Chester Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

22-night Complete Mississippi River Cruise

Price: Please call for rates - # of Days: 22 days

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Overview

Introduction

The walled medieval town of Chester, England, located 15 mi/25 km south of Liverpool, is one of the prettiest on the Welsh border. It's great for walking—you'll see Roman and medieval fortifications, black-and-white Tudor houses and lovely gardens.

There's good shopping along the "rows," two-tiered covered walkways fronting buildings on the main street—sort of a medieval mall. Be sure to notice the great clock atop an arch spanning Eastgate Street: It was put there to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. The Grosvenor Museum contains Roman artifacts, and there's a nice zoo for kids. Chester still has a town crier who appears twice a day with municipal news or the more common "All's well."

If life on the water interests you, head north out of town to Ellesmere Port for its exceptional boat museum. A day trip to nearby Llangollen makes a good introduction to Wales.

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Situated on the Chester River, Chestertown, Maryland, is one of the most graciously pretty Eastern Shore towns. Impressive Revolutionary War-era buildings line the brick streets, shaded by huge trees. Spacious porches and old-fashioned gardens encircle multistory Victorian homes in this town 30 mi/50 km east of Baltimore.

Memorial Day weekend is when Chestertown residents re-enact the not-so-famous Chestertown Tea Party of 1774. Inspired by Boston's party five months earlier, the citizens of Chestertown staged their own uprising when the Geddes, carrying a small cargo of tea, docked in Chestertown.

Whenever you visit, take the walking tour (contact the Kent County Tourism Office for information). Allow several hours to see the sights, including the Geddes-Piper House, a circa-1700s home that also houses the Historical Museum of Kent County, and Washington College, one of the oldest in the U.S. If you're spending the night, consider staying at the restored White Swan Tavern.

Just southwest of Chestertown is the Eastern Neck Island National Wildlife Refuge, a preserve that attracts a variety of birds, including swans and bald eagles. The area attracts many cyclists to its congestion-free, scenic roadways.

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Set 115 mi/185 km southwest of London in southern England's hilly Dorset County, Dorchester is remembered as the setting for Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. For a complete Hardy tour, visit Max Gate (his home), the Dorset County Museum (one room is dedicated to the author), his birthplace in nearby Higher Bockhampton and his grave in neighboring Stinsford.

Several days could be spent driving around the Dorset coast, visiting small towns and enjoying the scenery. Maiden Castle, 3 mi/5 km southwest of Dorchester, is an earth mound raised in concentric rings—remarkable for its age (about 5,000 years) and its enormous size. Athelhampton House and its 20 acres/8 hectares of grounds is also worth a visit.

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New Hampshire's largest city, 15 mi/25 km south of Concord, Manchester was a major textile-mill town in the 1800s, like its namesake in England. The Amoskeag mills were once the world's leading cloth producers. The mills closed in 1936, but the handsome redbrick buildings along the river are again humming with the sounds of production by several smaller manufacturers and high-tech industries, including Velcro and Bendos.

Be sure to see the Currier Museum of Art, which displays American and European art, as well as a collection of furniture made by hand in New Hampshire. The gallery owns Frank Lloyd Wright's Zimmerman House, one of the smaller, less-expensive Usonian homes he designed. Tours are available.

Many Quebecois migrated to Manchester to work in the mills, and they gave the city a French-Canadian flavor. Their culture is the focus of the Franco-American Centre, which maintains archives about the immigrants' history.

The Manchester Historic Association Millyard Museum focuses in on Manchester's industrial past and present with other exhibits about local history, as well as Native American artifacts, period costumes, firefighting equipment, furniture and a library.

At Camp Carpenter, the Lawrence L. Lee Scouting Museum and Library has artifacts and memorabilia related to the Boy Scouts, including a flag carried to the moon by astronaut Alan Shepard, who grew up in nearby Derry.

At Rindge, 50 mi/80 km southwest of Manchester, you can visit the Cathedral in the Pines—a memorial for a soldier lost in World War II. His parents built the breathtaking outdoor cathedral on the site the man had selected for his future home. Don't miss The Women's Memorial Bell Tower with four bas reliefs designed by Norman Rockwell and sculpted by his son, Peter.

Manchester also has the SNHU Arena, which features live entertainment and sporting events year-round and is home to the Manchester Monarchs hockey team. Manchester's minor-league baseball team, the Fisher Cats, plays through the season at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.

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Although its industrial history has left parts of Manchester, England, somewhat grimy and ugly, the "capital of the North" has evolved into a thriving hub thanks to recent redevelopment. It is located 30 mi/50 km east of Liverpool.

