Things to do in New England with young kids.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m planning a trip to New England in June with my two daughters, 10 and 8. We will have from Friday through Sunday to go between Six Flags New England, near I-91 on the boarder of CT and MA over to Six Flags Great Escape near Lake George in New York.

I’d like to see Mount Washington, but other than that I don’t have any good ideas. I wouldn’t mind trying to do at least something in all six New England states. I think skipping Boston this trip might be easiest since it’s a city and would take a full day and we wouldn’t see a whole lot. There are a couple of National Parks that might be interesting near Boston though such as Lowell and Salem Maritime.

After that I’m not sure what the kids might enjoy seeing/doing. I’m not totally sold on Mount Washington as we might be able to do more with a bit less driving if we skip it.

Any can’t miss type things for the kids that we can do in three full days?

2

Lotsa neat things to se and do in New England for kids.

If you go to Mount Washington, as you say, you might want to take the Cog Railway to the top instead of the car road. It’s expensive, but fun.

Storyland, NH is a hoot, even for older kids. It’s up in the North Conway area, not far from Mt. Washington

There’s also Clark’s Trading Post, which is smaller and cheaper. It has bits and pieces from the 1964 World’s Fair and the defunct theme parks Freedomland and Pleasure Island. There’s an authentic railroad you can ride, and get menaced by the Wolfman. Plus therer are the Bear shows and museums:

There are actually a bunch of old railroads (originally used for hauling timber) that are still running as tourist attractions – the Winnipesaukee Railroad, the Hobo Railroad, and others.

Funspot is the World’s Largest Video Arcade (three floors), with vintage games going back to Pong, not to mention a host of pinball games. There’s also an outdoor area with a climbing park

http://www.funspotnh.com/

There’s the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, with a Planetarium and lots more stuff.

In addition, if you’re looking for natural stuff, there’s

The Old Man of the Mountain
The Flume
Cannon Mountain (with its tramway to the top)
Polar Caves
Lost River Canyons
America’s Stonehenge is interesting - it’s claimed to be an early astronomical observatory, and there are lots of stone structures (if not as massive as the real Stonehenge). If nothing else, it’s a nice walk in the woods.
Closer to Boston, I always recommend Salem, which has plenty of stuff beyond witches, and lots of offbeat shops.

3

The Old Man is dead, CalMeacham. It collapsed in 2003-ish. :slight_smile:

I agree, though, there’s tons to do in New England with kids.

The beach - Misquamicut in RI, or Wells/Ogunquit in ME are both great for families.

Mystic Seaport in CT

Sturbridge Village in MA

The Freedom Trail in Boston (the swan boats are a hit with kids, too)

A ferry ride out to Block Island, RI for ice cream and fudge.

4

Keep in mind that many days the summit of Mt Washington is socked in with clouds, and much colder than the valley below, even in summer. If you go I’d choose to use the stage (a van driven up the auto road) or the cog. You can drive it yourself but it’s probably not covered by your rental car agreement and it’s more trouble than it’s worth in your own car.

I second the Storyland recommendation, I don’t care for Clarks Trading Post and their trained bears. There’s plenty of relatively easy hiking in the Franconia and Crawford Notch areas such as The Flume, The Basin, Artist’s Bluff, and Mt Avalon. The Old Man of the Mountain (on Cannon Mt) fell down a decade ago but the tram ride up Cannon is nice - although it’s similar to the ride/drive up Mt Washington. Lost River Gorge (not Canyon) is a fun time for kids as well.

In MA, you can visit Old Sturbridge Village, a recreation of an 1820 settlement. If there are any basketball fans in the family you can visit the Basketball Hall of Fame. If you do visit Boston the kids may enjoy a Duck Boat Tour combined with a visit to the Museum of Science.

5

You evidently haven’t been there. They’ve put up a nifty new Profile Plaza and Historic Site for looking where it was, and how it used to look. There’s a whole interpretive center there.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBT7dlbydXgu4AbslXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0N2Noc21lBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNwaXZz?p=Old+Man+of+the+Mountain+Profile+Plaza&fr=yfp-t-201&fr2=piv-web#id=76&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pressherald.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F06%2FOld%2BMan%2BMemorial_Acco2.jpg&action=click

6

There are lots of similar historic villages. There’s also Plymouth Plantation south of Boston, Old Salem Village in Salem MA, and the Fruitlands Museum on Harvard, MA. In addition, there are a bunch of Shaker villages. Fruitlands has some Shaker Stuff, but there are preserved Shaker villages at Hancock in the Berkshires, Enfield Ct. and Enfield NH, a good one at Canterbury NH, and a still active one in Sabbathday Lake in Maine.

7

We will be doing two Six Flags parks so I don’t think we really need more rides, but we might check them out anyway.

I did however, find this: The Fairlee Drive in and Motel, where you can watch a movie from your room! That I think will be one night of our stay.

8

I was going to say it depends on how far you want to travel. If you’re out by Six Flags, do you really want to make the trip toward Boston? Or would you rather stick around where you are and do the NH/VT thing?

