Lonely Planet New England Fall Foliage Road Trips

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• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN:
  9781760341510
• Print ISBN:
  9781760340483

Destinations

Connecticut

With lakes, orchards, vineyards and hikes, one of the smallest states in the Union packs a big punch.

Massachusetts

From city streets to cow-dotted pastures, Massachusetts offers an incredible diversity of landscapes.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is one big scenic attraction. You don’t have to drive through miles of suburbia to get to the good stuff because most of it is the good stuff.

Vermont

The Green Mountain State offers outdoor adventure, vibrant arts, photogenic villages and locavore fare.

Maine

Scenic byways hug rivers, lakes, forests and mountains.

Connecticut River Valley, Massachusetts
DESIGN PICS/GETTY IMAGES ©

Connecticut

The Constitution State has long been luring artists, celebrities and moneyed Manhattanites, who appreciate the rural landscape sprinkled with small vineyards and genteel Colonial towns.

Sandwiched between sexy New York City and quainter quarters in northern New England, Connecticut often gets short shrift from travelers. But the Litchfield Hills, with lakes, vineyards and hiking trails capture Connecticut as it’s been for centuries, while the pristine scenery of the Connecticut River Valley began luring artists in the 1900s and it’s easy to see what inspired them.

History

The name ‘Connecticut’ comes from the Mohegan name for the great river that bisects the state. A number of Native American tribes (including the Mohegan, as well as the Pequot and others) were here when the first European explorers, primarily Dutch, appeared in the early 17th century. The first English settlement was at Old Saybrook in 1635, followed a year later by the Connecticut Colony, built by Massachusetts Puritans under Thomas Hooker. A third colony was founded in 1638 in New Haven. After the Pequot War (1637), the Native Americans were no longer a check to colonial expansion in New England, and Connecticut’s English population grew. In 1686 Connecticut was brought into the Dominion of New England.

The American Revolution swept through Connecticut, with major battles leaving scars at Stonington (1775), Danbury (1777), New Haven (1779) and Groton (1781). Connecticut became the fifth state in 1788. It embarked on a period of prosperity, propelled by whaling, shipbuilding, farming and manufacturing (from firearms to bicycles to household tools), which lasted well into the 19th century.

The 20th century brought world wars and the Great Depression but, thanks in no small part to Connecticut’s munitions industries, the state was able to fight back. Everything from planes to submarines was made in the state, and when the defense industry began to decline in the 1990s, the growth of o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• How to Use This eBook
• Contents
• Welcome to New England Fall Foliage
• New England Map
• New England Fall Foliage Highlights
• City Guide
• Need to Know
• Road Trips
• Destinations
• Driving in New England
• Behind the Scenes
• Our Writers
• Index
• Back Cover