Images of New England

New England is a region comprising of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces to the north. The first settlers in New England came in 1620. The Puritan Separatists from England known as Pilgrims established the Plymouth Colony after the success of the first English settlement in America: Jamestown. The region saw much conflict in the following centuries, in four French and Indian Wars with the English colonists. 

In 1692, the town of Salem, Massachusetts, and surrounding areas experienced the Salem witch trials, one of the most infamous cases of mass hysteria in American history. Dealing with a transformed identity, the settlers wished to disassociate themselves from the motherland of Britain, certainly in economic terms in a late 18th century resistance to British taxation. These confrontations led to the first battles of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. The region also played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States, and it was the first region of the U.S. transformed by the Industrial Revolution.

Today, the region is known for its Atlantic beaches, expansive greenery, classic seafood and a refined way of life. Because of this, images of New England often feature landscapes. The physical geography of New England is diverse. Southeastern New England is covered by a narrow coastal plain, while the western and northern regions are dominated by the rolling hills and worn-down peaks of the northern end of the Appalachian mountains. New England maintains a strong sense of cultural identity, although the terms of this identity are often contrasted, combining Puritanism with liberalism, agrarian life with industry, and isolation with immigration. Images of New England in art reflect this diversity.

Discover on Artsper some of the most beautiful images of New England from a selection of contemporary artists!