Crafted by Tauck and Ken Burns
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Stories by Ken Burns – Featuring exclusive vignettes by filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, this journey explores New England’s picturesque heart… where landmark sites, historic homes, farms and nature’s dramatically contrasting vistas evoke the spirit of a place whose ideas shaped America. Classic New England lives in Boston Common… in the White Mountains aglow with autumn colours… in the diamond at Fenway Park, and the sustainable soil of Billings Farm… in the drama of the rugged Maine coast… in Norman Rockwell’s preserved studio in the Berkshires, where his iconic images of small-town America were created, and in the museum where many of his original works are displayed… in millwheels, covered bridges, lobster boats, white-steepled churches, Shaker villages, and the rocky soil that has long been fertile ground for thinkers, artists, writers, inventors, entrepreneurs and Revolutionaries. This is, as Dayton Duncan observes, Ken Burns’s backyard: “New England has always had a special place in American history and American thought. And New England has become Ken Burns’s backyard – not just the place where he’s raised his family and made his documentaries in the classic New England town of Walpole, New Hampshire, but also a place intertwined with many of the stories he’s told: Baseball, The Shakers, The Civil War and The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. It’s a distinct region with its own beauty and its own secret treasures – and who better to share them but one of its proudest residents."
Highlights
- TAUCK EXCLUSIVE – Filmed vignettes by filmmakers Ken Burns & Dayton Duncan that tell the stories of visionaries and ordinary people that shaped the places that define New England
- TAUCK EXCLUSIVE – Private visit to Ken Burns’s private studio in Walpole, New Hampshire
- An exclusive wildlife presentation by an expert naturalist
- Visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, featuring original works and the artist’s preserved studio
- An interactive “New Hampshire Maple Experience” revealing the process of creating maple syrup
- Guided tour of Boston's legendary Fenway Park
- A walking and tasting tour of Boston Public Market
- A private “Lunch, Grace & Song” tour of Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield
- Guided visits through Vermont's fascinating Billings Farm and Museum
- Airport transfers upon arrival and departure as noted
- 17 meals (7 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 6 dinners), service charges, gratuities to local guides, admission fees, taxes and porterage
Itinerary
Day One
Welcome to Boston
Tour begins: 5:30 PM, The Westin Copley Place, Boston. A transfer is included from Logan International Airport to The Westin Copley Place, Boston. Please join us this evening for a welcome reception at the hotel, followed by a welcome dinner at a local restaurant in the heart of Boston.
Meals Included: Dinner
Accommodation: The Westin Copley Place, Boston
Day Two
Fenway Park, historic Boston & a foodie walk
In his films Baseball and The Tenth Inning, Ken Burns offers a glimpse into the soul of our “national pastime”; for many, it lives at Fenway Park, America’s oldest ballpark and home of the Boston Red Sox since 1912. Past glories come alive on a walking tour of the stadium that may include some its most famous landmarks, such as the Triangle, Pesky’s Pole, the former location of Duffy’s Cliff, and the legendary Green Monster of left field. Next, an orientation tour of the city follows the historic Freedom Trail from the Back Bay’s Copley Square to Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ memorial to Col. Robert Gould Shaw in Boston Common, the State House, the Old North Church, the Old State House and the South Meeting House. Follow lunch at the Union Oyster House with a “foodie” walking and tasting tour at Boston Public Market.
Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch
Accommodation: The Westin Copley Place, Boston
Day Three
Lexington & Concord and on to the Berkshires
Depart the city of Boston for the nearby flashpoint of the American Revolution, the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord. First, travel to the Lexington Battle Green, where the “shot heard ‘round the world” that signaled the beginning of hostilities was fired; and Concord’s Old North Bridge and iconic Minuteman statue, cast from the bronze of Civil War cannons, in Minute Man National Historic Park. Head west across the center of Massachusetts, stopping for lunch en route to the city of Pittsfield in the Berkshires, for a late afternoon arrival at your boutique hotel created from a pair of 19th-century commercial buildings on the National Historic Register.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel On North
Day Four
Legacies of Rockwell & the Shakers in the Berkshires
Aglow with blazing foliage in autumn, the Berkshires of western Massachusetts have long been a retreat for artists and writers. Begin today’s discoveries in Stockbridge at the Norman Rockwell Museum, dedicated to the beloved illustrator whose hundreds of covers for the Saturday Evening Post depicting scenes from small-town America – including here in Stockbridge, where he spent the last 25 years of his life – illuminated the lives of ordinary people with humour and pathos; view many original works by Rockwell, and visit his preserved studio. Next, head to Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield for a private “Lunch, Grace & Song” tour of this former Shaker settlement, founded in 1783 and active through 1960. Today it’s a living-history museum featuring 20 authentic Shaker buildings, costumed interpreters, rich collections of Shaker furniture and artefacts, a working farm with extensive gardens and heritage-breed livestock and more. Continue on to Manchester, Vermont, for an overnight at a historic New England mountain resort, The Equinox Golf Resort & Spa.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: The Equinox Golf Resort & Spa
Day Five
Vermont and New Hampshire, Ken Burns’s Backyard
Depart your Vermont resort and drive into the New Hampshire countryside for an exclusive insider look at Ken Burns’s private film studio in Walpole, where his Florentine Films was founded, and some free time in town. When railroad executive Frederick Billings (for whom the town in Montana is named) retired in 1871 and returned to his Woodstock, Vermont, roots to start a dairy farm, he opened a book called Man and Nature by George Perkins Marsh. Embracing its ideas of sustainable land use and forest conservation, within a few short years Billings had created a model farm whose cows and produce gained national attention. Hop back into Vermont and meet the Jersey cows at Billings Farm and Museum, and get a firsthand look at its farming and forestry methods, which changed ideas about farming in turn-of-the-century New England. Have lunch in town; in fall, indulge in autumnal panoramas of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, arriving for two-night stay at a true New England classic since 1902 – the spectacular Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, a National Historic Landmark.
Meals Included: Breakfast & Dinner
Accommodation: Omni Mount Washington Resort
Day Six
Discovering the White Mountains
Your day in the beautiful White Mountains starts with a “New Hampshire Maple Experience,” an interactive virtual tour revealing the art of creating authentic New Hampshire maple syrup – including the sap-boiling process in the sugarhouse; a maple museum; and, of course, a tasting of maple syrup, other maple sugar products, and homemade sour pickles. Back at the Omni Mount Washington, enjoy lunch and a free afternoon; if you wish, you may join us for a scenic drive through the White Mountains region or a hotel history tour of your famous Bretton Woods resort, where you’ll have dinner at your leisure tonight.
Meals Included: Breakfast & Dinner
Accommodation: Omni Mount Washington Resort
Day Seven
Explore Maine’s stunning coast
A wildlife talk at your White Mountains resort this morning offers an appreciation of the ecology of the glorious landscapes, summer and autumn, that you’ll journey through today as you wind your way to Maine. You’ll arrive midday at Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, named by the Abenaki tribe, because the word means “beautiful place by the sea.” The area is known for its stunning walking trails – you’ll have an opportunity to explore this quintessential coastal Maine region with a walk along the famed Marginal Way trail that hugs the sea. Originally developed in 1925, the trail is only 1.25 miles – with spectacular breathtaking vistas and iconic scenery. Arrive for an overnight stay at your celebrated (and recently renovated) oceanfront resort, Cliff House, perched on the craggy cliffs of Cape Neddick, where generations of the Weare family have been welcoming guests since 1872. Cap your tour of New England with a farewell reception and classic lobster bake dinner at your resort tonight.
Meals Included: Breakfast & Dinner
Accommodation: Cliff House
Day Eight
Journey home
Tour ends: Boston. Drive directly to Boston’s Logan International Airport from the Cliff House after breakfast. Allow a minimum of two hours for flight check-in; flights should not be booked before 2:00 PM. The group transport will drop guests off at the airport and then drive 3.5 miles to drop off at Boston South Station (for trains).
Meals Included: Breakfast
Departures & Rates
Small Group Departures – Select small group departures, averaging 24 Tauck guests, are priced from AUD $5,990 per person double; specific dates apply
Ask one of our Travel Specialists about Packaging Flights with your Tour and Save
Additional dates and rates may be available, please speak to one of our Travel Specialists for more information.
Single Supplement rates are available on request.
*Rates are subject to availability and seasonality and may change without notice. Rates are based on two adults sharing. For solo travellers or single person occupancy rates or further information on terms and conditions, please contact our Travel Specialists at time of booking.
