I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

wrote:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

On U.S. 1, the Maine state prison has a store where they sell the wood
craft stuff the prisoners make. It's been several years since I was
there but I was impressed by the quality of their work. I think it was
just south of Lincoln, Maine.

On Jul 14, 3:44*am, wrote:
* * * * I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. *I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
* * * * Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

You could see about stopping by the offices of Taunton - the
publishers of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding. They're in
Newtown, CT. Not sure if they offer tours, but if you call I bet
they'd let you take a peek at their testing and photography shops.

JP

Jay Pique wrote:
On Jul 14, 3:44 am, wrote:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

You could see about stopping by the offices of Taunton - the
publishers of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding. They're in
Newtown, CT. Not sure if they offer tours, but if you call I bet
they'd let you take a peek at their testing and photography shops.

Old Sturbridge Village might be worth a look--it's "Intepretive history"
like Willamsburg and may be a bit touristy for you, but they do have a
working cooper shop and a sawmill using pre-1840 technology.

Also, if you get to Boston, the U.S.S. Constitution is worth seeing--200
years old and still a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy.

On Jul 14, 10:31*am, "J. Clarke" wrote:
Jay Pique wrote:
On Jul 14, 3:44 am, wrote:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

You could see about stopping by the offices of Taunton - the
publishers of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding. *They're in
Newtown, CT. *Not sure if they offer tours, but if you call I bet
they'd let you take a peek at their testing and photography shops.

Old Sturbridge Village might be worth a look--it's "Intepretive history"
like Willamsburg and may be a bit touristy for you, but they do have a
working cooper shop and a sawmill using pre-1840 technology.

Also, if you get to Boston, the U.S.S. Constitution is worth seeing--200
years old and still a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy.

Where are you coming from and what route are you taking?

-Jim

"jtpryan" wrote in message
...
On Jul 14, 10:31 am, "J. Clarke" wrote:
Jay Pique wrote:
On Jul 14, 3:44 am, wrote:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

snip

I enjoyed seeing the Maine Maritime Museum and shipyard at Bath Maine. They
have the tools and boats on display.

Mystic Seaport features wooden boat building as well as many other displays
of interest.

The Shaker village at Canterbury N.H. was really a treat.

The Rhode Island School of Design in Providence has a major collection of
18th century furniture.

I've never seen it, but I understand that the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
has a major furniture collection.

The Peabody Museum in Salem Maine is worth a visit. A lot of the China trade
furniture and artifacts are there.

On Jul 14, 12:43*pm, "Lowell Holmes" wrote:
"jtpryan" wrote in message

...
On Jul 14, 10:31 am, "J. Clarke" wrote: Jay Pique wrote:
On Jul 14, 3:44 am, wrote:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

snip

I enjoyed seeing the Maine Maritime Museum and shipyard at Bath Maine. They
have the tools and boats on display.

Mystic Seaport features wooden boat building as well as many other displays
of interest.

The Shaker village at Canterbury N.H. was really a treat.

The Rhode Island School of Design in Providence has a major collection of
18th century furniture.

I've never seen it, but I understand that the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
has a major furniture collection.

The Peabody Museum in Salem Maine is worth a visit. A lot of the China trade
furniture and artifacts are there.

The shipbuilding school in Newport, RI is also pretty cool to see.

-Jim

Fryeburg fair, usually the first week of October.
wrote in message
...
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

snip
The shipbuilding school in Newport, RI is also pretty cool to see.

-Jim

All of the suggested places sound great. As a native New Englander I have
been to a lot of them.

I am not when you are coming or how long you are here but if your trip
coincides with one of the open houses at the Lowell Boat House in Amesbury,
MA http://www.lowellsboatshop.com it may be worth a quick deviation off the
highway.

Larry C

writes:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping.

If your trip happens to coincide with one of our guild meetings, feel
free to stop by and say "Hi!"

http://www.gnhw.org/

Chuck wrote:
wrote:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

On U.S. 1, the Maine state prison has a store where they sell the wood
craft stuff the prisoners make. It's been several years since I was
there but I was impressed by the quality of their work. I think it was
just south of Lincoln, Maine.

The prison store is in Thomaston. An interesting visit. Thomaston was
also the site of the prison, since torn down, that was the model for the
Shawshank Redemption.

