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A Photo Tour through New England

It’s been thirteen days since we’ve returned home, though it’s felt longer. Hard to believe that not even two weeks ago, my boyfriend and I were sitting street-side at a café with cannoli and cappuccinos and two healthy pours of chianti, not a Zoom meeting or to-do list in sight. It had just rained, and a rainbow arced over rows of brick tenement houses that lined the charming city street. Harried locals laden with kids and groceries, enthusiastic tour groups, couples out for a night on the town, all passed by our table and alike took note of the sky.

One man, seemingly unconcerned with meteorological phenomena, busied himself with the human spectacle that was unfolding behind us. No doubt destined for the bannals of TikTok, he set to recording and providing commentary to a long line of people that wrapped around the block into the very same bakery from which our cannoli were recently procured.

Turning my attention back to the assortment of pastries before me, I attempted to answer the question that my boyfriend had just posed – “What possesses a person to film something like people standing around in a line?” When no satisfactory response came to mind, I countered by asking him if the cannolo he was quickly in the process of devouring answered his previous question – “Why would anyone stand in line for cannoli?” And while he did admit to the superiority of these particular specimens to others he’s tried, he remains unconvinced that they are worth the wait in line.

But I am not here today to discuss matters of taste, poor or not, nor the merit of cannoli, even a particularly good one, but to share with you tidings of my recent trip. If my above description leads you to believe that the setting for this holiday was some picturesque European town, one where people might queue or wait on line for their baked goods, I’m afraid I have mislead you. In fact, other than the airspace we traversed to reach the other side of the country, we never left American soil.

Though it could be said in a way, with a bit of stretching, that the experience was off-continent, as on that particular day, we found ourselves in Boston’s Little Italy, also known as the North End and the home of Paul Revere (himself an avid fan of the cannolo, I hear). It was our last full day in Boston and the final stop on our tour of New England.

It was not the trip we had set out to take. But as with many well-laid plans that went to hell in the travel-restricted pandemic era, it was the trip that was available to us. Originally, we were meant to be in Europe for nine days – three nights in Prague and five in Lisbon with a one-night stop over in Munich in between. From there, we were to spend several days visiting my grandparents in upstate New York before flying home.

The months leading up to our trip looked promising, with relatively open international travel, but as the dates drew closer, things began to look increasingly dubious. In late August the EU recommended that all non-essential travel from the U.S. cease, and with that, our big plans were finally laid to waste. So less than two weeks out from our original travel dates, we changed course entirely. Building off of the one piece that would remain constant, upstate New York, we decided to turn our European tour into a New England road trip. The new itinerary had us in Vermont for three nights and New Hampshire and Boston for two each, with six nights upstate at the grandparents’ on the first leg and one night in New York City on the tail end.

For those unfamiliar with American geography (and as a reminder for any like myself who keeps forgetting), the state of New York is not considered to be a part of the New England region. I will therefore restrict the photo essay that follows to the club members of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Though we did not make it to Rhode Island on this particular trip, I’m cheating and including photos from my past travels there – all in the name of providing you with a more comprehensive account of the region.

As to the remaining two New England states, I do not have pictures of either to share here, but let the record show that we did manage to visit both during our trip (if you count a five-minute detour into Maine from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just to say that we did it and a traffic-clogged slog through Connecticut to get from Massachusetts to New York). What follows are predominantly images of the built environment – brick-lined city streets, colonial churches, grand houses – that speak to both the typical style and diversity as well as the history of New England architecture. But to begin, some images of the region’s natural beauty. We start in the Green Mountain state, after all.

Vermont

The hills are alive at the Von Trapp Family Lodge | Stowe
Early fall foliage
Hiking to the Von Trapp Chapel
View of the Trapp Family Lodge
Apple picking at Scott Farm Orchard | Dummerston
On the National Register of Historic Places, Scott Farm has been in active cultivation since 1791
More of the picturesque Scott Farm, with views of the Stone Trust Center
Bethany United Church of Christ | Montpelier
The Gothic Christ Episcopal Church | Montpelier
Small town America – A view to the street from The North Branch Cafe | Montpelier
Church Street towards the First Unitarian Universalist Church | Burlington
Strolling through the pedestrian shopping Church Street Marketplace
The Greek Revival Follet House with views of Lake Champlain | Burlington
The Main Street | Middlebury
The Congregational Church of Middlebury, founded 1790
The Middlebury Inn, a Historic Hotel of America and our accommodations for our first two nights in Vermont
A covered bridge, not particularly historic (built in 1970), but quintessential Vermont nonetheless | Quechee
 The Inn on Putney Road Bed and Breakfast – built in the 1930s to resemble a French chateau – our home away from home on our third night in Vermont | Brattleboro

New Hampshire

The former Sacred Heart Church, a 1934 Gothic Revival-style structure made from sandstone and concrete, now converted luxury condominiums | Concord
A mid-nineteenth century stone building houses the New Hampshire Historical Society | Concord
The Baker-Berry Library clock and bell tower were designed in 1928 and modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia | Dartmouth College, Hanover
The Folsom Tavern was a popular meeting place during the Revolutionary War and even hosted George Washington on his own New England tour in 1789 | Exeter
Brick and ivy alley | Portsmouth
Unexpectedly, there are two Frank Lloyd Wright homes in NH – the only two in New England open to the public | Zimmerman House, Manchester
The front elevation of the Zimmerman House
Down the street from the Zimmerman House is the Kalil House, one of seven Usonian Automatics ever constructed
The backside of the Kalil House

Massachusetts

The Neoclassical Christian Science Plaza | Boston
The Mary Baker Eddy Library, home of the Mapparium
The c. 1713 Old State House, site of the 1770 Boston Massacre
The c. 1680 Paul Revere House, the oldest remaining structure in downtown Boston, located just steps from the city’s finest cannoli 
A rainbow appears over the North End’s Hanover Street
It’s not all brick and colonials here | Pearl and Congress Streets
The 1870 Victorian Gothic Memorial Hall | Harvard University, Cambridge
Harvard’s Adolphus Busch Hall, erected 1914-1916 | Cambridge

Rhode Island

Colonial and Federal era homes line the “Mile of History” on Benefit Street | Providence
View of the McKim, Mead & White designed Rhode Island State House from Benefit Street
The front elevation of the State House, built between 1895 and 1904 of Georgian marble
Founded in 1638, the First Baptist Church in America is just that – the oldest Baptist church congregation in the U.S.
A variety of architectural styles can be found in Providence’s College Hill Historic District
The Beaux-Arts John Carter Brown Library, Brown University
The 1881 Romanesque Sayles Hall, Brown University
A statue of Marcus Aurelius behind Sayles Hall
Across the river, the Georgian Revival Providence County Courthouse
A boy skates on a WWI Memorial, Memorial Park
A view of the 1892 châteauesque Ochre Court from the Cliff Walk | Newport
Ochre Court is Newport’s second largest mansion
The Vanderbilts’ Gilded Age Marble House
Another of Providence’s “summer cottages”, The Elms
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