Table of Contents
- 1 1. Bake a fresh apple pie after visiting an apple orchard.
- 2 2. Be a Leaf peeper.
- 3 3. Have a romantic sleep away among the leaves.
- 4 4. Explore any of New England’s many harvest festivals.
- 5 5. Drink freshly pressed apple cider.
- 6 6. Hiking is the best way to get a close-up view of our beautiful leaves.
- 7 7. Go to a Pumpkin Festival
- 8 8. Waterfire, Providence
- 9 9. Get scared at a haunted something.
- 10 10. Carve a jack-o-lantern from a pumpkin picked from the field.
- 11 11. King Richard’s Faire
- 12 12. The Big E
- 13 13. Visit some real-life colonial history.
- 14 14. Visit a vineyard.
- 15 15. Take a spooky ghost tour.
- 16 16. Visit Salem, Massachusetts.
- 17 17. Embrace the season with some pumpkin-flavored everything.
- 18 18. Take a hayride and get lost in a corn maze.
- 19 19. Have a Picnic Amongst the Leaves.
- 20 20. Learn all about how cranberries are harvested by visiting a cranberry farm.
1. Bake a fresh apple pie after visiting an apple orchard.
A little apple love from Narrow Lane Orchard in North Kingstown, RI
Getting outside is good for the soul, and apple orchards smell heavenly. For your efforts, you will be rewarded with healthy snacks for the following weeks. Look for an apple orchard near you or check out a few of my favorites:
- Narrow Lane Orchard, in North Kingstown, RI has a small orchard with well-marked apples and peaches, as well as a level hiking trail. (This orchard is closed this year, 2016, due to weather ruining the crop.)
- Belkin Family Lookout Farm in Natick, MA features a more extensive orchard with a train ride into the fields and a children’s play area.
2. Be a Leaf peeper.
Leaf peeping is generally more intensely colored the more north you travel. Our foliage turns first in the north, then slowly works its way south. Refer to these foliage maps to see the best place to view when you are visiting. New Hampshire and Vermont are top on my list of places to see amazing fall colors.
- Here is a list of nine other foliage drives you’ll love.
- Read about a family weekend in Lincoln, New Hampshire.
- Acadia National Park is an incredible spot to see brightly colored leaves set amongst Maine’s rocky shores. Read on about my fall visit to Acadia.
3. Have a romantic sleep away among the leaves.
Long walks through the leaves, followed by cold nights by the fire is pretty romantic.
- Darby Field Inn is a rustic old inn in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
- Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, Massachusetts– escape to the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts.
4. Explore any of New England’s many harvest festivals.
Here a few of the ones I go to, but there are a few in every state every weekend to choose from that you can look for here.
- Cape Cod Cranberry Harvest Celebration– The colors and tastes of cranberries are synonymous with fall. See how the fruit is harvested in this cute fall festival on the beautiful peninsula of Cape Cod. My family acquired a couple of the recipes that we make at Thanksgiving from this fair, such as our Cranberry P’Cake.
- Plymouth Cranberry Festival– Climb into a cranberry blog.
5. Drink freshly pressed apple cider.
- BF Clyde’s Apple Cider Mill in Old Mystic, Connecticut, is the oldest steam-powered cider mill in the US. After your tour, you can munch homemade cider donuts while listening to live music on the lawn.
6. Hiking is the best way to get a close-up view of our beautiful leaves.
Bridge over the Harvard River
Nature never disappoints. Get out into it, and it will elevate your mood! Here are some of my favorite spots!
- Stepping Stone Falls, West Greenwich, RI has small, long falls with trails that follow the river.
- Heublein Tower Tower in Talcott Mountain State Park, Simsbury, CT overlooks the whole state.
- Purgatory Chasm, Sutton, MA is great for bouldering and one of my kid’s favorite hikes.
- Tumbledown Mountain in Byron, ME has spectacular views and a pond for fishing at the top.
- Warren Falls, VT, has more massive falls and swimming holes.
- 5 Scenic, Family Hikes in Lincoln, New Hampshire
7. Go to a Pumpkin Festival
Just two of the over 5,000 intricately carved Jack-o-Lanterns you can see at Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island.
- Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular is a beautiful display of cut and lit pumpkins at Providence’s Roger William’s Zoo. Go on weeknights when it opens (at 6 p.m.) or expect long lines. At the zoo is also Spooky Zoo with trick-or-treating through the zoo for kids in costume on designated days.
- Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival– I love the beauty of pumpkins, but there is something very satisfying in watching one flying through the air after being slung from a trebuchet. Apparently, enough people agree to hold a festival around this idea.
Look at the list of New England’s Five Best Pumpkin Festivals.
8. Waterfire, Providence
Part of the Flames of Hope Waterfire is lighting up the Rhode Island Statehouse an uplifting pink.