You’ve already got the start of a great list for NH. VT would be closer for you. Unfortunately I’m not well acquainted with VT but maybe somebody else is.

9

It may be less out of your way to go to the Quechee Gorge and nearby Woodstock, Vermont instead of Mt. Washington for the scenery part of your trip. That area is seriously pretty and the gorge is both impressive and hikable even for fairly young kids. There are loads of family activities in that general area as well but just walking around drop-dead gorgeous Woodstock, VT is really nice on its own.

Brattleboro, VT is even closer to Six Flags New England and it is similar (minus the gorge).

10

Go see the USS Constitution.

11

CalMeacham has hit what, to me, are the high points of New Hampshire. I should add that one of my sons, who is now 14 and is usually a total grump about doing outdoorsy things like hikes, is constantly talking about how he’d love to go back to Lost River Canyons. (He was 8 when we went.)

In Vermont, there’s the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory in Waterbury, and the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory in Shelburne. The tour guides who do the Teddy Bear Factory tour are very entertaining. (But be prepared to have to refuse to buy overpriced teddy bears as souvenirs.)

In Maine, I love Acadia National Park, and the Oceanarium and Lobster Hatchery that’s just outside of said park. the Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor is also great, though I don’t know if it’ll keep the interest of a pair of pre-teen girls.

12

We spent 4 months living in Connecticut last fall (we are now back in California). My kids were 9 and 11 at the time. Some of the things we did that the kids liked (leaving out Boston):

Old Sturbridge Village
Mystic Seaport (like Old Sturbridge Village except with ships)
Connecticut Science Center in Hartford.
Springfield Museums in Springfield, MA (great Dr. Seuss sculpture garden)
PEZ factory in Orange, CT
Ben and Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury, VT

We didn’t get there on this recent trip but I highly recommend the Minute Man National Park in Concord/Lexington, MA. The multimedia presentation at the visitor’s center is fabulous. You can also rent canoes on the Concord River and canoe to the Old North Bridge and back. We did this a few years ago and the kids loved it.

13

We’ll already be coming from DC so another 2 hours is not a huge deal, especially since we have 3 days to get between the two parks. We will have Friday, Saturday and Sunday to drive and see things and I’d kind of like to do at least 3-4 different states so they can say they’ve been there.

A nice hike or two would be good though. Looks like we might be missing Rhode Island and Maine.

14

Aside from what was mentioned:

The girls might like a visit to Salem, Mass. It’s touristy, but they might think it’s cool.

Sample some ice cream in every state. New Englanders eat something like 2x the national average.

RI has lots of nice beaches if you want to just chill at the beach one day.

Make sure you buy some Maple Sugar Candy in NH or VT.

Maybe ride the swan boats in Boston.

15

Another one is the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vt.

16

Clark’s Trading Post. Bonus Points: the Wild Man train ride.

Santa’s Villiage. Get the Punch Card and stop at every stop.

Old Man on the Mountain NH

(Not what it was, but still fun)

Lost River Gorge…

Mount Washington (…Don’t trust ‘Garmin’; its Wrong! [desperatePCvoice]“…recalculating! …recalculating! PLEASE drive to Highlighted Route!!!”[/desperatePCvoice]

…and, of course, the Obvious…

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[quote=“Count_Blucher, post:16, topic:753682”]

Clark’s Trading Post. Bonus Points: the Wild Man train ride.

Santa’s Villiage. Get the Punch Card and stop at every stop.

Old Man on the Mountain NH

(Not what it was, but still fun)

Lost River Gorge…

Mount Washington (…Don’t trust ‘Garmin’; its Wrong! [desperatePCvoice]“…recalculating! …recalculating! PLEASE drive to Highlighted Route!!!”[/desperatePCvoice]

18

The Submarine Force Library and Museum? They’ve got the Nautilus. 'Not even Disney World can say that, anymore.

19

The USS Albacore is a submarine in its own drydock outside Portsmouth NH. It’s closed right now, but will be open in a week or two.

You can go aboard and walk through it from one end to the other, and there’s a little museum as well.
If Navy Ships are your thing, you can spend abn entire day at Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA:

They’ve got a submarine you can go aboard, along with a WWII Battleship, Destroyer, and a Cold War Corvette, along with other exhibits.

If you have any time left over in Fall River, you can visit Lizzie Borden’s House and freak your kids out. (It’s also a B&B. You can sleep there. If you dare.)

20

Well, to me, Springfield to the White Mountains to Lake George is a lot of driving for three days, but, as they say, your mileage may vary.

If you were doing it in two days, then I’d definitely recommend considering going past Mount Greylock – up I-91 to US Route 2 then west. Route 2 is a nice scenic drive, and Mount Greylock is a nice day hike or just drive to the top, and there’s probably a good place to stay around there. The Modern Art museum in North Adams is probably not a big draw for 10 /8 year olds, but maybe you want to counteract two amusement parks with a little culture…

You could hit Sturbridge then come back past Greylock, too.

If you have to go to New Hampshire, Mount Modadnock is closer than the Whites, a nice most-of-the-day hike to the top and back (doable for an 8 year old who’s OK hiking), with cool views and bare rocks above tree line.