2 Best Sights in The Monadnocks and Merrimack Valley, New Hampshire

Pickity Place

Fodor's choice
The winding 10-mile drive through Russell-Abbott State Forest is part of the fun of visiting this enchanted—and secluded—1786 red clapboard cottage on which artist Elizabeth Orton Jones based her illustrations in Little Red Riding Hood in the 1940s. Surrounded by fragrant, organic herb and flower gardens (you can buy seeds and plants in the nursery in back), the house today contains a sweet gift shop that sells dried herbal blends and other gourmet products, a small museum with Little Red Riding Hood memorabilia, and a wonderful little restaurant that serves five-course lunches featuring herbs and produce grown on-site.

Pierce Manse

Franklin Pierce lived in this Greek Revival home, which overlooks a scenic bend in the Merrimack River at the north edge of downtown. He moved to Washington to become the 14th U.S. president—although in the eyes of many historians, one of the least effective and admired. A guided tour covers his life in mid-19th-century historical context.

Fans of presidential history might want to make the half-hour drive west to Hillsborough's Franklin Pierce Homestead. Tours of his stately 1804 childhood home are offered late May–mid-October.

Historic Home
14 Horseshoe Pond La., Concord, New Hampshire, 03301, USA
603-225–4555
www.piercemanse.org
sights Details
Rate Includes: $10, Closed Sun.–Wed. and early Oct.–late May