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Spring is fickle in the Northeast, but this list of the 8 best New England day trips will reward you for taking a trip outside, no matter how the weather is behaving.
The Best Day Trips in New England
If autumn is New England’s glorious crown, then spring is her dedicated servant, setting up the countryside for warmer weather and all of earth’s beautiful colors.
In forming our list of best New England day trips we take advantage of spring weather conditions to explore the New England destinations that don their finest at summer’s early wakening. So, take a look below, pick a day, and get out and explore.
1. Pick a Pack of Posies at a Rhode Island Tulip Farm
Keriann and Jeroen Koeman, owners of Wicked Tulips in Johnstown, Rhode Island, are the only tulip bulb growers on the east coast. Every spring, they open the fields for a pick-your-own fest of color.
Since starting their New England eco-friendly endeavor in 2015, the couple has seen a tremendous response to their pick-your-own tulip days. Each year New England residents and visitors flock to the fields to gather armloads of fragrant blooms. However, just as spring is unpredictable in New England, so is tulip growing. Shoots can sprout any time from late February into April. For up-to-the-minute updates growing condistions, be sure to check the farm’s bloom report.
To afford visitors a better experience and protect the fragile blooms, Wicked Tulip has instituted a ticketing system, so despite the fickle spring weather forecast, you’ll need to plan ahead.
Weekend slots in particular sell out fast, as locals often take day trips in New England. But don’t be surprised to see week days fill up as well, particularly as the temperatures really start to warm.
To find out when picking will start or to reserve your slot, visit the farm’s website. And keep in mind, visitors who arrive without a pre-purchased ticket will be turned away.
2. Pick Your Own Strawberries at Brown’s Harvest
This New England destination is more than a place to visit. It’s an institution.
The Brown family began harvesting crops from New England’s rocky soil as far back as the late 1800s. Over the years, they’ve grown a variety of products from valuable shade leaf tobacco to fruits and vegetables.
Today, Brown’s Harvest offers pick-your-own strawberries, blueberries and pumpkins, nicely covering the warmer New England months with a steady offering of delights. It’s a real incentive to get outside for those of us who like to harvest some of the ingredients we’ll need for breakfast or dessert.
Picking is easy in well-drained sandy soil and prices are reasonable, with strawberries coming in at $2.99 a pound in the past. We picked two flats in less than an hour.
To find out when picking begins, check the farm’s website. Gathering your own fresh fruit is definitely one of the best New England day trips.
3. Find Connecticut’s Lost Village
It isn’t often that you get to trod where ghostly footsteps echo, and that’s part of the allure of the Westledge trail, located in the McClean Game refuge in Granby, Connecticut as well as land trust properties in neighboring Simsbury.
The path traces miles of history, starting at the trailhead on Firetown road. Not far in, you’ll be lured easily off the path by the sound of a roaring waterfall.
If the weather is warm, it’s a great place to cool off, and you might want to take the respite. Shortly after, the real fun begins as the rumbling terrain of the Garret Stairs heralds the start of your upward trek.
The Garret Stairs formed the primary stage coach route from Albany, New York to Hartford in the 1700s. As you climb, you’ll start to understand the name and wonder how passengers survived the terraced hill, especially the downward ride.
The stairs are briefly interrupted by the Hop Brook. The old bridge has since washed away, so you’ll have to do some wading or rock hopping to regain the trail and reach the last traces of the town of Pilfershire.
It was a bustling place from the 1700s to the 1800s, long before anyone thought of taking New England day trips. A thriving community of 50 homes, a dye house, cider mill and distillery once inhabited the rocky ledge. All that’s left now are cellar holes, stone walls and a smattering of historical facts.
It seems the mills and dye shop eventually closed, the stage coach route was changed, and fires claimed many of the original buildings as well as a few lives. Eventually, it is believed that surviving residents moved to a lake community in southern Massachusetts, though no one knows why.
What remains today is an echo of those early inhabitants and the whispered feel of someone watching.
Spring is a great time to visit this secret New England destination, before brush, undergrowth, or leaves, cover the foundations.
4. Best Day Trips in New England Troll the Ocean Deep
Many day trips in New England leave land and take sail for adventurous pursuits over the white-capped waves of the Atlantic. That’s the kind of fun you’ll find served up by Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark. Despite recent changes to Maine’s Cod fishing regulations, the Bunny Clark continues to set out from Ogunquit Maine in search of denizens of the deep. According to Tower’s regularly updated fishing reports, most days are successful.
