Newfane, Townshend, Grafton, Andover

[minnesotaman]

Townshend Bridge 10 6.jpg (142.17 KiB) Viewed 11039 times

Today I went to Newfane, Townshend, Grafton, Andover, Plymouth and back to Woodstock. The Newfane Green is just starting, although several trees are bare. Saturday should be good, although the trees appear dry, so the colors are likely to be yellows. The South Wardsboro Road is yellow to bare. The Townshend dam is just starting, and looks like about five days to go. But, it also looks pretty dry. Grafton is yellow, green, and bare, and also dry. Andover/East Hill Road are an odd combination of green, muted yellow and sticks, and in some areas, like the farm near the top, early on the distant hills, but some sticks around the farm. Someone at the farm told me that the farm looked great before the rain, which knocked off the reds and oranges. Plymouth/Coolidge area looks yellow to some sticks, and dry.

I am attaching two pictures that are representative of the state of color in this area.

[ctyanky]

Minnesota: thank you for this honest up-to-date report in those areas. Seriously, it still looks so beautiful to me, peak or past peak! The sky is gorgeous and I love the horses! Thank you again. If I am in Newfane, it will be Sunday of this weekend - going to be a picture-perfect day!

How long are/were you in VT for? A month again? You sure do get around. I think that is great!

[minnesotaman]

We are here for a month. This is our thirteenth year. The first few years we came out for a week, or ten days, but we found that often our timing was off, and I would be in poor spirits for weeks, thinking I had missed the best of a season. So we soon decided to come for a month, which has enabled me to range up and down Vermont and New Hampshire, from the time of the first changes in the leaves to those late October days with the last few ragged yellow leaves waving like flags on sticks. My atlases are so tattered they are held together with tape, and by now the margins of every page are filled with notes about great spots, some of which I found with the assistance of the kind tipsters posting on this site. But, I have found many by just stumbling around--here, it is difficult to have a bad day, or not find some new vista worth a dropped jaw. A Yankee Huck Finn would have said: "The whole damn place is a picture book, there ain't nothin' like it nowhere, Tom."

[ctyanky]

Minnesota: I truly love reading your posts. They are "right on" and factual and include nice narratives. I agree with the maps, mine are coming apart from the spine and are highlighted on all the routes, so much so, that the pages are a kaleidoscope of colors! How special to be in Vermont for a month. You HAVE to be satisfied when you return home. I know one day I could do this too. Inn hop for a month, try different riding stables around the state, meet lots of people and try to reach different areas that I've never been too.

Have a wonderful remaining season and a safe trip home! Again, I enjoy your reflections and photos.

[ctyanky]

Minnesotaman: If you are trolling the forum these days in preparation for your month long foliage vacation, can you list a few of the back roads you have done in Townshend and Newfane? I'm heading to Townshend for the day either the 19 or 20 of September for a craft fair and would like to check out some roads for when I return Columbus Day Weekend in Southern VT. You spoke of the Townshend Dam..... is this a nice place for foliage, etc.?

I've been on East Hill Road in Andover a number of times and some back roads in Grafton so I'm particularly interested in Townshend....

You should try to meet up with us! Hope you are returning this year to VT and posting your finds as always on the forum!

CT

[minnesotaman]

Yes, I am watching all of you here. And yes, I will soon be returning for the usual stay.

First, I do not find many long views in the Townshend/Newfane area, so if that is what you are looking for, I think it is not likely to be attractive. Second, the time of peak in this area is difficult. The covered bridge at Townshend tends to be late, and short. The Newfane/South Wardsboro Road (below) is surprisingly early, usually within five days of Oct 10. As a result, I usually have to make at least two trips to this area a year in order to have any luck.

The Newfane to South Wardsboro road is one of two roads that I visit each fall as a sort of religious ritual. The other is near Sugar Hill, NH. No one likes to mention NH here, but there are some very fine spots. Fair warning, most of the Newfane/South Wardsboro road is not at all picturesque. The spot I go to is about three miles west of Newfane, where the road reaches its high point. You will pass a barn very close to the road on the right hand side, and then a house on the left. Just past the house the road drops into a nice maple tunnel as it continues west. In the small fields on either side there are some quite unusual sculptural structures built from field stones. If you get there on the right day, with a little bit of movement in the air, the ten thousand little patches of blue sky between the maple leaves (on this road, the maples are usually very bright yellow, a hint of oranges, no reds in my fifteen years) and the sunlight dapples on the road will dance. There is almost never a car or a person. You can hear the sound the leaves make when they drop on the road. The only significant photographic opportunity is the road itself, however--the tunnel of maples from next to the house, facing west, so it may not be what you are looking for.

Kenny Pond area, where Grout Road and Newfane Road intersect.

You might try the roads around the Townshend Reservoir. Hill Road. The reservoir itself is not beautiful.

NE of Townshend, about a mile, on 35 to Simpsonville, then to Deer Valley Road, some times good.

A bit further south, the Stage Road from Guilford Center to Green River and just past Green River.

A bit to the north, the Rockingham Meeting House is a classic structure. There are great views from the grave yard just behind the Meeting House. South from the meeting house is Rockingham Road. A mile or so south of the Meeting House there is a red barn, very weathered, on the right. If you are lucky you will get there the morning after the first frost and the ground around the barn will be covered with bright yellow leaves that will show well against the barn.

I tried to add photos, but my files are apparently too large and for the life of me I cannot recall what to do to get them to a size that the site will accept.

[minnesotaman]

It is not the Townshend reservoir that is not beautiful, of course, but the cement dam that creates the reservoir. There is a picnic area on the southwestern bank of the reservoir from which there is a view to the northeast that is very good when the color is up.

[ctyanky]

The spot I go to is about three miles west of Newfane, where the road reaches its high point.

Minnesota: What is the name of the road to take 3 miles west of Newfane?

Also, I checked on my Jimapco. What road is the Rockingham Meeting House on and also, isn't Rockingham Road really route 103?

Thanks for all this info! CT

[minnesotaman]

The road out of Newfane is called the South Wardsboro Road if you are heading out from Newfane, and, of course, if you are heading out from South Wardsboro it is called the Newfane Road. It is blacktopped as it leaves Newfane, and becomes packed gravel and dirt.

To get to the Rockingham Meeting House take 103 west at exit 6 on 91. Take a left at Meeting House Road, which is easy to miss. Meeting House Road is quite short, and actually loops back to 103. The meeting house is about half way down the road, on the north side. The graveyard is on the north side of the Meeting House. The Meeting House and the graveyard are substantially elevated above 103, and 103 is not visible from the graveyard. The view from the graveyard is unobstructed to the north.

The road to the red barn is Rockingham Hill Road. This is a back road into Saxton's River.

[minnesotaman]

I have also sometimes had success very late in the season on Grassy Brook Road, which is NE of Newfane, running through Brookline. This road runs through a long "valley"--the hills are not that high. This road is not much if there is no color. If there is color, it is best in the afternoon, after two or so.

Just to be clear, my experience is that most years it is very difficult to be in the Newfane/Rockingham/Townshend area at the right time, and so I do not go there often, except for my annual pilgrimage to the South Wardsboro/Newfane road.

[ctyanky]

Minnesota: thanks again for all this information. I really appreciate it! When do you start your month long journey into Vermont? Perhaps we can meet up at some point!

I'm heading to SW Vermont today for a day trip as I am just two hours away at best. Love going up in all seasons!