The Owls Head Transportation Museum is terrific - planes, cars,
motorcycles, stagecoaches, etc. - all in immaculate, running condition.

Jim

"Jim Artherholt" wrote:

The prison store is in Thomaston. An interesting visit. Thomaston
was also the site of the prison, since torn down, that was the model
for the Shawshank Redemption.

It was my understanding that the Mansfield reformatory located in
Mansfield, Ohio is where the movie was actually shot just before it
was torn down.

Back in the days when prisons like that were built stone walls,
several feet thick, with walkways for the guards on top was the design
standard.

I grew up about 30 miles from Mansfiled, and the site of those black
stone walls made an impression on me as a 10 year old.

Lew

Hard to tell what route I will be taking... My wife has been tasked
with planning the trip. That's why I am trying to get a few
suggestions to "guide" her along...
Right now it looks like we fly into Boston on Oct 4th and out on Oct
18th. She is leaning on heading straight out to the end of Maine and
then looping back through the White Mtns in NH. Over to the edge on
Vermont and down the west side to Mass. Definitely through Mystic and
Newport before back to Logan.
14 nights and probably 15 motels!!! LOTS of driving. But like she
says - "We're going to look at the leaves. You have to drive to them,
they won't come to you."

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:53:20 -0700 (PDT), jtpryan
wrote:

On Jul 14, 10:31*am, "J. Clarke" wrote:
Jay Pique wrote:
On Jul 14, 3:44 am, wrote:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

You could see about stopping by the offices of Taunton - the
publishers of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding. *They're in
Newtown, CT. *Not sure if they offer tours, but if you call I bet
they'd let you take a peek at their testing and photography shops.

Old Sturbridge Village might be worth a look--it's "Intepretive history"
like Willamsburg and may be a bit touristy for you, but they do have a
working cooper shop and a sawmill using pre-1840 technology.

Also, if you get to Boston, the U.S.S. Constitution is worth seeing--200
years old and still a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy.

Where are you coming from and what route are you taking?

-Jim

wrote in message
...
Hard to tell what route I will be taking... My wife has been tasked
with planning the trip. That's why I am trying to get a few
suggestions to "guide" her along...


Yea, right . . . like my wife was tasked with planning the itinerary for
our trip. She assigned the task herself. She did a great job though . . . I
was along for the ride. :-)

It has nothing to do with woodworking, but the cog railway at Mount
Washington in Vermont is an interesting stop.

We flew into Providence.

wrote:
Hard to tell what route I will be taking... My wife has been tasked
with planning the trip. That's why I am trying to get a few
suggestions to "guide" her along...
Right now it looks like we fly into Boston on Oct 4th and out on Oct
18th. She is leaning on heading straight out to the end of Maine and
then looping back through the White Mtns in NH. Over to the edge on
Vermont and down the west side to Mass. Definitely through Mystic and
Newport before back to Logan.
14 nights and probably 15 motels!!! LOTS of driving. But like she
says - "We're going to look at the leaves. You have to drive to them,
they won't come to you."

Don't know if you've been to New England before--it's a lot smaller than it
looks on a map. If you live in Hartford, then New York and Boston are a day
trips (i.e. you get up in the morning, drive to one or the other, do your
shopping or whatever, and come home--be aware though that parking in NYC is
hideously expensive, but it's not nearly as unpleasant a place to drive as
it's made out to be--most of the traffic is commercial with professional
drivers, and somebody who drives for a living in NYC learns to do it well or
doesn't last very long). Hartford to Quebec is only a few hours as well
(and don't neglect Canada, but that probably won't be an option for you if
you're after foliage in October). If you don't have reservations then plan
on stopping early, and carry camping equipment just in case--in the peak
areas lodging fills up fast.

Something else that might go well on the trip is covered bridges--New
England has more than 70 of them, some of which are still in daily use for
road traffic, while others are exhibits. A covered bridge with good foliage
can be a nice image.

By the way, something to try for if you want an absolutely _spooky_
experience--try to drive through NYC (I mean down Broadway in Manhattan, not
across town on one of the expressways) just at sunrise on a Sunday morning.
I did it once, just by an accident of travel timing and taking the wrong
turn, and, well, that was 30 years ago and it's still a strong memory.

