When the air gets brisk and and the shadows long, and you can smell a campfire even when there’s not one around, it’s fall. For many there’s a lot of nostalgia in the season: favorite sweaters come out of storage, harvest festivals pop up, and warm cider fills mugs on chilly nights.

Atop a mountain just outside Ludlow, Vermont, stands Okemo Fire Tower, a 60-foot behemoth that was originally erected in 1923 and grew taller over the years. Listed on the National Historic Lookout Register in 1998, it is one of the best locations in the region—maybe the world—to see the fall foliage in unparalleled splendor. In Ithaca, New York, artist Graham Ottoson takes gourds of various shapes—what’s more autumnal than a good gourd—and crafts them into magnificent, whimsical works of art. Thanksgiving centerpiece, anyone?

Whether you’ve been yearning for a scoop of pumpkin pie ice cream or dream of picking the perfect bushel in northern Europe’s largest collection of paradise apple trees, here are some of our favorite places that capture the spirit of fall at any time of year.