What is near Henniker New Hampshire in Autumn?

I started this back in 2020 but it got lost in the pandemic… This was an early year (2020) for the fall colors. So in most other years Henniker, Swanzey, and Keene New Hampshire would not be getting these kinds of colors until 15-20 October and maybe later. But in this year they were at least a week or so early. Northern New Hampshire and Vermont had begun to turn with peak colors showing 27-30 Sept. Then it started to slow down. Oh the mystery of chasing the fall colors…

This is the Henniker Bandstand that I found while exploring Henniker New Hampshire. (99% of everybody will gravitate to the Henniker covered bridge), well this is to point out that there is more to this town than just it’s covered bridge. View in my Gallery.

Tips on finding the fall colors?

I’m going to list (again) my tips on how to go find the fall colors. and my first tip that Lisa and I use all the time, go in search of things and places of interest. Make a list in the off season for each state you plan to visit. Maybe make a list of covered bridges.

I often will tell you to go in search of interesting things to see or do, and if you find the fall colors on the way, then you will make terrific memories of this trip. Face it, running from tree to tree can get old. Yes, looking out on a valley of fall colors will make you smile but pretty soon you will be wondering where to go next.

On the 11th of October Lisa and I discovered 7 covered bridges and a stone bridge in Southern NH. We got home and I was intrigued about the name of this “double arch Stone bridge” that we had found and discovered that right in that area there were five more stone bridges!

So, the next day, we went back and explored Hillsboro and located these historic stone bridges and many of them are still carrying traffic across them. A few are just examples of stone bridge history. Most are the same original stones but they have been modified for current-day safety requirements. Yes I found just a bit of fall color during our search for these stone bridges.

Questions about where the best scenic roads are?

Another tip is to not get wrapped around the axel about having to find the “BEST” scenic drives. You can go hit the Kancamagus and you can sit in line going 10 MPH with thousands of other people. If you’ve done it once or twice, then go explore somewhere else this trip and leave the crowds back on the Kanc.

I constantly get questions about “The Best” scenic routes and for me, this is hard because I consider I-89 as much of a scenic drive as Route 100. In fact, if you asked me which was better to drive on the 4th of Oct, I would have chosen Route 89. I think I-89 probably had better color because of the surrounding hills were higher in elevation. But maybe because you can’t stop, you don’t want to take that route? I can understand that most of you don’t want to hit the highway but try stopping along Route 100 and you will have almost as much trouble.

This image below was taken from an I-89 rest stop on 26 Sept 2020 (very early color) and I didn’t have to fight for a parking spot. The scenic views you capture don’t always have to be in a classic “scenic” spot. The can be where you have the ability to stop and make an image.

view of the fall colors from NH rest stop — Scenic New Hampshire hills draped in their fall colors. View this in my gallery.

This applies to every road we traveled on for the 10th & 11th of October that year. Some trees were still green but mostly those are the oaks that won’t really start changing till mid-October through mid-November. But… As of Monday the 12th, we had to look at all the pretty colors. This was a weekend of the oooh’s and aaah’s and of course the classic… WOW! look at those reds!!! You would have heard this in our car many times on the 11th… (Also this was Columbus Day Weekend)

Exploring Scenic Route 202 in New Hampshire

We got off I-89 onto Route 202 and started our day in Henniker at the Henniker covered bridge. You may have seen my Instagram morning foliage report from there (seen below). The rest of the day Lisa directed us South on 12A to Route 10 crossing into Massachusetts before heading home on Route 2. The rest of the day was spent in search of covered bridges (Swanzey NH is chock full of them).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jeff Foliage (@jeff_foliage)

We hit Keene NH and Swanzey NH then went South to Northfield MA, Erving MA, and finally Sunderland MA. (Here is the Map, click the blue icons to see images of the covered bridges)

As you can see on the map, there are blue pointers at key spots where we stopped for photo ops (a few are just pointers to key spots). I’m going to try and make this quicker by just posting a map. So click the blue pointers to see the images and see our route through NH and into MA. Once we jumped on Route 2 we were pointed home.

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

Visit my Amazon affiliate store for items that Lisa and I have curated for you. These items are either New England-made or things we think will make your fall foliage trip more successful.