The New England area, located in the northeastern United States, is comprised of the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Captain John Smith, an English explorer, gave the region its name when he explored its shores in 1614. All the states except Vermont lie along the Atlantic Ocean.

Many topographical contrasts can be found here: dense forests; meadows and fields; numerous rivers and lakes; a myriad of ponds; glaciated hills, rounded or broken into crags, rising above gentle lowlands; ancient lava flows; sand dunes along the eastern shore, hugging the volatile Atlantic Ocean.

The hot summers and the long, cold winters make New England's seasons very distinct. Among the seasons autumn is the most spectacular, with the foliage unfurling in a sea of reds and yellows. The summer greening gives way to autumn and red October, and a bountiful harvest of nuts, fruit and berries, fully ripened, awaits collection and storage by woodland creatures.

The uniqueness of autumn has no equal anywhere in the world. Until recently, very little was known about how leaves changed color. First, chlorophyll, which is bound to proteins in the leaf, separates from these proteins. The proteins break down into simpler amino acids. During the process, the leaves lose their green and other colors - reds, yellows, and browns - take its place.

When light hits chlorophyll, all the light rays are absorbed except green, which is reflected. Thus, looking at chlorophyll, only reflected green light is seen and makes the leaves look green to the human eye. In autumn, the chlorophyll no longer reflects green and absorbs all colors, and becomes invisible. What can be seen is the remaining inner structure of the leaf, mostly red or brown in color.

The trees change color in a predictable order. Willows turn yellow-green. The black gum is among the most colorful trees, blood red, followed by the red and sugar maples ablaze in crimson, bronze, yellow or orange. The quaking aspen and American elm change to golden yellow, the sour gum to a brilliant red, and birches and hickories to a luminous yellow. Oaks can range from dark reds to dull browns. Beeches, the last trees to turn color, vary from bronze to pale yellow.

A great variety of plants and flowers bloom in autumn, adding still more color to the landscape. Sunflowers, daisies and chrysanthemums provide bright fall colors in the meadows and fields. Teasels, velvet leaves and musk mallow lend purple, pink, yellow and red to the spectrum.

New England's diverse topography was shaped by enormous glaciers, the last of which stripped away the topsoil and left behind the scoured, rocky landscape. Glaciers also carved our numerous hollows that later filled with water to form the many lakes and streams of the region.

Acadia State Park in Maine was at one time an area with high, rugged mountains. During the Ice Age, a glacier between one and two miles thick covered the surface, its great weight crushing the elastic land mass beneath it. The glacier eventually melted, raising sea level by several hundred feet, and flooded the deepened valleys, while exposing the smooth, rounded mountains. The combination of depressed land and raised sea level is called a "drowned coast." Most of New England's numerous islands are actually parts of the coast that have resurfaced after the glaciers melted (Maine alone has more than 1,000).

The White Mountains in New Hampshire feature Mount Washington which, at 6,288 feet, is the highest peak in the New England region. In 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory, considered to be one of the world's outstanding weather research stations, recorded the strongest winds ever measured at the earth's surface - 188 miles per hour, including one gust of 231 miles per hour.

Baxter State Park in northern Maine is an area virtually untouched by civilization; most of the park can be seen only from the hiking trails. This 200,000 acre park, consisting of rugged mountains, coniferous forest and glacial lakes, displays nature's magnificent paintbrush with the splendor of the autumn equinox.