Summertime hues

Life in quiet contry town picks up with the arrival of tourists

The New London Barn Playhouse has been a summer-stock stage since 1933. (Corey Hendrickson for The Boston Globe)

NEW LONDON, N.H.
DISTANCE FROM BOSTON: 99 miles
POPULATION: 4,128
WEBSITES: www.nl-nh.com, www.lakesunapeenh.org
ODD FACT: Students and others at Colby-Sawyer College have often reported seeing a ghost on campus, a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, who has sometimes been mistaken for a theatrical student.

New London is a genteel town on a hill, surrounded by mountains and lakes whose glories double its population in the summer. The roads into town are lined with sprawling old houses, well-kept and historic, and long stone walls. A host of inns and restaurants thrive here, thanks to summertime visitors and Colby-Sawyer College, created as a school for women but now coeducational.

When you walk into the dining room at the Inn at Pleasant Lake (853 Pleasant St., 603-526-6271, www.innatpleasant lake.com, $135-$215) the lake opens up before you, not far beyond the large windows. Many of the 10 rooms also look out on the water, where guests can walk to the small, private beach or borrow the inn's kayak, canoe, or rowboat. The grand dame in the center of town is the New London Inn (353 Main St., 603-526-2791, www.newlondoninn.us, $129-$225), which has rented rooms for nearly 140 years. The floors are creaky but the rooms are bright and equipped with DVD players and free Wi-Fi. Maple Hill Farm Bed and Breakfast Country Inn (1200 Newport Road, 603-526-2248, www.maple hillfarm.com, $90-$135) is another renovated old farmhouse on the lake, with 10 rooms in the main building and a three-bedroom house ($500/night, $2,900/week), with a deck overlooking Little Lake Sunapee. Shaker Meetinghouse Bed and Breakfast (1502 King Hill Road, 603-763-3122, www.shakermeeting house.com, $100-$130) offers four simple rooms with "historically correct furnishings" in a replica of a Shaker meetinghouse, with a few modern conveniences like air conditioning and memory-foam mattresses. Twin Lake Village (164 Twin Lake Village Road, 603-526-6460, www.twinlakevillage.com, $430-$1,275 per person, per week) feels like a village, with a lakeside hotel surrounded by cottages, a nine-hole golf course, and boats and swimming along Little Lake Sunapee. Rates include three meals a day.

Peter Christian's Tavern (195 Main St., 603-526-4042, www .peterchristianstavern.com, entrees $4.25-$13.50) is a cozy restaurant with booths made of hewn wooden boards. The food is simple and hasn't changed much over the years. Rockwell's at the Inn (353 Main St., 603-526-2791, www.new londoninn.us/id7.htm, $9-$30 entrees) overlooks the town green. Jack's of New London (207 Main St., 603-526-2703, www.jacksof newlondon.com, sandwiches $7-$9) is a casual place that serves breakfast and lunch.

New London has many miles of hiking trails, including sections of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway, a 75-mile trail that winds across three mountains and 10 towns. The New London Conservation Commission (www.nl- nhcc.com) publishes a guide to many of the nearby trails that is available around town, including at town hall and the library. The town also has several public beaches, although you'll need a town parking permit for your car; some inns make them available to guests.

Taye Diggs and Laura Linney are famous former interns at the New London Barn Playhouse (84 Main St., 603-526-4631, www .nlbarn.com), a 300-seat theater in an 1820s barn, the oldest continuously operating summer-stock theater in the state. Since 1933, thespians have spent the summer here performing plays and musicals. In warm weather, Summer Music Associates (603-526-8234) and the Mary D. Haddad Bandstand Concert Series (Sargent Common, 603-526-2996) host concerts around town.

Morgan Hill Bookstore (253 Main St., 603-526-5850) is the kind of small, independent shop where you could spend some serious time poking around on a rainy day. Vessels & Jewels (207 Main St., 603-526-8902) is a funky store with jewelry, ceramics, and other intriguing items, many made by local craftspeople. Art of Nature (Main Street, 603-526-2638, www.natureswildart.com) is a quirky shop where you can find lamps made from elk antlers, wreaths decorated with turtle shells, and empty ostrich eggs.