Boston and Salem to Portsmouth
Boston ranks as America’s safest city to drive through, so that’s just one more reason why it might be a good starting point for a road trip. Whether you visit the Museum of Fine Arts, walk the Freedom Trail, take in a Red Sox or Celtics game, or just stroll along the waterfront, there’s no end to what you can do in Boston. Spending time in New England’s biggest city may also give you a greater appreciation for some of its charming seaside towns once you leave Boston behind.
When you hit the road, you’ll be following I-95 much of the way. However, there’s a coastal ferry from Boston to Salem, Massachusetts, so the latter could be done as a day trip first. Needless to say, all things witch-related can be found in Salem, from the Salem Witch Trials Memorial to the Witch Dungeon Museum, where live reenactments take place. Even a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery from the sitcom “Bewitched” stands in Salem. At Pickering Wharf, you can keep the coastal spirit alive, and at the House of the Seven Gables, you can see a U.S. National Historic Landmark District made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel of the same name.
If you don’t want to backtrack to Boston, you could spend the night in Salem and rent a car there, continuing onward to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. Some of the prettiest coastal views can be seen along the NH-1A stretch from Hampton Beach to Portsmouth.
Portland, Camden, Bangor, and Bar Harbor
Portland, Maine, is a great place to explore the culinary side of the New England coast. You can get your seafood fix at restaurants like the Eventide Oyster Company and the seasonal Portland Lobster Company. Located on Maine Wharf in Portland’s Old Port neighborhood, Scales has an open kitchen and raw bar where you can see seafood on ice (and boats cruising by through the windows). Like the Salem Ferry, the Portland Schooner and Casco Bay Lines will both take you out on the water, where you can sail by lighthouses and New England cottages. Back on land, another literary landmark you can check out is poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s house, Portland’s oldest standing brick structure.
Camden, Maine, holds a beautiful harbor park, along with the autumn paradise of Camden Hills State Park and the 19th-century homes of the High Street Historic District. In Bangor, you can see Stephen King landmarks like the Mount Hope Cemetery (featured in the original “Pet Sematary” movie), plus the sewer drain and the 31-foot Paul Bunyan statue that inspired key scenes in his novel “It.”
As one of the five most-visited U.S. national parks, Acadia National Park offers dramatic views of the rugged Atlantic coastline near Bar Harbor. Here, you can take a drive along the picturesque Park Loop Road or make the winding ascent to the park’s highest peak on Cadillac Summit Road. It’s perhaps the perfect way to culminate your coastal road trip through New England.
