H and I are planning a September trip. Flying to Boston and renting a car. We want to see the coast of Maine, scenic country drives and historic sites. Hate, hate crowds. Thinking of John Adams home, Plimouth Museum, Lexington and Concord and Alcott house. Maybe Newport mansions. Maybe Campobello. New Hampshire White Mountains.
I’d like advice on places to stay, drive times and whatever else.
Thanks in advance.
You can walk the Freedom Trail in Boston.
Places to stay can be expensive. Is there a ceiling on hotel rates?
I have never been to the John Adams House.
Boston: Beacon Hill, Public Garden, North End maybe. Concord is a great town. We liked Sturbridge and Lowell for history.
Gloucester and Rockport? Salem is crowded.
Portland, Rockland, Camden, Belfast in Maine. White Mountains are beautiful. Woodstock Vermont?
How long a trip are you planning? While Boston is a good place to start, your listed sites are in all different directions.
Lots of family in New England. I can tell you the Newport mansions were busy on a March weekend when my son finished officer candidate school. (And not with other parents!) You’ll be too early for the leaves so weekend hiking and driving should be good. My brother lives in Gloucester, it’s lovely but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit. Rockport is a little more touristy with nice art galleries. Bowdoin and Colby both have nice art museums - I think they both have Winslow Homers but not necessarily on display - especially the watercolors which are my favorites.
None of these are near the Maine coast.
How long will you be in this neck of the woods?
Trip will be two weeks. The plan is to see those few things near Boston, then head north. I like seeing a variety of things, for instance, a cranberry bog.
related thread from last year might be helpful…
As others have said, your destinations are kinda all over , geographically (Campobello is just as far away as Newport). Maine is a huge state. What sorts of things do you like? Eating out? In the fall, it can be really hard to find reasonable hotel rooms. If you like uncrowded historic sites, and are in NH, you can do things like the Franklin Pierce house on the way to other places. North Conway is always crowded, the Kanc is generally slow going, but the Kanc is about as pretty as you can get. Stop at the Flume, or the Basin, or for truly less crowded, see if Madison Boulder is open (sometimes the road is closed because of wet weather). Those are my family’s favorites.
The Adams house is in Boston proper, you could see that before you head north? People will recommend various Maine towns but we love Bath, where the Maritime Museum is. Imho only, Acadia is a lot of work, and in the end, the Maine coast is gorgeous everywhere. You needn’t wade through all the people from away in order to see it properly. Have fun!
Fwiw, I might try to find a few places to plant myself and then enjoy. I love Acadia – and you can easily spend a few days there.
The area around Rockport and Camden is lovely.
Boston, of corse, could eat up a lot of time.
As could the Berkshires, Vermont, Cape Cod.
You might have more fun focusing on just a few things and having a slightly mire immersive experience. (I say this as a FOMO/optimizer who actually prefers “slow travel” - in spite of myself!)
Technically it’s in Quincy, a neighboring city. And I’m not sure it’s really a “must see.”
You ca drive to a lot of places from Boston proper, but I’m not sure that’s what I would do.
I have seen cranberry bogs. Really, they aren’t much to see. You probably would need to go to maybe Plymouth or Cape Cod to see those. Unless you are heading in that direction anyway, I would scratch that from the trip.
Newport is south of Boston and everything else you want to see is either on or north of Boston. Yes, you can drive to Newport to see the mansions and walk the cliff walk. Honestly, mid week in September, you should be OK…but check to see if you have to get tickets in advance. If you do…I would suggest the multi mansion ticket…it’s fun to compare more than one. Just over an hour from Boston.
Spend a couple of days in Boston seeing whatever…walk the Freedom Trail, go to Quincy Market, walk around the public garden. Lots to do in Boston.
Then you can head north. You could go north to Portsmouth NH, then to Portland Maine, then north to the Camden Rockport area. Lots to see along the way.
From Maine, you can head west into New Hampshire. Depending on where you are coming from will determine how you actually head west. I would suggest heading over on Route 2. Take that to Gorham NH, then stay on it (road will turn left) and head to Jefferson NH. Stop at the Waumbek Golf Course…absolutely beautiful views of the white mountains. If it were me, I would stay a night at the Mt. Washington Hotel which is on the way to North Conway. It’s a pretty neat place.
From there you can head south to North Conway. Mid week after Labor Day will be OK…
You can continue west and end up in Vermont…you will be further south. Stop in Hanover NH if you can…you will certainly find great food there. Look at a map…I can do this…but I can’t really give directions!
Head down 91 south…into Massachusetts. You will get on 90, the mass pike, and from there you can go to Lexington and Concord, and places like that.
You will then be close enough to Boston to fly home.
Others can fill in the blanks…I’ve left a LOT of them.
You could easily spend 2 weeks in MA. Boston, Plymouth, Sturbridge, Concord/Lexington, the Cape. Maybe a day trip to Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard. Save ME for another trip. Southern ME is overrated anyway. Acadia’s worth its own week or two.
Re: lodging. Lots of pretty BnBs/inns around. Or airbnbs. New England is pretty crowded in September but not unmanageable.
Adding to @taverngirl . If you use Boston as your center base, you could also do a day trip to Newport to see the mansions.
The only time a cranberry bog is interesting is during the harvest, when the bogs are flooded, the berries are loosened up by beater machines and float to the surface. The berries are then corralled and then sucked out of the bog by another machine. Rest of the time, they are nothing to look at.
Interestingly, the shopping/dining/hotel area that surrounds Gillette Stadium (home of the NE Patriots) is called Patriot Place, and behind the Bass Pro Shops is a natural area that includes a cranberry bog with walking trails around it. They have a harvest festival in the fall. If you really need to see a bog, rather than drive to Cape Cod, this is one just about midway between Boston and Providence.
I agree that the Adams house in Quincy is not a must see. Cranberry bogs aren’t much either. If you start in Boston, maybe skip Newport. I like @thumper1’s circular route.
I like to spend time in one or a few places. But you may enjoy seeing more.
Boston can be quick: beacon Hill, Public Garden. Maybe North End, Waterfront, Quincy Market. Copley Square. Then head north.
It is very busy in September and most airbnb’s are full. I would make reservations soon for hotels and motels.
I’ve driven by the Adams house 1,000+ times in my life, and never stopped. It’s not even in a nice part of Quincy.
Visit Paul Revere’s house in the North End, then enjoy a great dinner at Mama Maria’s in the same square. After, pick your poison, either Mike’s Pastry, or Modern Pastry for cannolis. Try them both and report back on your top pick.
Newport is a good time. Spend an overnight there. Tour the mansions and stop by the tennis Hall of Fame.
When you’re in Boston you could take the ferry to Provincetown. There have been juvenile whales breaching along that route recently.
Portsmouth NH is a nice spot, and Maine is just across the bridge. In ME I would head to Ogunquit and Kennebunkport.
I mentioned the Adams house bc the OP did , and everyone has different ideas about what’s worth seeing, of course. We spend time in Newport (DH is sent there for work) and have never done the mansions, were underwhelmed by the Cliff Walk but we’ll spend hours at second beach!
Again, unpopular opinion but I find Kennebunkport boring (not much of a shopper) and Ogunquit has a nice beach at Footbridge but september can be chilly on the coast. They could see the Nubble in York, and Portsmouth has Strawberry Banke for history people?
I would suggest going further north in Maine! Portsmouth could be skipped.
While I’m not in the camp of “You’ve seen one 17th century NE house, you’ve seen them all,” it is out of the way, and the more central Paul Revere house gives the flavor.
But if one is an avid Federalist fan and it’s on the bucket list, have fun.