anyone have any
suggestions?


Good tips and advice. However, I would not rule out southern NH. A drive
along Route 1 north starting, say at Peabody/Gloucester/Rockport, would
take you through a whole bunch of rural towns along the way. Just stay off
Rt 95 and the Me. Turnpike.
MLD