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UP FRONT | CIDERIES
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Sample some of the best cideries in New England
By Kae Lani Palmisano
THE TRADITION OF CIDER making came to the United States via English colonists who started planting apple trees nine years after landing at Plymouth Rock. Apples, a crop brought over from the Old World, were easy for farmers to cultivate and thrived along the northeastern corridor of the new colonies.
Today, cider is enjoyed throughout the country, but the heritage of this tart drink has deep roots in New England, where cider production started. Experience one of America’s oldest traditions at these New England cideries:
SHACKSBURY
SHACKSBURY CIDER Vergennes, Vt. This cidery is trying to stay as true to the European tradition as possible. Sourcing heirloom apple varieties from around North America, England and Spain, Shacksbury Cider’s Lost Apple Project brings the flavors of Old World cider to Vermont. First-time visitors should try the Shacksbury Farmhouse to get a taste of cider history. ▶ shacksbury.com
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NORTH COUNTRY HARD CIDER
NORTH COUNTRY HARD CIDER Rollinsford, N.H. To guarantee high quality and freshness, North Country Hard Cider has teamed up with local farms where it carefully vets methods of growing apples. These tightknit relationships give this cidery access to antique and heirloom apple varieties that lend themselves to unique and experimental flavors. ▶ northcountryhardcider.com
FAR FROM THE TREE CIDER FAR FROM THE TREE CIDER Salem, Mass. Just as American cider-making has roots in England, so do the roots of Far From the Tree Cider. Before opening a cidery, Al and Denise Snape became so passionate about winemaking that the two moved to England where Al earned a winemaking degree. Their interest shifted to cider, and every variety they create tells the story of their travels. ▶ farfromthetreecider. com
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UP FRONT | CIDERIES
STAFFORD CIDERY Stafford Springs, Conn. Stafford Cidery has the feel of a brewery taproom, but instead of beer, it’s an entire fleet of Crazy Cock Cider that’s on tap. With a menu of rotating styles and flavors
paired with live music, games and art shows, there’s something new to experience during every visit. ▶ crazycockcider.com FARNUM HILL BY POVERTY Lebanon, N.H.
TAPPED APPLE CIDERY & WINERY
TAPPED APPLE CIDERY & WINERY Westerly, R.I. This family-owned business now has three generations running the show. Focusing on small handcrafted batches, this cidery and winery creates unique products that highlight the versatility of the apple. Its apple wines are also worth a try. ▶ tappedapple.com
RICKER HILL HARD CIDER Turner, Maine Ricker Hill has been in the business of growing apples for nine generations, farm since 1803. Ricker Hill’s hard cider brand, Mainiac, comes in a variety of styles and flavors, some of which have a little carbonation, adding a bit of effervescence to the apple’s crispness. ▶ rickershardcider.com
STOWE CIDER Stowe, Vt. All apples used in Stowe Cider are sourced within a 150-mile radius of its cider house. Most of the apples are of the sweeter variety, such as Honeycrisp, Fuji and the classic McIntosh, but the cider selection is well-rounded and covers a wide spectrum of styles. ▶ stowecider.com LANE ORCHARDS
with the Ricker family working the same Owner and manager Steve Wood makes it his mission to bring the history of New England hard cider into every batch he makes. He has even sourced pre-Prohibition era apple varieties and implemented traditional techniques to make Farnum Hill’s hard cider as historically accurate as he can. Cider experts love the Kingston Black Reserve, a rich and floral cider that often sells out fast. ▶ farnumhillciders.com
BEAR SWAMP ORCHARD
BEAR SWAMP ORCHARD DISTILLERY AND CIDERY Ashfield, Mass. The site where Bear Swamp is located has been an apple orchard for more than 100 years. This family operation celebrates the fruit, selling a wide range of apple varieties from their farm. They also open the orchard to apple lovers who want to pick their own fruit. Bear Swamp’s main focus is apple brandy, which can be purchased from the farm, but local retailers carry the hard cider. ▶ bearswamporchard.com
ARTIFACT ARTIFACT CIDER PROJECT Florence, Mass. Although tradition is respected at Artifact Cider Project, it doesn’t hold the company back from being innovative. Every cider embodies some of life’s greatest moments, from the exciting Wild Thing that captures the essence of rebellion, to Magic Hour which provides the laid-back, easy feeling of the first drink after a hard workday. ▶ artifactcider.com
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ENCOUNTERS
New England’s smaller zoos and aquariums offer much to enjoy
ROGER WILLIAMS PARK ZOO, PROVIDENCE, R.I.
