Having just come back from a road trip through New England, I have a new appreciation for the phrase “New England Fall colors”. Now, I haven’t traveled everywhere, but from all the places I have been in the Fall season, New England is officially at the top of my list for having the most vivid array of Fall color and the most varying landscapes to show it off.
The color was so amazing near Boston, in fact, I was too busy ogling the view to get any really good photo examples. Since our visit was just at the tail end of October and the beginning of November, I have been told on good reference from Doreen at Househoneys that the prime time for Fall color viewing is generally mid October.
If it sounds like I think we missed our chance to see the beauty of New England, then pay me no mind because Kevin and I both feel like we came, we saw and we concurred on the opportunity to see as much as we could of the gorgeous and historical place that the first non-native settlers of the United States called home.
I did get plenty of photos and videos from our trip, and as I am organizing them all, I couldn’t help but want to share some inspiring photos of the “other” colors that New England is well know for.
We traveled from Massachusetts through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and then back into MA, and let me tell you, the historical colors of New England would show true to a traveler during any season.
To keep it simple, I’ve narrowed it down to colonial blue, yellow and red, although I fully aware there are several more colors, in a variety of muted shades, and that they have individual historical names, but we won’t go there today.
Colonial blue
While driving from state to state and stopping off in plenty of places for New England fare, the color of blue was very prevalent as an accent color and wall color. I also saw this color in a much more muted shade, kind of like gray, used as a house color quite often, too.
The blue seemed more prevalent along the coastal towns than it did up in Vermont and New Hampshire, as well.
Colonial yellow
The color yellow to New England is like snow to Alaska or sand to a beach. It’s everywhere, and it just IS. From the palest of yellow, to creamy off-white, to bright and bold, yellow was there to be seen.
I found the pale yellow to be the most popular house color out of the three listed here, but I also saw it used on plenty of walls in a variety of shades and tones.
Colonial red
Why do they call them the Boston Red Socks? Well, I don’t honestly know why, but I saw a lot of this color in New England, and I saw most of it in Boston. Although these photos show red “painted” examples, I found that there was a lot of red brick homes and other red brick buildings throughout New England, which I’m sure adds to the idea that red is a popular color on the Northern East coast.
Let us not forget Mr. Lobster. He’s red, too, and that may have inspired some use of the color red on homes, furnishings, restaurants and such.
He certainly inspired us to dine on lobster of the red kind, as well, not to be confused with the elusive lobster of the blue kind.
I’ll post on our lobster endeavors. as well as the other AMAZING foods we tried while on our trip, soon.
Meanwhile, here is a bonus collage of natural stone, which was also kinda everywhere we looked on our trip. I can never pass up a chance to admire natural stone and the many ways it is used by us humans, how about you?
I have some good news…. we finished painting the ceiling and walls in our basement this past weekend, of course, the bad news is that it took up the whole weekend and we are both exhausted, but the good news is…
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I found this saying on a sign in Portland, Maine:
May you have fair winds and following seas ~ Amy
Anne@DesignDreams says
How fun! Thanks for sharing your trip!!
chris aka monkey says
that multicolored boat must have been spectacular…. because this is where the first foreign settlers lived this area is a mother lode of history, i hope someday to make it to boston for the 4th of july xx
Feral Turtle says
This couch potato thanks you for sharing your trip! I’m with you on stone work. It boggles my mind to think of all the labor that goes into creating these huge buildings. So beautiful!
Danni@SiloHillFarm says
Oh my goodness! Your pictures are gorgeous and just renew my dream of going to New England! That first picture of the boat is my favorite!
Heather says
So pretty! I love these colors and the natural stone.
laurie says
Hi Amy, I’m not sure how this post slipped past me but I’m glad I just saw it! Thank you for sharing your amazing photos and narrative…I felt I was there too 🙂 So glad you had such a wonderful time with Kev and best wishes to him on his travels.
Amy says
Thank you, Laurie. I was truly blown AWAY at how beautiful it is out there and since they’re mostly small states, you can go from big city Boston to the mountainous small towns of Vermont and New Hampshire, or seaside Portland, Maine in a matter of hours. So glad you like the pics, and I’ll be sure to give Kevin your message. Xoxo Amy
Doreen@Househoneys says
Thanks for the mention Amy! Funny that I never received a track back notice.
About stone craftsmanship…I am reading about Susan Branch’s trip to England and she said something that resonated with me. Years ago it took dozens, or even hundreds of men to build something by hand, and at times it took years to do so. Now that we have more advanced technologically and could build quality structures faster, we don’t. What does that tell us?!
Kim~madeinaday says
I went to Boston & Salem last year and loved it! Such a fun trip. Who knew there was so much to do. Thank you for sharing on Merry Monday! Hope to see ya next week!
Kim