Maryland to Maine

[jovereem]

We are planning a family road trip to Maine. Looking for stops along an inland route on the way up and along the coast on the way back. Must be kid friendly. Suggestions?

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Where in Maine are you heading (it's a big state)? How long do you have for the trip? What are the ages of your kids and what things are they interested in? What places have you been to before that they enjoyed?

[jovereem]

Hi,
We will be leaving around July 10 and have about 3 days or so to get to Maine. While there we will be staying with family in Belfast. (Lots of things planned already once we get there.) We are planning on staying 4-5 days there and then head back to MD via I-95 or other route. In total round trip about 14 days.

Our kids are 10 and 6. They like the outdoors and the oldest just finished studying the American Revolution, so I was thinking Boston, Plymouth, etc.
We would want to break up the trip a bit maybe drive 3-4 hours the an attraction etc until we get to Maine. The same would be on the way back as well.


Thanks in advance for the tips,
J

[AZBuck]

There are a number of great Revolutionary War sites all along (and inland from) the coast between Baltimore and New England. Since it looks like you'll have more time on the northbound leg of this trip, I'd suggest you take your inland route then and also make more stops. I'm assuming that you're leaving from roughly Baltimore. In that case I'd suggest that once you are well past the city to the northeast, say Edgewood, that you leave I-95 and take MD-924 up to US-1 north. Not only will it save you some on tolls, but it will also take you over Conowingo Dam and right past Brandywine Battlefield Historic Site. You could then continue just a bit farther on US-1 to US-202 north which will take you to Valley Forge National Historical Park. You might also want to consider spending your first night in Philadelphia so that you can visit Independence Hall, Elfreth's Alley, Betsy Ross' House. In any case, get onto I-95 and take it north out of Philly. Just north of where I-95 crosses the Delaware River is Washington Crossing State Park.

From Washington Crossing State Park, I'd recommend that you take County Route (CR) 579 north along the east side of the park and on up to NJ-31 north to US-202 north on up to I-287 around New York City. Once in New York State, pick up I-87 north but be ready to get off almost immediately onto NY-17 north to Sloatsburg. You'll need to watch for a small sign there pointing (right) to Seven Lakes Parkway and Harriman State Park. This is just a great drive through a park with plenty of places for your kids to play a bit. At the northeastern end of the park, take US-6 east to US-9W north along the west bank of the Hudson River to West Point and then up to Newburg and I-87 north. Continue up to Troy and take NY-7 east to Bennington.

You're now (finally!) getting out of the area of Revolutionary War battles and you can relax into a very pleasant drive the rest of the way to Belfast. Cross southern Vermont on VT-9 to I-91 north to St. Johnsbury and US-2 east to Bethel ME. From there, ME-26/ME-219 will take you through North Turner to Augusta and ME-3 the rest of the way to Belfast.

The entire drive, even with all the 'detours' to Revolutionary War sites is only about 750 miles, so if you took three days for the drive up, you'd have to average about 250 miles a day. You might do just a shade less than that on the first two days with all the stops, and a little bit more on the third day. And it's not that there are no places to stop and take a break on the third day. Along the way there's Quechee Gorge, a possible diversion down into Franconia Notch, and Moose Brook State Park, as well as just some very nice mountains, lakes and forests.

AZBuck

[jovereem]

Thanks for the info, especially about the tolls. Any other information would be great as we will be looking for places to stay as well.

J