New England packs a lot of the best of America into a small corner of the country.
The six states combined rank only 18th out of the 50 states.
Travelers heading north on Interstate 95 start in New York rather than New England, cross Connecticut and Rhode Island, head north through Massachusetts, and skirt the New Hampshire coast before arriving in southern Maine in just five hours.
That means you'll visit five states, or 10% of all New England states, in a single afternoon, leaving only beautiful, rural Vermont, the sixth state.
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There's plenty to see along the way: options include plenty of coastline, the birthplace of the United States, and stunning fall foliage.
Here are 1 must-visit places in the six New England states.
Connecticut – Mystic Seaport
Mystic, Connecticut, USA. Decorated hay wagons are displayed at Mystic's small train station. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
USA's largest maritime museum brings the country's seafaring history to life through historic New England seaside villages, exhibits, period art and crafts and ships, including the Charles W. Morgan, the world's last remaining wooden whaling ship.
The region remains integral to the country's maritime heritage today.
The U.S. Navy's submarine fleet is headquartered a few miles west in Groton, where visitors can tour the USS Nautilus and the Submarine Force Museum.
Maine – Acadia National Park
Sunrise at Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine. (Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
This majestic park offers the most spectacular example of New England's famous rugged, rocky coast.
The Atlantic Ocean leads to a granite coastline, followed by pine forests and stunning topography, highlighted by Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak on the East Coast.
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Visitors can also experience Maine's unique Downeast culture (with its own quirky accent).
It's a picture-postcard landscape of lobster boats docked in inviting coves, quaint coastal villages home to artists and boat builders, and havens for rock climbers, snowmobilers and ice fishermen.
Massachusetts – Minute Man National Historical Park
The Minuteman statue in Lexington, Massachusetts, depicts Captain John Parker, who led his outnumbered Lexington militia against British regulars on April 19, 1775. The ensuing skirmish was “the shot heard round the world” and marked the beginning of the American War of Independence. (Kelly J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
Winding between woodland and the town square west of Boston, this meandering park tells the heroic story of April 19, 1775, when 80 armed American civilians held out on Lexington Common as 700 British troops, agents of the most powerful king in the world at the time, attacked them.
As the Redcoats were about to capture the local armory and rebel leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock, a British officer ordered, “Lay down your arms!”
Outnumbered, the Americans refused to lay down their weapons, and with “a shot heard round the world,” the American War of Independence began.
Captain John Parker, an American who led 77 Minutemen against 700 Red Army soldiers at the Battle of Lexington
The Lexington militia were quickly overwhelmed, eight killed, but this bought them time as the call to battle spread throughout the region, and American forces expanding in Concord, a few miles to the west, met the British and drove them back.
Soon, thousands of colonists were pursuing the Redcoats into Boston, destroying them along the way. “What a Glorious Morning for America,” still reads on a road sign in Lexington.
New Hampshire – Mount Washington
Mt. Washington, New Hampshire in autumn. (Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The centerpiece of the White Mountains' Presidential Range is the highest peak in the Northeast (6,288 feet), and even more famously, Mount Washington frequently experiences some of the most severe weather on Earth due to its elevation and its location at the convergence of several major storm patterns.
Mount Washington's strong winds and cold are known locally as a testament to the robust character of the state's “live or die” residents. For decades, the peak held the record for the highest wind speed ever recorded (231 miles per hour) and, in January 1885, the lowest temperature reached -50 degrees Fahrenheit.
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The Mount Washington Observatory recorded a wind chill of -103 degrees as recently as 2004. Today, the mountain is a popular spot for tourists who climb to the summit via hiking trails, a treacherous road or the popular cog railway.
Rhode Island – Newport Mansion
The Breakers is one of Newport, Rhode Island's famous mansions, built in 1895 as a summer home for the Vanderbilt family. (Tim Graham/Getty Images)
Gilded Age wealth lives on in Newport, where 19th-century industrial titans built flamboyant summer homes on the cliffs where scenic Narragansett Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean.
The Breakers, owned by railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt II, is perhaps the most spectacular building, built of limestone in the ornate style of an Italianate palace. Newport remains true to its tradition as a playground for the wealthy, remaining in its charming, bustling downtown New England waterfront neighborhood. The city is home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and for decades has hosted the America's Cup, the world's premier sailing race.
Vermont – Lake Champlain
Tuftsville Covered Bridge in Tuftsville, Vermont. (John Graeme/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The “Sixth Great Lake” sits on the New York state border and is best explored from Burlington, a quintessential New England college town.
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It has played a major role in both Native American and Euro-American history.
Lake Champlain separates the Mohawk tribes to the west and the Abenaki tribes to the east, and during the American Revolutionary War, the British and Continental armies fought for control of the 107-mile-long lake.
Minuteman Statue, Covered Bridge in Lexington, Massachusetts, Tuftsville, Vermont, and sunrise at Acadia National Park, Maine. (H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images, John Graeme/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, Ducasse/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Today, Lake Champlain is a great place to enjoy the untouched wilderness, especially the fall foliage in northern New England, and it's also a great place to spot champagne.
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The Loch Ness Monster-like mysterious creature was first known to the Abenaki people and was supposedly spotted by French explorer Samuel de Champlain himself, with dozens of other witnesses reporting it over the centuries.
