A New England Babymoon Along Cobblestone Streets & Coastal Harbors

Tucked at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, Portsmouth is one of the oldest continuously settled cities in the United States — founded just three years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. For nearly 400 years it has been a working harbor town, and that history is still written into its streets: brick sidewalks, colonial clapboard homes, and a compact downtown you can explore entirely on foot.

At the heart of it all is Strawbery Banke, a ten-acre living history museum built right on Portsmouth's original 17th-century settlement, where restored homes span four centuries of daily life. Wander from there into Market Square, the city's historic commercial heart, then down to Prescott Park along the water, where Colonial-era warehouses now house boutiques, art galleries, and some of the best seafood in New England.

Few cities anywhere carry as much history per city block as Boston. Follow the Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile red-brick line through downtown, and you'll pass 16 sites central to the American Revolution — from the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians, to Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church of "one if by land, two if by sea" fame.

Just beyond downtown sits Beacon Hill, Boston's most beloved historic neighborhood: gas-lit lanterns, Federal-style brick townhouses, and famously photogenic cobblestone streets like Acorn Street, widely considered one of the most photographed streets in America. A short walk away, the Boston Public Garden — the first public botanical garden in the country — offers a quieter, greener contrast to the city's Revolutionary-era streets.