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:53:20 -0700 (PDT), jtpryan
wrote:

On Jul 14, 10:31 am, "J. Clarke" wrote:
Jay Pique wrote:
On Jul 14, 3:44 am, wrote:
I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

You could see about stopping by the offices of Taunton - the
publishers of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding. They're in
Newtown, CT. Not sure if they offer tours, but if you call I bet
they'd let you take a peek at their testing and photography shops.

Old Sturbridge Village might be worth a look--it's "Intepretive
history" like Willamsburg and may be a bit touristy for you, but
they do have a working cooper shop and a sawmill using pre-1840
technology.

Also, if you get to Boston, the U.S.S. Constitution is worth
seeing--200 years old and still a commissioned vessel of the United
States Navy.

Where are you coming from and what route are you taking?

-Jim

Lowell Holmes wrote:
wrote in message
...
Hard to tell what route I will be taking... My wife has been tasked
with planning the trip. That's why I am trying to get a few
suggestions to "guide" her along...


Yea, right . . . like my wife was tasked with planning the itinerary
for our trip. She assigned the task herself. She did a great job
though . . . I was along for the ride. :-)

It has nothing to do with woodworking, but the cog railway at Mount
Washington in Vermont is an interesting stop.

We flew into Providence.

Mount Washington is an interesting stop regardless, especially if you time
it right on a foliage tour. But carry clothing for _anything_--highly
variable weather at the top and when Mount Washington decides to hit an
extreme, it doesn't believe in half measures.

On Jul 15, 5:42*am, "Lowell Holmes" wrote:
wrote in message

...

Hard to tell what route I will be taking... *My wife has been tasked
with planning the trip. *That's why I am trying to get a few
suggestions to "guide" her along...

Yea, right . . . like my wife was tasked *with planning the itinerary for
our trip. She assigned the task herself. *She did a great job though . .. . I
was along for the ride. :-)

It has nothing to do with woodworking, but the cog railway at Mount
Washington in Vermont is an interesting stop.

Must be a long cog rail line. Mount Washington is on the other side
of New Hampshire from Vermont. ;-)

We flew into Providence.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
Lowell Holmes wrote:
wrote in message
...
Hard to tell what route I will be taking... My wife has been tasked
with planning the trip. That's why I am trying to get a few
suggestions to "guide" her along...


snip

Thinking back on our trip, my wife acquired the itineraries of some bus
tours and pretty much followed that. It was a good trip. We flew into
Providence and rented a car there. It was a convenient place to work out of.

Beware the cost of lodging in the Boston area though. I think the most
expensive was at Bar Harbor in Maine.

On Jul 15, 4:08*am, wrote:
Hard to tell what route I will be taking... *My wife has been tasked
with planning the trip. *That's why I am trying to get a few
suggestions to "guide" her along...
Right now it looks like we fly into Boston on Oct 4th and out on Oct
18th. *She is leaning on heading straight out to the end of Maine and
then looping back through the White Mtns in NH. *Over to the edge on
Vermont and down the west side to Mass. Definitely through Mystic and
Newport before back to Logan.
14 nights and probably 15 motels!!! *LOTS of driving. *But like she
says - "We're going to look at the leaves. *You have to drive to them,
they won't come to you."

It's difficult to do that time of the year (hotels tend to be booked
far in advance), but I'd try to keep the schedule flexible. Each year
is different, but the peak leaf can vary by a couple of weeks and in a
given year will vary by two or three weeks depending on where you
are. More Northerly and higher elevations being substantially
earlier. She's right about having to drive to them. ...and "they"
move.

If you can get there, I'd recommend Smuggler's Notch and Lincoln Gap
in Vermont. Stowe, VT (close to both) is a nice day trip too. VT100
and VT108 are very pretty roads that time of year. When we lived in
Vermont, Newport was a favorite early season leaf peeping
destination. Lake Memphremagog is outrageous when the leaves are in
full color.

