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10 Best Beaches in New England

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(page 2 of 3)

Best Sand
Coast Guard Beach,
Eastham, Massachusetts
"Wishing to get a better view than I had yet had of the ocean ... I made a visit to Cape Cod...." Thus began the account of Henry David Thoreau's adventures in the book Cape Cod. Thoreau walked the coastline from Eastham to Provincetown three times in the mid-19th century, comparing his treks along the desolate seascape to "traveling a desert." Naturalist Henry Beston followed Thoreau's path to Eastham. In The Outermost House, Beston describes his experience of living for a year on the dunes of Coast Guard Beach between 1926 and 1927. The house no longer stands, but you can still get a feeling of the isolation these men felt amid the towering dunes.

Take a shuttle bus from the nearby Little Creek parking area, then walk down the steps to the pearly white sand. This is no flat beach, but one that slopes up to the dunes, sand piled high, soft and warm to the touch. Veer left and stroll past the sunbathers. You'll soon have this slice of Cape Cod National Seashore to yourself.
easthamchamber.com

Most Scenic
Aquinnah Public Beach
(formerly Moshup Beach),
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
Far from the ferries that disembark in the busy summer retreats of Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven, Aquinnah Public Beach is set in the wild southwestern corner of Martha's Vineyard, tucked southeast of the Aquinnah Cliffs. Layers of clay form the cliffs, with varying degrees of vivid color depending on the sedimentary deposit. The result is a dramatic backdrop of reds, greens, yellows, and whites, which becomes even more striking at sunset. The day's last rays create a spectacular light show across the cliffs.

A 10-minute walk from the parking lot at Aquinnah Lighthouse will bring you to the public portion of the beach. Turn right and you'll notice that the rounded cliffs become more jagged as they get taller, and the colors grow more intense the closer you get. (Note: Climbing on the cliffs and removing clay are prohibited. Part of the beach beneath the cliffs is also off-limits to the public.)
mvy.com/islandinfo/beaches.html

Best Freshwater Beach
Lake Willoughby
Westmore, Vermont
Few New England sights are as striking as your first glimpse of Lake Willoughby in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Drive north on Route 5A from West Burke and you will see the deep, dark glacial waters come into view, dwarfed by the majestic granite cliffs that stand almost directly across from each other -- the faces of Mounts Hor and Pisgah. The precipitous rock plummets more than 1,000 feet below, creating, in essence, a landlocked fjord. The shallowest part of the lake is the northern shore, where a sandy public beach awaits. Save your biggest gasp for that first step in the frigid water, which even locals find a bit chilly. But, oh, that view.
Lake Willoughby

Best Bird-Watching
Odiorne Point State Park,
Rye, New Hampshire
Sure, there's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary on Cape Cod, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island, and Acadia National Park, where you can peer up and watch a bald eagle zip over the short summit of Acadia Mountain, but we chose Odiorne Point State Park because of its unique location. Smack-dab in the middle of all the hubbub of the New Hampshire and southern Maine coasts, Odiorne Point is the longest stretch of undeveloped coastline in the state. More than 300 acres of protected land make this a routine stop for migrating birds along the Atlantic Flyway. It's a good place to find ring-billed and black-backed gulls feeding along the shores or watch double-crested cormorants on the rocks, drying their wings. A two-mile loop along the coast is a favorite of walkers, joggers, and bird-watchers. The trail takes you onto Pebble Beach before heading inland through marsh and low-lying shrubs.
nhstateparks.com/odiorne.html