5 Fun Escapes Around New England to Make this Fall

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The Berkshires, MA | Chatham, MA | Portsmouth, NH | Southern Vermont | Sunapee, NH

Southern Vermont

A weekend of mountain adventures and craft breweries awaits in the Green Mountains, now turned golden for fall. By Jamie Coelho

A foliage view of Manchester. Via Getty Images/C Louis Creations.

A fall escape to the green mountains delivers a kaleidoscopic landscape with rivers, lakes and hidden swimming holes, plus hiking trails and craft breweries. We’re headed to Peru and Manchester in southern Vermont for a family getaway geared toward kiddo-friendly adventures that adults will love, too. 

FRIDAY AFTERNOON: We drive directly to the Seesaw’s Lodge (seesawslodge.com) in Peru, which is more like a resort with three private cabins and a lodge with seven tree-themed private suites (Birch, Maple, Cherry, Beech, Oak, Black Walnut and Maple). The destination has an onsite restaurant, Johnny Seesaw’s, and a Warming Hut that serves casual wood-fired pizzas alongside a full bar set up next to a tranquil pond. The spot earned a scandalous reputation a hundred years ago when Russian logger Ivan Sesow built it as a roadside dancehall called Wonder View Log Pavilion. It was known for its “sin cabins” and bootleg liquor, but the future owners straightened things out when they bought the property in 1938 and dubbed it Johnny Seesaw’s in homage to its hard-partying founder. 

The patio and pond view at Seesaw’s Lodge. Photo by Jamie Coelho. 

We stay inside a luxurious, well-appointed three-bedroom cabin (one of three) called the “Butterfly” cabin. It has a den with a kitchenette and a king bedroom with bathroom downstairs, and there are two more bedrooms with their own bathrooms and a sitting room with a fireplace upstairs. The views overlook the mountains and wildflower-covered hills. We don’t want to leave, but hunger calls, so we answer it in the form of tacos.

The luxurious common room at Seesaw’s Lodge. Courtesy of Seesaw’s Lodge.

FRIDAY EVENING: Turns out, some of the best Mexican-inspired food in New England can be found in the wilds of Vermont. Dinner at El Banditos Grill (elbanditosgrillvt.com) involves building our own crunchy and soft tacos and burritos with base meats of slow-cooked carnitas, chicken, steak and pork or veggies with a mix of toppings and hot sauces. Washed down with a salty margarita after a long drive, we’re ready for a good night’s sleep, but not until after a few heated games of Uno with the kids back at the cabin.

Tacos at El Banditos Grill. Photo by Jamie Coelho

SATURDAY MORNING: We head to Bromley Market (bromleymarketanddeli.com) next door for an early morning on-the-go breakfast (and Vermont souvenirs). A quick stop fortifies our small crowd with hot coffee, bacon and egg sandwiches on Portuguese muffins, cinnamon buns and house-baked desserts for later. The shop also stocks Vermont maple syrup, maple candy, local cheese and smoked meats to bring a taste of Vermont back home. Next, we visit Hildene (hildene.org), the Lincoln family home perched on a hill overlooking mountains and a river (“hil” stands for “hill” and “dene” means “valley with stream”).

The gardens at Hildene, the Lincoln family home. Courtesy of Hildene.

Here, we learn about Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, and how he became president of the Pullman Company (there’s a 1903 Pullman car on the property). The home is filled with Lincoln family artifacts, including Abraham Lincoln’s top hat and mirror, and the mansion’s grounds include beautiful gardens, an observatory, an apiary, goat dairy and cheese-making facility and more.  

Abraham Lincoln’s top hat at Hildene. Photo by Jamie Coelho

SATURDAY AFTERNOON: It’s off to Bromley Mountain (bromley.com) to ride the alpine slide and conquer the Treetop Adventure Course complete with ladders, balance beam crossings and zip lines through the tops of the trees on the mountain. Double Play Passes ($89) include two-and-a-half hours on the treetop course, followed by unlimited rides on the alpine slide and access to all the other Mountain Adventure Park activities, including trampolines, an inflatable spider climb, water slide and more. Youngsters under the forty-eight-inch height limit can ride the slide free, but must take the plunge with an adult who is eighteen-plus. Our passes are good for all day, so we head off-site for a late lunch.

