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Natural change

Across most of New England, by mid September the days are still warm, but the nights have become cool, and this is the process that begins the colorful change in trees that occur each fall. Trees sense the lowering of the solar angle and reduced hours of daylight, this starts the process of the chlorophyll breaking down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible. This change is most acute in sugar maple trees. This change in color starts in far Northern New England in northern Maine and the higher elevations of Vermont and New Hampshire in mid September, reaching central New England areas of southern Vermont, southern New Hampshire, and Massachusetts by early October. By mid October the color peak reaches northern Rhode Island and northern Connecticut. Across southern Rhode Island and southern Connecticut the number of sugar maple trees declines as the climate changes to a more temperate zone and oaks become more dominate, thus there is less bright colors.. Generally, about 70 percentage of the trees in New England change their colors during autumn, which is much more than 15, the average percentage in the world. Thus, New England attracts millions of tourist during the season and tourists travel from all around the country for so called "leaf peeping" and contribute a large amount of money to the area's economy. Although a great number of studies about foliage peak prediction have been done by meteorologists and researchers, it is still hard to know the precise peak time a few weeks in advance. Many factors, for example temperature and precipitation and other climate changes, affect autumn phenology, especially leaf color.

In popular culture and Events

Autumn in New England has also become a popular theme in American popular culture, with many fictional stories being set in autumntime New England.

In Salem, which is a small town in the north of Boston, about a quarter million people travel to the city for its famous Haunted Happening festival in October. The festival lasts for a month and is famous for its different kinds of events, including parades, street fairs, live music, film nights. Salem is also famous for its witch culture, and the Witch Museum is also a popular place. At the end of October, Salem becomes a party town, as hundreds of people celebrate Halloween in costume and many special events are hold.

Lincoln, a small but famous town in the middle of White Mountain, New Hampshire, is also an attractive place to visit in Autumn. In early October, it hosts White Mountain Oktoberfest with many activities including mountaintop yoga class, beer lessons, live music and games. Foliage scene is a must-see in White Mountain, and Lincoln offers a zip-line where tourist can have a panoramic view from the sky.

Danville, Vermont attracts thousands of visitors in autumn for its famous Danville's Great Vermont Corn Maze, which is the largest corn maze in New England. This famous corn maze is as large as 24 acres with three miles of trails. It usually takes more than 2 hours to exit the maze. Besides the large maze, there is also a small one located in the middle of the big one.

Autumn is the season of pumpkin. In Damariscotta, Maine, the town of pumpkin, a pumpkin festival is hold every year and attracts thousands of visitors. The festival includes many pumpkin events including pumpkin parade, pumpkin-pie eating contest, a giant pumpkin weigh-off, carved pumpkin display and many others.