Last year, anglers from across the U.S. continued to haul in a bounty of specimens, including pollock, halibut, haddock, hake, cusk, redfish, monkfish and mackerel.
The Bunny Clark specializes in bottom fishing deep in the Atlantic. Anglers may use bait or jigs, and the mate will prepare or fillet your fish if you wish.
If you’ve never tried deep-sea fishing, why not make this spring the time?
5. Welcome New Life at this New England Destination
What better way to celebrate spring than checking up on some of nature’s newest additions, and zoos across New England provide the perfect opportunity.
Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, Connecticut, may not be one of the more widely-known attractions in New England, but they haven’t let that stop them from supporting the cause of conservation with the birth of a new baby giant anteater in the summer of 2021. Following a 175-day gestation period, the new addition made its way into the world, but it wasn’t until December that the infant anteater’s gender was determined and revealed. It seems that E.O and Pana, two of the zoos most prolific anteaters, are now the proud parents of a new baby girl.
By venturing out to visit with the newest addition to the Beardsley Zoo, you’ll be doing more than embarking on one of the best New England day trips. You’ll also have the opportunity to visit with a large variety of rare wildlife, including the maned wolf, amur leopard and howler monkeys to name a few.
Likewise, the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island saw its own baby boom in 2021, welcoming a quartet of femal nine-banded armadillos, dubbed ‘The Golden Girls’. As it turns out, 4 was the magic number for the zoo last year as they also welcomed the same number of baby river otters to their ranks. Rounding out the list of new additions, was Boudica, a golden lion tamarin and Beany, a two-toed sloth.
If you’re looking to celebrate the season of rebirth with some of nature’s cutest newest additions, Beardsley and Roger Williams Zoos are the places to be this spring.
6. Exploring the Rails around New England
For a unique experience this spring, take a day trip out Rhode Island way for an excursion you won’t find anywhere else in New England. The Rail Explorers: Rhode Island Division offers anyone in average physical condition the chance to view little-witnessed sights of the state’s back scenery aboard a peddle-powered rail vehicle.
Cars offer seating for two to four passengers who peddle their way down defunct rail lines through some of the most stunning scenery the state has to offer. Two tours are available. The Northern Ramble offers guests the opportunity to explore the scenic line that runs between Portsmouth and the Sakonnet River. This six-mile trip is a one-way excursion, so shuttle service is provided on the return.
For a round-trip adventure, jump aboard the Southern Circuit. This 6-mile out and back adventure allows for a 30-minute break at the exclusive Bayside Station a waterfront picnic area reserved for the use of Rail Explorer guests. If you make it back to the station and still haven’t had your fill of rail travel, hop abaord the Newport and Narragansett Bay Railroad for a dinner experience, and end your New England day trip in style.
Best New England Day Trips from Boston
If you’re seeking one of the best New England day trips within proximity to Boston, it really is hard to go wrong. From museums to outdoor historical pursuits and some of the best nature hiking, it’s easy to find somewhere to explore this spring.
Boston Public Garden
When the weather is fine, it’s hard to miss an opportunity to visit the Boston Public Garden. Soak in the sun as well as the scent of new blooms, while reveling in the fact that you’re treading two centuries of horticulural preservation in the country’s oldest botanical garden. You’ll find over 80 species of plants throughout the garden greenhouses, and many will make their way throughout the city as the warmer weather continues.
Once you’ve witnessed the bounties of nature, enjoin with a well-established tradition and drift out on a swan boat to enjoy the flowers in bloom from a lagoon vantage point. The swan boats have been a fixture ath the Public Garden since 1870, when Rober Paget began rowing residents out onto the lagoon aboard his trusty rowboat.
The Salem Heritage Trail
While Boston is alive with its own historical context, heading out on a history hunt this spring could easily take you into the surrounding environs. A visit to the National Park Service Salem Regional Visitor Center, for example, is the starting point for an adventure into the past. You’ll begin your leap into history with a 27-minute video that vividly depicts Salem’s past, before starting out on foot to visit the historical markers that formed the fabric of the area.
You’ll pass by the Daniel low Building, the site of Salem’s first town hall and the auspicious location where the first Continental Congress was selected in 1774. The darker side of Salem is also on display as you cross paths with the Witch House, the home of Jonathan Corwin who served as judge during the fateful Salem Witch Trials.
It seems that every direction you turn on the Salem Heritage Trail puts you face to face with history, making it one of the best New England day trips for a spring day.
