A Gentleman's Farm in Vermont

New England is the vacation spot for active adults and their families who don’t necessarily like to sweat in the hot Florida sun and get sand between their toes. New Englanders have a reputation of being a fiercely independent lot. They are often outdoorsy types who like hunting, fishing and chopping wood.

We’ve been going up to New England on vacation since my grammar school days. My brother and I always looked forward to our summers spent in a cottage along the shores of Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire. Later, I would take my own family to a similarly bucolic lake setting in Vermont. Occasionally, we would end up on Cape Cod, clam digging; or on Martha’s Vineyard, celebrity watching.

Of course, New England in many ways also represents the cradle of American history: Plymouth, Boston, Concord, Lexington, etc. It pays to visit the historic sites whenever possible to get a sense of where we all came from. As such, New England has also served admirably as America’s incubator for artistic inspiration. Emerson, Hawthorne, Dickinson, Longfellow, Poe, King among many others had roots in New England. Henry David Thoreau’s sojourn on Walden Pond marked the beginnings of America’s now muscular environmental movement.

New England also serves as an oasis of privacy where it is still possible to lose oneself. J. D. Salinger, after having had his fill of being hounded by paparazzi, secluded himself at Cornish, NH, where the streets seldom have names and houses lack letter boxes. Many of its less than 2000 residents live out of sight of their neighbors. When, as sometimes happens, big city interviewers come into town, stop at the General Store and ask the patrons for directions to Salinger’s house, their inquiry is likely to be met with stone silence. New Englanders look out for their own. It seems like the old man had let it be known that he doesn’t want to be bothered.

Of late, we’ve been visiting friends in a similar town (possibly even more remote) on the Vermont side of the border. There’s a special feel about the place – the chill at night; the heat of day that brings the snakes out from under rock piles; the ‘hearing oneself think’ kind of quiet, except for the wind rustling in the tops of trees and the birds, and the distinct possibility of losing one’s bearings in the woods.

I haven’t had the pleasure of knowing all that New England is famous for. I haven’t personally witnessed fall there, when the trees are said to literally explode with brilliant color. I haven’t skied at New England’s famous mountain resort. I haven’t gone whale watching off the coast of Maine. But I can well imagine. My sole recent exposure (aside from a trip or two to Boston) has been a tiny farm in Halifax, VT. This alone qualified as a near mystical experience for someone who spends most of his life in the thick of one of a major eastern metro.

Do head up to New England if you can stand the quiet - and the ghosts. If you don’t happen to know anyone up there, there are plenty of charming inns. Google ‘New England: Bed and Breakfasts’ or ‘Cottage Rentals’ and you’ll have plenty to choose from. The only B&B I can personally vouch for is Taraden in Vermont. It’s run by friends of ours.