MID-ATLANTIC & NEW ENGLAND

MID-ATLANTIC & NEW ENGLAND

The three mid-Atlantic states – New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey – stand at the heart of the most populated and industrialized corner of the US. Although dominated in the popular imagination by the grey smokestacks of New Jersey and steel factories of Pennsylvania, these states actually encompass beaches, mountains, islands, lakes, forests, rolling green countryside and many worthwhile small cities and towns.

European settlement here was characterized by considerable shifts and turns: the Dutch, who arrived in the 1620s, were methodically squeezed out by the English, who in turn fought off the French challenge to secure control of the region by the mid-eighteenth century. The Native American population, including the Iroquois Confederacy and Lenni Lenape, had sided with the French against the English and were soon confined to reservations or pushed north into Canada. At first, the economy depended on the fur trade, though by the 1730s English Quakers, along with Amish and Mennonites from Germany, plus a few Presbyterian Irish, had made farming a significant force, their holdings extending to the western limits of the region.

All three states were important during the Revolution: more than half the battles were fought here, including major American victories at Trenton and Princeton in New Jersey. Upstate New York was geographically crucial, as the British forces knew that American control of the Hudson River would effectively divide New England from the other colonies. After the Revolution, industry became the region’s prime economic force, with mill towns springing up along the numerous rivers. By the mid-1850s the large coalfields of northeast Pennsylvania were powering the smoky steel mills of Pittsburgh and the discovery of high-grade crude oil in 1859 marked the beginning of the automobile age. Though still significant, especially in the regions near New York City, heavy industry has now largely been replaced by tourism as the economic engine.

Although many travellers to the East Coast do not venture much further than New York City itself, the region offers varied attractions, from the crashing Atlantic surf of Long Island, through the wooded Catskill Mountains and the imposing Adirondacks, occupying a quarter of the state, to the cultured and pastoral Finger Lakes. In the northwest corner of the state, beyond the Erie Canal cities along I-90, awesome Niagara Falls and artsy post-industrial Buffalo hug the Canadian border. Pennsylvania is best known for the fertile Pennsylvania Dutch country and the two great cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. New Jersey, often pictured as one big industrial carbuncle, offers shameless tourist pleasures along the shore – from the boardwalk and casinos of Atlantic City to the small-town charm of Cape May.

The entire region is well covered by public transport, and metropolitan areas have good local transport systems that radiate out to outlying areas, meaning that only in the wilder forest and mountain areas do you really need a car. Car rental is expensive out of New York City, so better done from one of the other cities.

NEW ENGLAND

The states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine – collectively known as New England – exemplify America at its most nostalgic: country stores that brim with cider and gourds, snow-dusted hillsides, miles of blazing autumn foliage, clam shacks, cranberry bogs and an unruly ocean that distinguishes and defines it all. Scratch just beneath the surface, and you’ll also uncover fiercely independent locals, innovative chefs, some of the country’s best contemporary art museums and a profound sense of history.

Boston especially is celebrated as the birthplace of American independence – so many seminal events took place here, or nearby at Lexington and Concord. New England was also home to many of the preeminent figures of American literature, from Mark Twain and Henry Thoreau to Emily Dickinson and Jack Kerouac. The Ivy League colleges – Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth et al – are the oldest in the country and remain hugely influential, continually channelling new life into towns like Cambridge and New Haven and setting a decidedly liberal tone throughout the region.

To the east, the peninsula of Cape Cod flexes off Massachusetts like a well-tanned arm. Here you will find three hundred miles of shoreline, sea roses, tumbling sand dunes and the fantastic isles of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. In the western part of the state, the tranquil Berkshires offer the best in summer festivals as well as fascinating art museums. The sights of Connecticut and Rhode Island tend to be urban, but away from I-95 you’ll find plenty of tranquil pockets, particularly in the way of Newport and Block Island, fifty miles south of Providence. Boston is a vibrant and enchanting city from which to set off north, where the population begins to thin out (and the seafood gets better as you go). The rest of Massachusetts is rich in historical and literary sights, while further inland, the lakes and mountains of New Hampshire and Maine offer rural wildernesses to rival any in the nation. Maine is especially known for its coastline, dotted with lighthouses and wild blueberry bushes. The beloved country roads of Vermont offer pleasant wandering through rural towns and serene forests; during your travels, be sure to pick up some maple syrup, a local delicacy, for your pancakes back home.

The best time to visit New England is in late September and October, when visitors flock to see the magnificent autumn foliage. Particularly vivid in Vermont, it’s an event that’s not to be missed.