If you like watching leftist loons in their natural habitat, Church
Street in Burlington is good for lunch.

http://www.berkproducts.com/
do a search for berkshire veneer
do a search for Shaker hancock village thats the one with the large
round stone barn that youve proably seen
above 3 are western MA in berkshire county
Just across into NY is another shaker Village
Deerfield MA has Deerfield Village with 1600's houses that can be
toured with furniture in tack
In that same town your wife might like Yankee Candle flagship store
( I dont)

"J. Clarke" wrote:

Mount Washington is an interesting stop regardless, especially if you time
it right on a foliage tour. But carry clothing for _anything_--highly
variable weather at the top and when Mount Washington decides to hit an
extreme, it doesn't believe in half measures.

Oh, yeah. My wife and I were driving by on a nice fall day. I said "Do you
want to drive up?". She said "Sure".

When we got to the top, visibility was 50 feet, the wind was 50 mph, and the
temperature was 40. We were impressed that the buildings on top were tied down
with steel cables over the roofs.

-- Doug

In article ,
"Lowell Holmes" wrote:

snippage

It has nothing to do with woodworking, but the cog railway at Mount
Washington in Vermont is an interesting stop.

As a Vermonter, I would like to be able to claim Mount Washington for
Vermont, but it's still in New Hampshire. Not that it's any less worth
visiting for that reason; or at least not too much less worth visiting.

In my part of Vermont, the Lincoln gap, Applacian gap, and Smuggler's
notch are all worth driving over (and all within reach of each other).
There's plenty of hiking opportunities in both states, too; Camel's Hump
is quite popular locally, and with good reason: it's not too difficult
of a day hike, and the view from the top on a clear day is absolutely
amazing. You can make out Mount Washington from there if it's very
clear, in fact.

--
Andrew Erickson

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot
lose." -- Jim Elliot

wrote in message
...
On Jul 15, 5:42 am, "Lowell Holmes" wrote:
wrote in message

...

snip

It has nothing to do with woodworking, but the cog railway at Mount
Washington in Vermont is an interesting stop.

Must be a long cog rail line. Mount Washington is on the other side
of New Hampshire from Vermont. ;-)

We flew into Providence.

I seem to misspeak (or write) all the tome these days. :-) Sigh .. . . . .
.. .

In article ,
wrote:

I'm planning a trip to New England to go leaf peeping. I plan
on hitting a few of the Shaker villages and who could go to Maine
without stopping at Lie Nielson...
Anyone got suggestions on other good woodworking sites or tool
museum type places in New England?

A few possibilities in Vermont:

The American Precision Museum in Windsor, VT is a fascinating place.
It's mostly machine tool related stuff (broadly speaking), but I think
that falls within the tool category. It's been many years since I last
visited; I should get back there again.
http://www.americanprecision.org/

If you're into carved birds, the Birds of Vermont museum in Huntington,
VT is nearly a must-see. If you're not into carved birds (or birds in
general), it's probably somewhat less interesting. Until only a month
or so ago, I lived just a couple doors down from this museum.
http://www.birdsofvermont.org/

The Shelburne Museum is pretty well known, and has (among a vast array
of assorted things) a fair bit wood and wood-related, including a large
collection of decoys and horse-drawn vehicles. This is another museum I
need to get back to soon, as it's been quite a few years since I was
there.
http://www.shelburnemuseum.org/

--
Andrew Erickson

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot
lose." -- Jim Elliot

Lowell Holmes wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Jul 15, 5:42 am, "Lowell Holmes" wrote:
wrote in message

...

snip

It has nothing to do with woodworking, but the cog railway at Mount
Washington in Vermont is an interesting stop.

Must be a long cog rail line. Mount Washington is on the other side
of New Hampshire from Vermont. ;-)

We flew into Providence.

I seem to misspeak (or write) all the tome these days. :-) Sigh .. . . . .
. .


You're among friends here. Most of us do farts and brown-outs at
inappropriate times. Sigh...
creak,
jo4hn

In article ,
says...
"J. Clarke" wrote:

Mount Washington is an interesting stop regardless, especially if you time
it right on a foliage tour. But carry clothing for _anything_--highly
variable weather at the top and when Mount Washington decides to hit an
extreme, it doesn't believe in half measures.

Oh, yeah. My wife and I were driving by on a nice fall day. I said "Do you
want to drive up?". She said "Sure".

When we got to the top, visibility was 50 feet, the wind was 50 mph, and the
temperature was 40. We were impressed that the buildings on top were tied down
with steel cables over the roofs.

