A Picturesque, Quieter New England Fall Drive

Article and photo (Diamond Hill Reservoir, Cumberland, R.I.) by Eric H.
As others spend their fall travel at popular New England destinations alongside a cast of thousands they were trying to escape from, you can take the road (relatively) less taken and enjoy a peaceful day in Wrentham, Mass., northern Rhode Island, and the northeast Connecticut area.

Start at downtown Wrentham on Route 1A with its charming village green and have a nice breakfast or lunch at the Looking Glass Cafe. It's a friendly, bright diner-like dining spot with locals joining in in the art of conversation over cups of coffee. Downtown Wrentham also features a nice mix of locally-owned shops, including Tootsie's ice cream parlor and Marcia's Sweet Pantry with its delicious homemade treats. It's especially pleasing to get out and walk the town common to enjoy small town New England life.

Follow Route 1A south to Route 121 south (West St.) a few miles past the rolling countryside and farms into the quaint Wrentham neighborhood of Sheldonville. Here, you'll find the Sheldonville Country Store (1063 West St.) for convenience store-like items and off Route 1A at 207 Arnold St., the Big Apple Farm. Here, you'll find a great selection of pumpkins, apples (call ahead to find out if there's still apple picking), a bakery, farm stand with local produce and an ice cream stand with Richardson's ice cream. Pumpkin ice cream is the appropriate flavor of the month for October!

Back on Route 121, go north past the Sheldonville Country Store and take a right onto Burnt Swamp Rd., following the signs to Adam's Farm (the parking lot is right on Summerbrown Rd.). A wonderful little seasonal destination, this peaceful farm sells apples, cornstalks, mums, hay, Indian corn, candy apples, cider and gourds. Adams Farm also features hay rides, a corn maze and animals (cows, horses, goats)! It's best to arrive on the weekend when things are in full operation.

From Adam's Farm, continue on Burnt Swamp Rd for a few minutes until arriving at the beautiful Diamond Hill (Cumberland) Reservoir. Isolated, scenic and with some flourishes of fall foliage, this is an incredibly beautiful area with expansive water views!

Follow the reservoir back to Route 114, take a right and arrive a few minutes later at the Ice Cream Machine. Regarded by us, VisitingNewEngland.com, as the best ice cream stand in New England, the Ice Cream Machine features thick and creamy unique homemade flavors like cinnamon, key lime pie, brownie batter, ginger, raspberry cheesecake and raspberry truffle. A canopied picnic area provides a restful place to enjoy your choice of ice cream.

On Route 114 a few minutes from the Ice Cream Machine is Phantom Farms, another wonderful roadside farm stand. Phantom Farms is best known for apple picking (again call ahead at 401-333-2240) and has a country bake and gift shop, garden center, and flower shop. Phantom Farms has a busy Columbus Day Weekend calendar of events with a pumpkin harvest festival and Jack-O-Lantern illumination.

After enjoying the Ice Cream Machine and Phantom Farms, take a right from the parking lot onto Route 114 for several miles until reaching the Route 295 south exit. Here, you'll have to endure a few miles of highway until reaching Route 44 west. Although Route 44 is somewhat commercial until the trip-back-in-time Smithfield neighborhood of Greenville (about 15 minutes from Route 44/295), you'll be amply rewarded with scenes of rural New England from this point on. Chepachet features a few antique stores and the Brown and Hopkins Country Store -- the oldest continuously running country store in the United States (1809). Past Chepachet, you'll pass pleasing bodies of water until reaching Putnam, Conn. (about 20 minutes from Chepachet). Known by many as the antique capital of New England, Putnam features 17 shops totalling 50,000 sq. ft. of merchandise. The centerpiece of antique shopping in Putnam is the Antiques Marketplace, at 109 Main St. (860- 928-0442), with four floors of over 350 booths, showcasing more than 50,000 pieces of antiques spanning three centuries! You'll also experience a trip back in time feeling in Putnam with its slow pace, old Montgomery Ward sign still intact, and a generally friendly feeling. Putnam also offers several restaurants, including 85 Main, which looks like a terrific fine dining establishment, (run by Barry Jessurun and Brian Jessurun, owners of the landmark Vanilla Bean Cafe in neighboring Pomfret, Conn.).

Speaking of Pomfret and the Vanilla Bean Cafe, we love the town's classic village green and surrounding countryside and the Bean's cozy, restored 1800s farmhouse personality with delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners. From the Vanilla Bean, take Route 169 north into the classic New England town of Woodstock with its beautiful town common, series of well maintained big old homes and tall white steeple church look. In Woodstock, you'll find the Inn at Woodstock, a charming 1816 inn consisting of a Federal/Georgian style mansion with a carriage house and two barns. Each room has its own unique personality and the Inn also features a fine, upscale restaurant.

We've received reports that the Woodstock area is near peak foliage, so enjoy!

Going Route 169 south, again, through Pomfret and all the way to Caterbury (about a half hour from Woodstock) offers one of the best scenic drives in New England with nearly 200 pre-1855 homes along with farms, historic churches, rolling country hills and quintessential Connecticut village green centers. Here, you'll understand why northeast Connecticut has been called "The Quiet Corner."

From Canterbury, take Route 14 east to Route 395 north (highway) back to Route 44 east to Route 114 to Cumberland to Route 121 north, en route to your original starting point of Wrentham.

If you decide to travel this region, we hope you enjoy its special qualities along the way. Please let us know how everything turned out!

Best regards,
Eric (your New England travel friend)

Adam's Farm, Cumberland, R.I.

Vanilla Bean Cafe, Pomfret, Conn.

The Big Apple Farm, Wrentham, Mass.

Old-fashioned Putnam, Conn.

