Cider doughnuts? Check. The perfect covered-bridge selfie spots? Check. Inspired by Yankee’s ultimate New England foliage road trip feature, here’s a fall bucket list to help you make the most of another spectacular season.
On a prime fall morning or evening as many as 15 to 20 cars may line the road, with photographers anchored down on the other side of it.
Photo Credit : Mark Fleming
Last fall, Yankee senior editor Ian Aldrich and photographer Mark Fleming embarked on an epic journey to see how many New England foliage-season experiences they could fit into one week. Inspired by the resulting magazine feature (see “Fall Inclusive,” in our Sep/Oct 2019 issue), we’ve put together a New England foliage bucket list to help you make the most of another spectacular foliage season.
How to Master the New England Foliage Bucket List
Plan a Foliage Road Trip
One of the best things about living in New England is the ease with which you can cross state lines and experience a totally different world after just a few hours of driving. Want to start your perfect fall day with a jaunt along the Marginal Way in coastal Ogunquit, Maine, and end it strolling across a classic covered bridge in rural Woodstock, Vermont? Even avoiding most highways, you’ll need only about three hours on the road (longer if you make a stop for cider doughnuts or other great New England road trip food). With so much to see and enjoy, fall is the perfect time to get out the map and plan a foliage road trip.
Fair fun at the Fryeburg Fair in Fryeburg, Maine. Photo Credit : Mark Fleming
Visit a Fall Fair
Mark and Ian kicked off their foliage road trip with a visit to Maine’s Fryeburg Fair, where they did typical fair things like eating hot fries and taking part in an anvil toss. New England is home to dozens of top-notch agricultural and country fairs each fall, ranging from the massive Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts, to the organic-farming celebration known as the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Learn about the biggest fair in each New England state, plus smaller but no less noteworthy Yankee editor favorites, in “12 New England Fairs to Visit This Fall.”Treasure hunting at Hundred Acre Wood in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Photo Credit : Mark Fleming
Go Antiquing
In Bethlehem, New Hampshire, Mark and Ian poked around Hundred Acre Wood, one of New England’s many antiques shops (which double as perfect pit stops for any foliage road trip). New England is rich with shops and barns filled with valuable objects and curiosities just waiting to be discovered. Learn some of the best spots to shop in our guide to the best antiques towns in New England, and plan your leaf-peeping to coincide with your treasure hunting.
Adjust Your Vantage Point
Mark and Ian took the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramin Franconia Notch for sweeping views of the White Mountains, but it’s just as novel to take in the foliage by boat or train. Learn more in our guides to the best foliage cruises and best foliage train tours, or stick with your own car and zip up one of New England’s many mountains that offer the best drive-to foliage views.
Fresh cider doughnuts from Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury, Vermont. Photo Credit : Mark Fleming
Eat a Cider Doughnut
No New England foliage experience is complete without an apple cider doughnut or two (or 12), and our two road trippers sampled a dozen of the best at Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury, Vermont. In fall, you can find the tangy, typically sugar-covered doughnuts at just about every farmers’ market and farm stand, but if you’re looking for the finest examples around, aim for the five spots on our list of the best cider doughnuts in New England. Prefer homemade? Our recipes for traditional apple cider doughnuts and a shortcut version, apple cider doughnut muffins, will have you savoring the flavors of fall from the comfort of your own kitchen.
Peacham, Vermont, is often cited as the most photographed town in the state. Photo Credit : Mark Fleming
Explore a Small Town
In Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Mark and Ian made a stop in the small town of Peacham, often cited as the most photographed town in the state thanks to its rolling farmland, tidy white houses, and classic steepled church. Planning a fall road trip and want to make sure the towns you visit offer the total fall experience? In 2010 Yankee compiled a list of the best foliage towns in New England based not just on color, but also on factors such as in-town orchards, hiking trails, covered bridges, farmers’ markets, and visitor amenities like inns and restaurants. Here are the five towns that topped the list:
Kent, Connecticut
Bethel, Maine
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Middlebury, Vermont
Camden, Maine
Learn more about these towns, plus 20 more, in “The Top 25 Foliage Towns in New England.”Photographers at Sleepy Hollow Farm in Pomfret, Vermont. Photo Credit : Mark Fleming
Photograph a New England Icon
While passing through Pomfret, Vermont, Mark and Ian stopped at Sleepy Hollow Farm to admire one of the most photographed farms in America. As Ian describes it: “With its big barns, late-1700s farmhouse, and the way the light hits it just right, Sleepy Hollow is catnip for visiting photographers.” Plan your own trip to Pomfret, or seek out another New England icons to frame against a colorful backdrop of fall color. Covered bridges are especially nice. Here are five of our favorite New England covered bridges:
Honeymoon Covered Bridge in Jackson, New Hampshire
Middle Covered Bridge in Woodstock, Vermont
West Cornwall Covered Bridge in Cornwall, Connecticut
Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge in Cornish, New Hampshire
Sunday River Bridge in Newry, Maine
Get Lost in a Corn Maze
If you’re going to do a corn maze this fall, you could follow Mark and Ian’s example and head straight to Danville, Vermont, to take on the largest one in New England: the Great Vermont Corn Maze. But there are also dozens of fun and family-friendly mazes elsewhere in New England. Learn our favorites in our guide to the best corn mazes in New England.
Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta attracts visitors from all over New England. Photo Credit : Mark Fleming
Save Room for Pumpkin
Mark and Ian finished up their great New England foliage road trip with a visit to Midcoast Maine’s Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta, where the festivities include a pumpkin pancake breakfast, giant pumpkin weigh-off, pumpkin parade, and a pumpkin-boat regatta featuring costumed racers piloting some of the largest pumpkins you’ve ever seen. Learn more about our picks for the best New England pumpkin festivals — and plan your foliage season accordingly!
Learn More
Don’t miss “Fall Inclusive,” the September/October 2019 feature that inspired our fall foliage bucket list, and be sure to check out Mark and Ian’s behind-the-scenes road diary.
Even More New England Foliage Bucket List Essentials
Get “ex-cidered” for fall by switching from pumpkin beer to a local hard cider.
Find a farm stand with kettle corn, and then eat so much that you need to lie down.
Right before it closes for the season, go to a seafood shack that’s normally mobbed in the summer and savor one last lobster roll or plate of fried clams.
