John Quincy Adams once declared it “the most magnificent and elegant private mansion that I have ever seen on this continent.” Even by today’s standards, the John Brown House is impressive: a three-floor Georgian estate anchoring the southern end of Providence’s historic College Hill neighborhood. The tourists who gather for a glimpse of its opulent […]
Justin Shatwell
In downtown Northampton, Massachusetts, there’s one tree that looks particularly well prepared for winter. A colorful stockinette sweater hugs its trunk, with holes carefully placed to accommodate its branches. A yarn monkey dangles from one of the boughs. Around the base of the tree are three twentysomething women knitting furiously. Brie, Rachel, and Katie comprise […]
Magazine
The Haunting of Yankee’s Parking Lot
A month ago I posted an article about the odd attraction people have to our parking lot and speculated that some type of mystical force might be at work. This week I present definitive proof that our parking lot is possessed. I’ve already discussed how Dublin residents are inextricably drawn to our parking lot like […]
Massachusetts
The Old Ship Meeting House | Local Treasure
On Sunday morning, the doors of the Old Ship Meeting House in Hingham, Massachusetts, swing open to embrace its congregation, as they have for the past 330 years. Built in 1681, the Old Ship is New England’s last surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse and the oldest continuously used church in the country. As they enter, worshippers […]
Massachusetts
Kringle and Yankee Candle | Scented-Candle Showdown
It used to be that if you wanted to spend an entire afternoon shopping for candles in the Pioneer Valley, you had only one choice. No more! A mere 13 miles up Route 5 from Yankee Candle, a small village of candle-themed buildings has arisen from the fields of Bernardston, Massachusetts, seemingly overnight–like Brigadoon–though this […]
Magazine
Darn Kids, Get Off My Lawn!
What is it about a rectangular patch of grass that so captivates the New England psyche? Is it genetic? Cultural? What am I missing? For the life of me I can’t figure out why everyone thinks the Yankee parking lot is the Dublin Town Green. Our office has a simple horseshoe parking lot that runs […]
As a child on Cape Cod, Ethan Daniels fell in love with water and the mysteries within it. He learned to swim and sail there, and later (in order to become an intern at the New England Aquarium) he learned to dive in its murky depths. “The study of life around the planet was the […]
Often the smartest person in the room is also the weirdest, a fact that is rarely more evident than at Harvard University’s annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. For one evening every fall, the average IQ inside Sanders Theatre spikes as the brightest minds around (and that’s a high bar in Cambridge) gather to toast the […]
Magazine
A Road Less Traveled
My editor and a longtime travel writer, Mel Allen, often hands out the sagely advice to “get lost, but carry a good map.” Sometimes this works better in theory than in practice. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely good advice for people in our line of work. Good travel writing takes readers to places they’ve […]
A visit to the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, just may change the way you view the world.
When artist Stephen Huneck died in 2010, he left behind his beautiful Dog Mountain park and chapel, his whimsical dog art and books, and so many questions.
Magazine
My Worst Hike Ever
Climbing Mount Sunapee in early June was not my best plan ever. I was in the area this week doing research for a travel story. Yankee Publishing was recently awarded the contract to produce the New Hampshire Tourism department’s annual travel guide for 2012, so this week it was my job to familiarize myself with […]