8 Little-Known Towns In New England
Mystic's shipyards launched more than 600 vessels along its river between 1784 and 1919, and the village now holds the largest maritime museum in the United States. Castine has guarded the same Penobscot Bay peninsula in Maine since the 1600s. Stowe runs a 5.5-mile recreation path under Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak. None of them headline the usual New England itinerary. The eight small towns below trade the crowds for coastline, covered bridges, and a deep bench of local history.
Mystic, Connecticut
Mystic straddles the Mystic River on the Connecticut coast, and its shipbuilding past is the whole draw. The yards here turned out more than 600 vessels between 1784 and 1919, and the Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, has since grown into the largest maritime museum in the country across a 19-acre riverfront site. Its centerpiece is the Charles W. Morgan, an 1841 whaleship and the last wooden whaler still afloat. Downtown, the 1922 Mystic River Bascule Bridge counterweights itself open for passing boats, worth timing if you can. The Mystic Museum of Art carries works from the early Mystic Art Colony, the river runs cruises and rentals, and Mystic Pizza, yes, that one, still sells slices off the main drag.
Little Compton, Rhode Island
Little Compton hangs off Rhode Island's southeastern corner, hemmed by the Atlantic Ocean to the south and the Sakonnet River to the west. Its history runs deep and well-kept: the Wilbor House dates to 1690, the Friends Meeting House and cemetery to 1815, and the Stone House to 1854. The Little Compton Historical Society gathers the rest into a museum of exhibits and programs. Out at Sakonnet Point, the Sakonnet Light stands offshore on its own rock, best seen from the beach. Goosewing and South Shore beaches handle the swimming, fishing, and picnicking, and Donovan Studio gives art a stop in town.
Albany, New Hampshire
Albany packs fewer than 800 people into a patch of New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest, at the mouth of Mount Washington Valley. Its landmark is the 120-foot Albany Covered Bridge, which carries the Swift River crossing off the Kancamagus Highway. Most of the town's outdoors line that road. The Rocky Gorge Scenic Area runs a footbridge over the river where it narrows into a gorge, and Lower Falls draws swimmers to the pool below its rocks. The Russell-Colbath House preserves a 19th-century home with period furnishings and archaeological finds, and Almost There Restaurant handles lunch.
Woodstock, Vermont
Woodstock sits in Vermont's Windsor County with three covered bridges in and around town: Taftsville, Lincoln, and Middle. The Billings Farm & Museum runs a working dairy alongside exhibits on Vermont farm life, a film, and an 1890 farmhouse. Next door, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park centers on an 1805 mansion later remodeled in Queen Anne style, along with the conservation history that came with it. The First Congregational Church went up in 1807, and the Woodstock Town Hall Theatre still screens films downtown.
Castine, Maine
Castine occupies a peninsula over Penobscot Bay in Maine, drained by the Bagaduce River and home to the Maine Maritime Academy. It is one of the oldest towns in the state, with a history reaching the 1600s and permanent settlement in the 1760s. The past sits in plain view: Fort Madison dates to 1811, and the Castine Historical Society and Wilson Museum hold the documents and artifacts. The bay and the Bagaduce open up for boating, kayaking, and fishing, and the Dyce Head Lighthouse (1828) marks the point. Dennett's at the Wharf puts a meal over the water.
Stowe, Vermont
Stowe runs as a four-season resort town in Vermont, busiest in winter when Stowe Mountain Resort works the slopes of Mount Mansfield, the state's highest peak. The same terrain turns to hiking and climbing the rest of the year. The Stowe Recreation Path, a nationally known 5.5-mile route for walking, biking, and jogging, links the village to Topnotch through the valley. The Gold Brook Covered Bridge stands just outside town, and a five-minute drive plus a short hike reaches the roughly 85-foot Moss Glen Falls, often billed as the tallest in Vermont. The Stowe Theatre Guild keeps the evenings busy.
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge, in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, holds the world's largest collection of Norman Rockwell's work at the Norman Rockwell Museum, more than 100,000 items counting photographs, letters, and business papers. History fills the rest of the roster: Chesterwood (1896), the 1739 Mission House, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Naumkeag, an 1880s mansion and garden, rewards anyone into architecture or botany. The 372-acre Stockbridge Bowl handles swimming, paddling, and waterskiing, and Art on Main Gallery rounds out the art scene.
Block Island, Rhode Island
Officially New Shoreham, Block Island floats off Rhode Island's coast in the Atlantic, and it runs on lighthouses and sand. The Southeast Lighthouse (1875) and North Lighthouse (1867) bracket the island, the latter near its northern tip with open ocean views. Seventeen miles of beach ring the shore, with Crescent, Ballard's, and Mansion among the best known. On the southern shore, the Mohegan Bluffs rise about 150 feet in clay cliffs where, by local tradition, a Mohegan war party was driven over the edge by the island's Niantic defenders around 1590. The Block Island Historical Society Museum keeps the documented past, and The Oar serves lunch after.
A Quieter Side of New England
These eight cover a lot of New England in a small footprint: Mystic's whaleships and Castine's colonial peninsula on the water, Stowe and Woodstock's covered bridges and mountains inland, Block Island's cliffs and Stockbridge's Rockwell archive out toward the edges. They share a habit of keeping their history without trading on it. See the marquee stops once, and these are the towns that fill in the rest of the picture.