Open year-round, this zoo’s 40 acres make it easy to see most of its 160 species during a single visit. Endangered animals at the zoo include a golden lion tamarin family, Matschie’s tree kangaroo, white-cheeked gibbons, giant otters, red pandas and a critically endangered red wolf. Spokeswoman Diane Nahabedian says visitors have the opportunity to see the animals up close. They can interact with seals and giraffes (for an additional fee) and armadillos . Docents with ambassador animals chat with guests, and animal keepers talk about various animals in their care. Nahabedian notes that elephant bath time always draws a crowd. “We combine the opportunity to visit with over 100 animals from around the globe,” she says.
ROGER WILLIAMS PARK ZOO
DEW HAVEN ZOO AND RESCUE, MOUNT VERNON, MAINE
Rescue animals are well-cared for by the founders, volunteers and friends of DEW Haven (DEW stands for Domestic, Exotic and Wild). Visitors can see bears, a kangaroo, a bison, a camel, a badger, a peacock and many other animals on about 27 acres . The exotic big cats are popular with visitors and unusual residents in a zoo this small.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
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A live butterfly exhibit may be available through Sept. 7.
ECHO, LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN
BURLINGTON, VT. Part of Zoo New England (along with Franklin Park Zoo in Boston), Stone Zoo houses some animals not found in much larger facilities. Harry and Kira, the beautiful and rare snow leopards, live in the zoo’s Himalayan Highlands exhibit along with markhor goats and a yak . A stunning hyacinth macaw is part of the popular Caribbean Coast exhibit. Whooping cranes, Jamaican iguanas, bush dogs and Mexican gray wolves also call the 26-acre facility home. Stone Zoo participates in the Mexican Wolf Survival Plan , a cooperative program with other zoos to bring back this highly endangered species.“Inside the Animal Discovery Center, children have the opportunity to learn more about smaller creatures that play a big role in healthy ecosystems,” says Brooke Wardrop , Stone Zoo’s senior director of marketing and communications.
This 34,500-square-foot nature and science museum is focused on the ecology of the Lake Champlain region. Located in the downtown Waterfront neighborhood, ECHO has more than 70 species of live animals, including frogs, turtles, snakes and fish. The many hands-on exhibits are designed to appeal to children. A 3D theater shows science
STONE ZOO
STONE ZOO, STONEHAM, MASS. and nature films daily.
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BEARDSLEY ZOO BRIDGEPORT, CONN.
A pair of Amur leopard cubs are among the more than 300 animals of 120 species on 52 acres at Beardsley. Orion and his sister, Kallisto, (even rarer because she’s all black) were born at the zoo more than a year ago. The zoo’s Tropical Rainforest exhibit includes an aviary where visitors can watch birds in free flight. Other animals at this zoo include river otters, white-naped cranes, endangered red pandas, an Andean condor and black-handed spider monkeys. The popular Evening Lecture Series presents talks with wildlife experts. An playground and indoor carousel offer more fun.
WOODS HOLE SCIENCE AQUARIUM WOODS HOLE, MASS.
One of the oldest public aquariums in the U.S., Woods Hole features about 140 marine animals of the New England and mid-Atlantic waters, plus information about science, history and fishery. Touch tanks allow visitors to experience hands-on encounters with small fish, crabs, sea stars, whelks, shells and egg casings.
