The Best Places to Rediscover America's Past

Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community (New Gloucester, Maine): This is the last of the active Shaker communities in the nation and the only one that voted to accept new converts rather than die out. The 1,900-acre farm about 45 minutes outside of Portland has a number of exceptional buildings, including some dating back to the 18th century. Visitors can view examples of Shaker craftsmanship and buy locally grown Shaker herbs to bring home.

Mount Desert Island & Bar Harbor (Maine): In the mid-1800s, America launched a love affair with nature and never looked back. See where it started, amid surf-wracked rocks, and where some of the nation's most affluent families ventured to erect vacation "cottages," with bedrooms by the dozen. The area still offers lessons on how to design with nature as accomplice rather than adversary.