Christina Tree’s travel writing has shown New England to the world. And after 50 years, she’s still hitting the road in search of new adventures because, as she puts it, “I never wanted to be left behind.” – read more
I’m thankful to have spent most of my life exploring and writing about New England, which continues to surprise and delight.
I was born in Hawaii, grew up in Manhattan and, after 4 college years at Mount Holyoke College, couldn’t wait to get back to NYC. But at age 26 I lucked into a job as assistant travel editor at The Boston Globe and New England was my beat—with occasional detours to the Caribbean. Europe and Africa. In the city room I shared a typewriter with writer Bill Davis and we’ve been together for 50 years.
Because the Globe offered just 3 weeks maternity leave when our first son was born, I opted to resign but within a few months was back writing about New England as a free-lancer. This way of life continued through three sons, hundreds of articles and a number of books.
The first book was How New England Happened (Little Brown & Co.) a historical guide to the region, quickly followed by Massachusetts, An Explorer’s Guide. That first Explorer’s Guide is now the stuff of family legend. I had been asked to write a guide to Massachusetts for a major German publisher — who died after I had completed the job but before it was published. Payment was generous enough to provide a downpayment for our much-needed home (a second son was on the way) and rights reverted to me because it wasn’t published. Through a series of flukes I connected with the newly-founded Countryman Press, now a division of W.W. Norton.
The first Maine, An Explorer’s Guide quickly followed and I found that my journalist’s eye came in handy in guidebook writing, while the detailed on-the-road research demanded by books was a constant source of Globe stories. By then there were 3 young sons and I dragged them along, renting cottages from which to explore Mass. and then Maine, Vermont and finally New Hampshire . Our team offered especially well-researched coverage of ice cream stands, swimming holes and local emergency rooms. I miss those days. It can get lonely on the road.
Eventually I launched another series with Best Places to Stay in New England (Houghton Mifflin) but the guide that
has outsold
all my other books is Maine, An Explorer’s Guide (Countryman Press) now known as “The Maine Bible” and in its 19th edition (2019). For the past eight editions I have blessed to have a fabulous co-author, Maine food writer Nancy English.
In 2017 Countryman (now an imprint of wwNorton) published the first edition of the Coastal Maine Explorer’s Guide, an expanded version of coverage of the coast and islands that the original Maine guide has included from the start.
While Maine is on our front burner just now, Vermont, An Explorer’s Guide is also a big source of pride and has been updated 15 times, most recently in 2018.
Check the Explorers Guides page on this site for sample chapters and more about each of the current titles.
All four guides are available in electronic as well as hard copy editions Please see the Explorer’s Guide page for details about ordering.
Vermont Backroads & Byways (wwNorton), co-authored with Vermont writers Lisa Halvorsen and Pat Goudey O’Brien, a handy guide for residents and visitors alike, was published in 2018.Co
These titles are still widely available in bookstores and on line but Covid put a stop to the updates. I like to think that my books continue to connect readers with the New England people and places that I have come to treasure over the years.
Photo credit : Mark Fleming/Yankee Magazine
Christina Tree 