The Treetop Adventure Course at Bromley Mountain. Photo by Jamie Coelho

Honeypie (eatathoneypie.com) in nearby Jamaica serves fried chicken sandwiches, burgers and fries, plus maple-flavored milk shakes and soft-serve ice cream twists. The former gas-station-turned-counter-service restaurant has outdoor picnic tables and indoor counter seating. After eating our fill, we return to Bromley Mountain for a few more slide rides and an epic waterslide plunge. Be sure to pack bathing suits because you’ll get wetter than you think!

Honeypie restaurant. Courtesy of Honeypie.

SATURDAY EVENING: We head back to the Butterfly cabin to hang clothes to dry (my jeans are soaked!). Then we walk over to dinner at Johnny Seesaw’s (seesawslodge.com/johnny-seesaws). We sit on the porch and dig into PEI mussels mariniere (order an extra side of Vermont bread with maple butter to sop up the sauce). The kids devour steak and a burger, both served with fries, while the adults savor pan-seared salmon and roasted halibut served with seasonal farm produce, accented by cocktails made with Vermont’s otherworldly Barr Hill Gin. After dinner, we head down to the pond and scope out the Hut. We grab a few s’mores kits for the kids and order more cocktails to sip (we can walk back to the cabin, after all) while listening to live music on the patio. The kids run around the pond, then we head to the lodge’s arcade, where there’s air hockey and a handy claw machine stocked with rubber duckies of all personalities. Thankfully, $1 earns a guaranteed prize; it’s play until you win. We go home with seven quirky ducks all in a row.   

PEI mussels at Johnny Seesaw’s.

SUNDAY MORNING: It’s slightly rainy, but that doesn’t dull our spirits. We clear out of the cabin, then head to nearby Bob’s Diner (bobsdiner.business.site) for a hearty breakfast of omelets, waffles and French toast with Vermont smoked bacon. We ponder luxury Manchester Center outlet shopping (manchesterdesigneroutlets.com) with stores like Michael Kors, Marimekko and Vineyard Vines, but opt for a cheese farm with a petting zoo instead. North Meadow Farm (northmeadowfarms.com) makes its own cheese and yogurt and sells grass-fed beef and free-range chicken as well as eggs. The best part is the petting farm, where kids can snuggle bunnies, feed goats and catch a glimpse of both piglets and a giant 600-pound heifer (don’t get any ideas, chefs!).

Goats at North Meadow Farm. Photo by Jamie Coelho

SUNDAY AFTERNOON: We drive to the Stratton Mountain Resort gondola ride (stratton.com), hoping the clouds will clear. From the top, you can usually see across four states including the red, yellow and gold-flecked White Mountains, Adirondacks, Berkshires and Green Mountain ranges. We’re out of luck with rain today, but vow to return when blue skies beckon. We make our way home with stops at a few breweries along the way. About a fifty-minute ride away is Hermit Thrush Brewery (hermitthrushbrewery.com) in Brattleboro, where passionfruit and farmhouse sours rule. We do a quick tasting there, then continue toward home. 

A passionfruit sour at Hermit Thrush Brewery in Brattleboro. Photo by Jamie Coelho

SUNDAY EVENING: We end our weekend adventure with dinner and a beer at Moon Hill Brewing Co. (moonhillbrewing.com) in Grafton, Massachusetts. The kids split a cheese pizza, while I dig into a Thai noodle and peanut salad while sipping the signature Candy Mountain, Charlie! peach kettle-soured wheat ale. The moral of today is when the weather won’t cooperate, there’s always beer. 

NUTS & BOLTS 

Travel Time: Three hours and twenty minutes from Providence.

Miles: 183 miles. 

How to Get There: I-90 West to I-91 North.

Best Season to Go: Fall, summer and winter (avoid mud and sticks seasons).

Bucket List for Next Time: Hiking on Bromley Mountain.

Worth a Detour: Hit up the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham or Weston, Vermont, on your way up to shop for Vermont foods and artisan-made goods.

The Vermont Country Store in Weston. Photo by Jamie Coelho

INDEX

The Berkshires, MA | Chatham, MA | Portsmouth, NH | Southern Vermont | Sunapee, NH