Phantom Farms, Cumberland, R.I.

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New England Town of the Day: Barrington, RI

Article and photo by Eric H.

Barrington, RI, doesn't get the press that nearby Newport and Bristol receive, but that doesn't mean it's any less of a idyllic New England coastal town. Primarily an upscale residential community, Barrington features plenty of splendid water views with the Warren River on the east and the Narragansett Bay on the west and south. Barrington is also located on the East Bay Bike Path, spanning 14 miles from Providence to Bristol with many water views. Although the downtown isn't as clearly defined as Newport or Bristol, it, nevertheless, has a pleasant look with historic, tree-shaded town buildings, boutiques, a book store and a few restaurants. Barrington's location is terrific, close to Providence and Newport making it an ideal, scenic place to live, or travel as part of a day trip. The water views are the real draw here, bringing you into a true coastal New England town, thus proving that you don't have to religiously follow the travel guides to find the best of New England.

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Northern Rhode Island Near or at Fall Foliage Peak

Article and photo by Eric H.

Northern Rhode Island currently offers many areas of peak fall foliage. One of New England's more underrated travel destinations, northern Rhode Island has many roadside farm stands and small restaurants, scenic rural views and historic mill towns and cities within the Blackstone Valley.

We recently drove through the Cumberland, RI, area, where the leaves around the Cumberland Reservoir area were spectacular!

One great way to leaf peep northern Rhode Island (and bordering Connecticut) is through the Blackstone Valley Fall Foliage and Shopping Train Excursion to Putnam, CT, departing on Sat., Oct. 25, 2008, at 9 a.m. from the Ann and Hope parking lot in Cumberland, RI. More information of the train ride can be viewed here, including ways to purchase tickets.

For more information on the Blackstone Valley, read a previous post at the weekly New England Travel Vacation and Gazette at http://newenglandtravelnews.blogspot.com/2008/10/impressions-of-blackstone-valley-rhode.html or the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council.

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Impressions of the Blackstone Valley, Rhode Island

Article and Photo (of Pleasant View Orchards) by Eric H.

Initially, the Blackstone Valley Region didn't impress me. This northern Rhode Island region seemed full of faceless ranches, gritty small towns and cities and enough strip malls to have me just go back home and stay there for a good, long time.

Over time, my perspective of the Blackstone Valley changed, perhaps suggesting that you can't always judge a book by its cover. Soon, I discovered the quiet, rural back roads with farms and open lands that appeared to be endless -- how could they fit these long stretches of scenic beauty into such a small state, I thought? I also began to appreciate the historical significance behind those gritty towns and cities, and enough excellent restaurants, farm stands, antique shops and country stores to become even more of a fan of this underrated region.

Upon further inspection, I loved driving past through the pleasant, small town business district in Greenville, and the ancient community of Chepachet with the Brown and Hopkins Country Store (the oldest continuously running country store in the United States) and antique stores. Old Stone Mill Antiques and Treasures is a few steps from Brown and Hopkins and features a tremendous variety of antiques and collectibles in a quaint 1814 textile mill setting by the tranquil Chepachet River.

I found towns like Harrisville probably looking almost like they did 150 years ago, especially in the barren, laid back town center. In downtown Harrisville, there's a fascinating place called the Western Hotel, a former 1700s stagecoach stop that looks like something out of the wild west with its saloon-type look. The Western Hotel is actually quite family-friendly and serves excellent steaks, pizzas and Rhode Island clam chowder. I also love eating a reasonably-priced family-style chicken dinners at Wright's Farm in Nasonville, where thousands of people flock together for the weekend in this large restaurant with a gift shop. Then there's the Pawtucket Red Sox games at McCoy Stadium -- with parking, a family-friendly atmosphere, cheap general admission and the chance to see one of the best farm systems in Major League Baseball. Roadside farm stands like Pleasant View Orchards (with fresh-picked apples, homemade cider and pies, fudge, etc.) and salt-of-the-earth diners like the Pleasant View Diner, both on Pleasant View Ave. in Smithfield, bring me back to a time where simplicity and a Sunday family drive in the country helped contribute to a happy childhood. Another delightful place is the Ice Cream Machine ice cream stand in Cumberland where I have enjoyed some really great cinnamon and cherry chocolate chip ice creams, and look forward to trying flavors like pumpkin, green tea, ginger and apple!

I'm can hardly wait to further explore the Blackstone Valley. It's like an undiscovered travel treasure that bypassed me for 40-plus years. I'm particularly interested in visiting Pawtucket's Slater Mill -- the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Here, I look forward to the exhibits, collections of artifacts, grounds and gallery, research library, theatre and gift shops, concerts, demonstrations, lectures, family programs, specialized tours, holiday programs and exhibits of fine craft and artwork. I didn't realize this historical community was so intricately developed yet so close to our home. We would also like to experience the Samuel Slater Canal Boat described on its Web site as a "British Overnight and Cruising Experience on the Blackstone River aboard this Unique Bed & Breakfast."

There's also the Blackstone River Bikeway, 10 miles of bike path are open to the public in Central Falls, Lincoln and Cumberland. I also came across a charming looking restaurant called the Tavern on Main St., in Chepachet, that was built in the 1700s and features what looks like a nice traditional restaurant menu of chicken, steak and seafood dishes.

Most importantly, we look forward to attending local events that bring out the true flavor of this region. Although cities like Woonsocket, Pawtucket and Central Falls have some city elements that are worrisome and downright depressing, all communities in the Blackstone Valley region that I have traveled so far seem to have some wonderfully friendly people as well as enough attractions and events to make for many return visits.

We highly recommend viewing the Blackstone Valley region Web Site for more information on this wonderful travel destination.

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