In Newport, RI (served by Greyhound), the financiers who profited from the Industrial Revolution built their summer "cottages"--giant stone mansions, most of which are now open to the public.

Shady, sloping streets cover College Hill in Providence ($9.50 on the Attleboro/Stoughton line), home of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Thayer Street, a downsized Haight-Ashbury, crowns College Hill.

Out There

Northern New England offers opportunities for hiking, camping and sightseeing aplenty.

The Presidential Range in northern New Hampshire is home to the world's worst weather, at the peak of Mt. Washington. Winter wind speeds of 231 mph have been recorded at the top of the 6,288-foot mountain.

In the summer the weather is a little tamer, and you can hike up to the summit or take a cog railway.

Straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, the rustic villages of western Mass. are among the remaining outposts of small-town New England. Nestled in the rolling Berkshires, Greyhound serves Stockbridge, Williamstown and other towns in the area.

Meanwhile, Vermont to the north is dotted with antiques shops and picturesque Green Mountain hamlets, Vermont is ideal for hiking on the Appalachian Trail (AT) or biking on the state's wooded dirt roads. Home to the hippie capitalist empire of Ben & Jerry's, in Barre, Vermont is easily accessible by Vermont Transit, whose buses run frequently from South Station.

The largest New England state, Maine, boasts both a beautiful, lighthouse-studded coastline and majestic inland mountain peaks. The AT terminates at Mt. Katahdin, and shoreline ports at Kennebunk and Bar Harbor draw thousands of visitors annually. Tourists also flock to Freeport to shop at L.L. Bean.

Water, Water

The ocean has long been the lifeblood of the New England economy, and all along the coast fishing, whaling and shipping ports testify to the crucial role the sea has played in the history of the region.

Along the North Shore, Gloucester ($7.50 round trip on the T's Rockport line) was once a major fishing center. Today the town fills with beach-goers in the summer.

Just to the north, Rockport ($8 round trip) sits at the end of Cape Ann, a windswept village replete with beaches and a shopping promenade.

Whaling formed the backbone of the New Bedford (Bonanza bus lines, $20 round trip) economy in the 19th century, and today the fishing fleet continues to anchor in the harbor.

New Bedford, along with Nantucket, which is accessible by ferry from Woods Hole ($25 round trip on Bonanza), were the two largest whaling ports in the United States before the decline of the industry in the second half of the 19th century.