Walking into the little town of Sunapee Harbor is like entering into one of those commercials for Pepperidge Farm or Country Time Lemonade. A perfectly manicured town common, complete with white gazebo, overlooks the sailboats bobbing in the bay. Children run free on the lawn outside a quaint country store, while their parents breathe deep in the knowledge they have nothing to do but relax.

When the towns around Sunapee Lake (Sunapee to the west, Newbury to the southeast, and New London to the east) were first founded, they were agriculture-based, then manufacturing-based communities. Today, however, they survive by tourism and recreation alone. That isn’t to say its shores are overcrowded with tourists; but the town of Sunapee in particular has evolved to please its visitors with a recently created Riverwalk, with live music on weekends, several charming shops, narrated boat tours, kayak rentals, and a town boat launch.