• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Take in the view while you roast your marshmallows at Grand Cascades Lodge.    (Photo: Courtesy of Crystal Springs Resort)

The Adirondack-style Grand Cascades Lodge (from $249) opened last April; an adjoining Reflections spa will open in the fall. Request an upstairs suite for a spacious balcony with outdoor gas fireplace overlooking the resort’s two golf courses. There’s also a 10,000-square-foot Biosphere with an aquarium and a waterslide into a glassed-in heated pool.

Book one of only five rooms at RoseMary Inn, a restored farmhouse in Columbia that opened in January. Breakfast is served on a communal patio overlooking seventeen acres of nature trails and rooms have flat-screens, Wi-Fi, bath products, and antique furniture. Ask for the Beach Room for the best views of the spring-fed pond.

The 300-year-old Stockton Inn (from $135), once a favorite retreat of F. Scott Fitzgerald and a boarding house for George Washington’s militia, offers eleven guest rooms and five dining rooms. The Federal Suite I, with a king-size bed and fireplace, is the one to book. Take in the sunset with a Pomegranate Cooler (mint, pomegranate liqueur, and Champagne) on the front porch of the Tavern, one of the state’s oldest watering holes.

Published on Sep 24, 2008 as a web exclusive.