One highlight is the Lowry Centre, home to galleries and eateries. Another is the futuristic building that houses the Imperial War Museum North (a branch of the excellent London institution) on the banks of the ship canal. You'll find good shopping, especially along King Street, and perhaps the best theater outside London.

For architecture buffs, the city's Victorian buildings are unrivaled. Other sights to see include the Museum of Science and Industry, the Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth Art Gallery and the John Rylands Library.

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Manchester, a pretty town about 95 mi/155 km south of Burlington, has been a summer resort since the 19th century and becomes the cultural capital of Vermont in the summer, with world-class performing acts scheduled throughout the season. Manchester is also a retail capital—there are more than 50 outlet stores and 50 more galleries and specialty shops.

Located in the heart of Manchester Village, the posh Equinox Resort dates to the 1700s and offers two unusual activities: a Land Rover 4x4 driving school and the British School of Falconry, which teaches you to handle your own birds of prey—hunting hawks and falcons. Among the town's other attractions is the American Museum of Fly Fishing, which includes a display of celebrity tackle once owned by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Bing Crosby.

The historic Georgian Revival mansion Hildene, the summer residence of Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, has appealing formal gardens and excellent mountain views; it plays host to concerts by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Theater performances take place at the Dorset Theater and the Weston Playhouse.

The Northshire Bookstore is one of the state's largest and finest independent bookstores, and it frequently sponsors readings by well-known authors, some of whom live in the area.

After you've seen Manchester, drive the winding toll road up Mount Equinox (be sure your car's brakes are in good shape) for spectacular views of four states and a bit of Quebec. For more high-altitude fun, hit the slopes at Stratton Mountain Resort, which offers more than 90 trails suited to a variety of skill levels. The 12-passenger high-speed gondola known as Starship 12 whisks skiers and snowboarders to the summit in less than eight minutes. It has helped alleviate some of the long lift lines created by the large number of skiers, many of them vacationing New Yorkers.

At the base of the mountain is an alpine-style village with shops, restaurants and lodges.

Bromley Mountain Resort is also located in the Manchester area. South-facing Bromley Mountain claims to be a good deal warmer than Stratton Mountain, and it's popular with families (children younger than age 5 ski for free). During the summer or fall, try Bromley's alpine slide. The curved course has as many thrills as you desire—you control the speed of your sled, from pokey to terrifying.

For some genuine Americana, drive southwest of Manchester to Arlington, home of the Norman Rockwell Exhibition. An 1800s church displays hundreds of the artist's works, including many of his cover illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post. The artist lived there for nearly 25 years, until he moved his family to Massachusetts in the 1950s.

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The world-famous Mayo Clinic is in Rochester, 75 mi/120 km southeast of Minneapolis and St. Paul. With its outstanding medical research and treatment facilities, the clinic founded by two physician brothers has become synonymous with the finest in health care and scientific research. Take a tour of the clinic and be sure to see Mayowood, a lovely 100-room country estate furnished with antiques from the Mayo brothers' travels.

If there's time, make the short trip 35 mi/55 km west to Owatonna. In the town square is the grand Wells Fargo Bank (formerly the Norwest Bank), designed in the early 1900s by Louis Sullivan's firm. Though elaborate and ornate, it's still solidly American (look for the mural of a herd of cows).

Southeast of Rochester, 30 mi/48 km, is Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park. It contains the historic town of Forestville, a village that's been restored to appear as it did in 1899. There's a post office, a store, a home and a farm to tour. Costumed guides explain what small-town life was like in the late 1800s. The cave, which stays a chilly 48 F/9 C year-round, also can be toured.

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Though it's perhaps best known as the home of Eastman Kodak, the giant of the photographic business, Rochester, New York (74 mi/119 km east of Buffalo), is also the home of Xerox and Bausch & Lomb.

Downtown is the Corn Hill Landing Marina, where the canal boat Mary Jemison offers dinner cruises and tours of the Erie Canal and the Genesee River (May-November). The Rochester Public Market is a nice place to stroll and shop for farm-fresh produce and homemade delicacies.

Other attractions include the home of suffragette Susan B. Anthony, the world-class Eastman School of Music and the Strong National Museum of Play, with engaging family activities and thousands of vintage toys on display. History buffs may want to visit Mount Hope Cemetery, where slave-turned-abolitionist Frederick Douglass is buried.

The hamlet of Childs in Gaines, 30 mi/45 km west of Rochester, is known for its historic buildings made of cobblestone masonry. Built from small stones taken from area fields, the cobblestoned buildings date from the early to mid-1800s. There's a Cobblestone Museum in town and several buildings constructed of the stones, including a church, a parsonage and a one-room schoolhouse.