-- Doug

That was a nice day, then. More typical in the fall is 25ft,
100 mph, 30F and blowing snow. OTOH, I was up there once the
week after labor day, and it was 68F, 100 miles, 10-15 mph, so
you never know what you'll get.

--
John

On Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:07:26 GMT, John Santos
wrote:

In article ,
says...
"J. Clarke" wrote:

Mount Washington is an interesting stop regardless, especially if you time
it right on a foliage tour. But carry clothing for _anything_--highly
variable weather at the top and when Mount Washington decides to hit an
extreme, it doesn't believe in half measures.

Oh, yeah. My wife and I were driving by on a nice fall day. I said "Do you
want to drive up?". She said "Sure".

When we got to the top, visibility was 50 feet, the wind was 50 mph, and the
temperature was 40. We were impressed that the buildings on top were tied down
with steel cables over the roofs.

-- Doug

That was a nice day, then. More typical in the fall is 25ft,
100 mph, 30F and blowing snow. OTOH, I was up there once the
week after labor day, and it was 68F, 100 miles, 10-15 mph, so
you never know what you'll get.


I look forward to trying to get to the top. It'll be Oct 10th when we
get there. If it's too bad I'm not going to drive it just to say I
did.
Do want to take the cog railroad. What kind of weather can we expect
on the cog around Oct 10th?

wrote in message
Do want to take the cog railroad. What kind of weather can we expect
on the cog around Oct 10th?

Between 75 and 25 and that can be within a couple of hours.
http://www.thecog.com/

wrote:
On Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:07:26 GMT, John Santos
wrote:

In article ,
says...
"J. Clarke" wrote:

Mount Washington is an interesting stop regardless, especially if
you time it right on a foliage tour. But carry clothing for
_anything_--highly variable weather at the top and when Mount
Washington decides to hit an extreme, it doesn't believe in half
measures.

Oh, yeah. My wife and I were driving by on a nice fall day. I
said "Do you want to drive up?". She said "Sure".

When we got to the top, visibility was 50 feet, the wind was 50
mph, and the temperature was 40. We were impressed that the
buildings on top were tied down with steel cables over the roofs.

-- Doug

That was a nice day, then. More typical in the fall is 25ft,
100 mph, 30F and blowing snow. OTOH, I was up there once the
week after labor day, and it was 68F, 100 miles, 10-15 mph, so
you never know what you'll get.


I look forward to trying to get to the top. It'll be Oct 10th when we
get there. If it's too bad I'm not going to drive it just to say I
did.

They won't let you try if the weather is too bad.

Also, you should be aware of the vehicle limits
http://www.mountwashingtonautoroad.com/Page-23.html. This shouldn't be an
issue for a rental but it's best to be sure.

Do want to take the cog railroad. What kind of weather can we expect
on the cog around Oct 10th?

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
Also, you should be aware of the vehicle limits
http://www.mountwashingtonautoroad.com/Page-23.html. This shouldn't be an
issue for a rental but it's best to be sure.

Interesting list. The old Ford station wagon is allowed, but not a Hummer.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
"J. Clarke" wrote in message
Also, you should be aware of the vehicle limits
http://www.mountwashingtonautoroad.com/Page-23.html. This shouldn't
be an issue for a rental but it's best to be sure.

Interesting list. The old Ford station wagon is allowed, but not a
Hummer.

The Hummer, I suspect, is a width issue. I rode it on a motorcycle and
there were places where I was worried about clearing oncoming traffic. It's
a very narrow, twisty road with rock walls on one side and sheer drops of
several hundred feet on the other and no guard rails. Trying to back up to
a wider space is very likely to end up in someone going over a cliff.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
The Hummer, I suspect, is a width issue. I rode it on a motorcycle and
there were places where I was worried about clearing oncoming traffic.
It's
a very narrow, twisty road with rock walls on one side and sheer drops of
several hundred feet on the other and no guard rails. Trying to back up
to
a wider space is very likely to end up in someone going over a cliff.


In that case, the typical Hummer driver would not want to take his vehicle
up the road. It could get dirty and scratched. On my last trip to Italy,
the villa we rented was un a narrow road on a hill, one lane in many places.
The drops were only 20 or 30 feet and it took a few trips before I was
comfortable driving on the outside.