Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
New England Highlights
Following in the footsteps of Colonial rabble-rousers along
Boston's Freedom
Trail
(
Click here
)
.
Romping across the dunes at
Cape Cod National Seashore
(
Click here
).
Ogling the mansions and basking in music at folk and jazz festivals in
Newport
(
Click here
)
.
Wandering the cobbled Moby Dick-era streets of
Nantucket
(
Click here
)
.
Anticipating your next black-diamond run from America's last surviving single
chairlift at
Mad River Glen
(
Click here
)
.
Befriending the pretty brown cows at
Billings Farm
(
Click here
) in Woodstock.
Driving the
Kancamagus Highway
(
Click here
)
across the craggy White Moun-
tains.
Hiking and cycling the carriage roads of
Acadia National Park
(
Click here
)
.
Gawking at fall foliage in the
Berkshires
(
Click here
) and
Litchfield Hills
(
Click
History
When the first European settlers arrived, New England was inhabited by native Algon-
quians who lived in small tribes, raising corn and beans, hunting game and harvesting the
rich coastal waters.
English captain Bartholomew Gosnold landed at Cape Cod and sailed north to Maine
in 1602 but it wasn't until 1614 that Captain John Smith, who charted the region's coast-
line for King James I, christened the land 'New England.' With the arrival of the Pil-
grims at Plymouth in 1620, European settlement began in earnest. Over the next century
the colonies expanded, often at the expense of the indigenous people.
Although subjects of the British crown, New Englanders governed themselves with
their own legislative councils and they came to view their affairs as separate from those
of England. In the 1770s King George III imposed a series of costly taxes to pay for Eng-
land's involvement in costly wars. The colonists, unrepresented in the English parlia-
ment, protested under the slogan 'no taxation without representation.' Attempts to squash
the protests eventually led to battles at Lexington and Concord, setting off the War of
Independence. The historic result was the birth of the USA in 1776.
Following independence, New England became an economic powerhouse, its harbors
booming centers for shipbuilding, fishing and trade. New England's famed Yankee Clip-