BRIDGET COLLINS LYMAN
PROVIDED BY WOODS HOLE SCIENCE AQUARIUM
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Located in Jeffersonville, Vt., ArborTrek Canopy Adventures takes visitors on guided zip line tours through the canopies of northern Vermont throughout the year (even in the snow). The Treetop Obstacle Course features more than 85 elements where visitors can climb, swing, jump, zip and balance their way from tree to tree.
True to its name, Three Rivers offers rafting trips on the Kennebec, Dead and Penobscot rivers in Maine, with rapids ranging from family friendly Class III to intense Class V filled with chutes, drops and holes. Thrill-seekers can combine a day of rafting with a skydive from 11,000 feet above the ground.
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The tree-to-tree adventure park at Ramblewild encompasses more than 10 acres of pristine Massachusetts forest divided by a ravine. A central platform serves as the starting point for eight aerial obstacle courses with features like high wires, zip lines, balancing logs, cargo nets, rope ladders and suspension bridges.
Those aboard the Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire can enjoy a three-hour tour to the peak of Mount Washington. The first cog-driven train made the climb on July 3, 1869, and 150 years later, the railway is a National Historic Mechanical and Civil Engineering Landmark .
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Cape Cod Central, a heritage passenger railroad that re-creates routes and scenes of historic train travel , provides narrated rides of the cape. Massachusetts’ woodlands, cranberry bogs, salt marshes, sand dunes and canals set the scene, whether aboard a shoreline excursion or brunch or dinner train.
Zoar Outdoor pioneered whitewater rafting on the Deerfield River in Massachusetts. Today, rafters enjoy trips from the West River in Vermont to the Millers and Concord rivers in Massachusetts to the Great Falls section of the Connecticut River in Connecticut.
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AWAY
By Sarah Sekula
WHEN THE SCHOONER anchors for the night in Maine’s Gilkey Harbor , all is calm. Guests aboard the sailboat are blissfully exhausted from the day’s activities. And this beautiful stretch of water between Islesboro and Seven Hundred Acre Island makes a lovely spot to spend the night.
Below deck, Tracy Sheppard and her husband drift to sleep. By 2 a.m., though, Sheppard is startled by a thud near the schooner’s hull. Soon after, the boat begins rocking dramatically. Then, a kerplunk and more rocking. She must investigate.
“I stood there against the rail forever trying to adjust my eyes to the pitch black,” she recalls. “Then I heard the sound of something smacking the water and lots of splashing. I could only see dark and darker dark in the water, if that’s
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even possible. But it went on for at least an hour.”
The sounds were near. And then far. Starboard and then portside. Portside and then starboard. Then up at the bow and moving throughout the harbor. Eventually things quieted down, and she sat on deck until the sky brightened enough that she could see her surroundings. Yet, there was no sign of anything that had occurred in the darkness of night.
“I still to this day think that it was a pod of small whales,” she reminisces. “I heard tail smacks on the water, splashing and even the occasional sound of a blow hole. And no one on the trip experienced that but me. It was a purely magical and amazing experience that I will never forget.”
For Sheppard, that experience sums up the thrill of a sailing cruise: You never know what you’re going to get. She loved sailing so much, in fact, she’s now been on six sailing cruises with the Maine Windjammer Association (sailmainecoast. com), and she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
Needless to say, it’s a pleasant pastime that can easily become a lifelong addiction. Just ask Barry King, a captain with the Maine Windjammer Association, who takes guests on cruises ranging from three to 10 nights for everything from yoga-focused sailings to stargazing cruises to filmmaking trips. In fact, he’s been sailing New England’s beautiful waters for 40 years. He grew up in Marblehead, Mass., sailing perched on his father’s knee as a toddler. As a teen, he had a lobster boat and shuttled daysailers off to Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., for lunch.
“I love being away from the stresses and demands of life ashore,” King explains. “I love turning off my cellphone. I love moving at a slower pace.”
Seeing guests fall in love with sailing is just an added bonus for him. And showing off his seaside backyard is the icing on the cake. One of the most mind-blowing experiences for guests, he says, is the bioluminescence phenomenon.