9. Get scared at a haunted something.
New England is full of many places believed to be haunted, but even where we don’t have real hauntings we put on quite a show. Check out our numerous haunted houses, hayride, and trails.
- Scary Acres in West Greenwich, RI is one of our favorites and boasts four adventures, including shooting scary zombies with paintballs.
10. Carve a jack-o-lantern from a pumpkin picked from the field.
Find a pumpkin patch near you!
11. King Richard’s Faire
This massive renaissance celebration in Carver, MA is a recreation of England’s 16th century complete with jousts, market place, colossal turkey legs, and many shows. It is always a day that my children adore.
12. The Big E
The Eastern States Exposition takes place in West Springfield, Massachusetts. A huge New England fair, with everything you could imagine to eat, ride, and see. My favorite part is the statehouses, which are replicas of the New England capital buildings full of vendors with state-specific foods and items.
13. Visit some real-life colonial history.
Nothing says fall like Thanksgiving, native Americans, and pilgrims. Take this opportunity to learn about our country’s history first hand by visiting a few of these attractions located in New England:
- Plimoth Plantations (yes, that’s the original spelling)- Visit this living history museum to see how the pilgrims and Native Americans lived and celebrated their first fall in the New World after fleeing England.
- The Mayflower Boat and Plimoth Rock– Here you can see a model of the Mayflower and the actual Plimoth Rock which looks much different than I expected.
14. Visit a vineyard.
Enjoying my day at Jonathan Edwards Vineyards, Connecticut. Autumn is a perfect time to do some wine tasting while on a tour through the changing vines.
- We love to dine at Sharpe Hill Winery in Pomfret, CT, in the old farmhouse that has fantastic food in a rustic fall setting. You must have reservations well in advance.
- Jonathan Edward’s Winery- read about my fall wine tour there.
- The Newport Vineyards is a great place to have a relaxing lunch on the patio overlooking the vines. You can read more about it and the fun you can have in Newport, Rhode Island here.
The vines of Newport Vineyards.
15. Take a spooky ghost tour.
Be regaled by our area’s history, both real and lore. You may find yourself hearing things or looking over your shoulder more once you hear about the things that are said have gone on here. Find a ghost tour in any New England state.
- Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast– Not only can you tour 92 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, the house where Lizzie Borden was said to butcher her parents with an ax, but you can also even stay the night.
16. Visit Salem, Massachusetts.
Ye Olde Burying Ground in Salem, Massachusetts which is believed to be haunted.
Salem, Massachusetts, is scary and commercial, full of tours, museums and real and imagined haunted houses. This town was the locale of the famous Salem Witch Hunt Trials. Be sure to read my post A Day with My Boy Looking for Ghosts.
17. Embrace the season with some pumpkin-flavored everything.
- New Englanders are crazy about fall and Dunkin’ Donuts, which makes a delicious pumpkin muffin and spiced coffee.
- After hiking Purgatory Chasm in Sutton, Massachusetts try some pumpkin ice cream at the West End Creamery.
18. Take a hayride and get lost in a corn maze.
Working your way through a corn maze, such as this one at Connor Farms in Massachusetts, is a fun family activity and also a peaceful way to spend a fall day.
- Foster Family Farm– This family-run farm in South Windsor, Connecticut, has an interactive corn maze, pumpkin patch, animals, and lots of fall activities. You can even buy your mums here!
- Connors Farm- Read all about our full day of family fall fun.
Find a complete list of corn mazes and hayrides in New England.
19. Have a Picnic Amongst the Leaves.
Read on for some ideas for the best spots.
20. Learn all about how cranberries are harvested by visiting a cranberry farm.
Read all about my time at Stone Bridge Farm in Massachusetts.
Have a great fall, Y’all!
What are your favorite fall activities? I would love to hear in the comments. If you are planning a trip, be sure to read my Local’s Guide to New England and subscribe to get all my new New England posts as they are published.
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Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, this making me want to travel sooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!! – http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com
Such a great post! You can tell you took a ton of time and care on this! I love hiking & cidar! Loved visiting Salem too – its such a town full of history and charm
Fall is the absolute best, isn’t?! I liv ein VA and we have some pretty nice falls, but I’m sure New England is fabulous too! I lvoe going to wineries, so I’d definitely like to check those out.
Which falls do you like best? We drive through Virginia often.
It is a dream of mine to travel in New England in fall. It looks absolutely gorgeous. I’d love to see a cranberry bog too~ I think I need to plan at least 2 weeks to do it all. Maybe 3?
The states are quite unique and you want to get all the way up to Acadia too. It could be a full 2 weeks.
I am a summer kid through and through but Darcee absolutely loves the fall season so this is an amazing list of 15 things to do in the fall in New England!
Personally, I think she would love the apple cider tasting and the different festivals but for her the #1 idea is to be a leaf peeper! While I would love the Rennaissance Fest and exploring all of the Colonial History sites for sure!