Best New England Spots to View The April 2024 Solar Eclipse

A rare solar eclipse will happen in New England on April 8, 2024.

Even if you don't feel like traveling, we'll all be able to experience at least part of the phenomenon, as the SouthCoast will be able to view what's called a "partial" solar eclipse. That means a portion of the sun will be blocked by the moon, causing the skies to darken a bit. It will look as if a bite was taken out of the sun.

There are a couple of factors that will affect your viewing of the solar event. First, depending on your location, the length of the event will vary. Another area of concern will be cloudiness. Clouds would block the view of the sun, significantly changing the experience.

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The Eclipse Co allows you to see the band of land that will experience the total and partial eclipses. It has fun data including the length of the eclipse and the likelihood of clouds.

Both New Bedford and Fall River would be fairly decent spots to view the eclipse.  While none of the SouthCoast falls into the zone that can see a total eclipse of the sun, both cities will experience nearly 90% of the eclipse. The duration will be just shy of 2 and a half minutes and will occur at exactly 2:15 p.m.

If you're willing to drive a couple of hours north into New Hampshire, you would have an opportunity to experience the full deal: a total solar eclipse. One of those locations is  Dixville Notch, which is famous for being first in the nation for presidential polls for both the primary and the general election.

Driving to Dixville will allow you to experience the partial eclipse beginning at 2:17 p.m., then the total eclipse from 3:28 to 3:31.

Getting lodging could be tricky. You may be too late.

We looked around Dixville for vacancies on April 7 and 8 but there was nothing to be found.