“On any dark night you can stir the water and watch the underwater fireflies display a light show unlike any other,” he says. “It’s like the stars fell out of the sky and are waiting in the ocean. Sometimes we go swimming in the dark and our bodies are covered in phosphorescence. As we swim we leave a trail of light. And when you shower off you will see small specs of light on your skin lasting only a few moments.”
SEAFARING SOULS
Back aboard the ship you can be as hands-on as you’d like. “You can go on a Windjammer trip and not do anything except sit on deck and enjoy the view, or you can learn as much as you want,” Sheppard says. “There are easy tasks to learn, and participation in raising the sails is not only greatly appreciated, but great fun as well.”
“Anchor raising is equally exhilarating and not for the faint at heart,” she adds. “You can pretty much participate in most crew activities. The captains love to share their nautical knowledge to anyone willing to learn.”
Beyond the educational aspect, a sailing trip can also be an excellent way to make lifelong friends. “Learning to sail means learning a skill that will make you more adventurous, will introduce you to a set of adventurous people, will get you outside and give you plenty of metaphors that will improve your life on and off the boat,” says James Kell, founder of Sailing Virgins (sailingvirgins.com) , a sailing school — named in homage to the British Virgin Islands — that offers lessons around the world, including Rhode Island.
“Newport (R.I.) is the sailing heart for the entire East Coast of the U.S.,” Kell says. “It buzzes with a sailing vibe, as a big percentage of people are there for sailing.”
Not to mention, the surrounding towns cater to boats, with restaurants and cafés within walking distance of the docks. Plus, Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard are the perfect sailing distance away from the mainland and are steeped in history and brimming with charm.
Kell’s sailing school sets itself apart by focusing on millennials rather than baby boomers. “We based our company on the younger group because we realized that for an adventure sailing course to appeal to millennials, it needed to fill the boat with just them,” he says. “Then these millennials get a chance to not only sail hard but to meet other adventurous millennials while doing so.”
And the best part is, no sailing experience is needed before guests step aboard one of the company’s fleet of French-built Beneteau First 40s, race cruisers that are equal parts comfort and performance. The only requirements are a moderate fitness level and an open mind.
“Few other activities can take you to the places that sailing can,” Kell says. “With sailing, the journey can be just as awesome as the destination itself. Plus, there is the whole ecological side of things: Sailing involves harnessing nature to get where you want to go, with zero engine. It takes skill — a mix of art and science — to do this well. Refining that skill is compelling and never-ending. It is a real joy.”
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NEW ENGLAND SAILING ADVENTURES
If you’d like to try your hand at living the life of a sailor, here are some options. From private charters to two-hour sunset sailings, there’s plenty to choose from:
Boatsetter
Explore the Connecticut coastline by renting a boat from the Airbnb of boats. Choose the luxe boat of your dreams, book it online and show up. boatsetter.com
Cape Sail Charters
Cape Sail Charters offers day trips and multiday trips to Massachusetts’ Nantucket Sound, Monomoy Island, Martha’s Vineyard and occasionally to the Elizabeth Islands. Sign up for sailing lessons on the 39-foot Southern Cross and the 17-foot Daysailor to learn about basic boat handling and docking practice, navigation, chart plotting and nighttime passage. capesail.com Sail Portland Maine
The daily two-hour public excursions sail past lighthouses, historic forts and seals swimming in the harbor of Casco Bay. Or opt for a private charter or a sunset- rosé cruise. sailportlandmaine.com Select Yachts
Take a seven-day yachting trip along the New England coast, where it’s all about clambakes and cocktail hours . Charter the boat for a day, several days, a week or more. While away the days with sailing lessons, whale watching, kayaking excursions and exploring the different stops like Jamestown and Block Island in Rhode Island. selectyachts.com
Sail Vermont
For a slightly different experience, take a two-hour private sailing trip on a classic ocean-racing yacht on Lake Champlain. sailbtv.com
Vista Yacht Charters
Take a two- to four-hour excursion on the Piscataqua River and to Portsmouth’s harbor , Isles of Shoals and points along the New Hampshire and Southern Maine coastlines. vistayachtcharters.com
