VIDEO: Pan-Mass Challenge There are people who possess a gift they don’t really know they have, until something unexpected happens and their life takes a turn, and then their gift becomes the life itself. For instance, Billy Starr. In the summer of 1973 he had just graduated from college. He’d grown up in suburban Boston, […]
In the next town to ours is a company that manufactures some of the best fireworks in the country. As a result, most towns around here hold extravagant fireworks shows on the Fourth. One of my favorites is in a nearby town, where the show is hosted and paid for by a private lake club. […]
Sally Snowman is the 70th keeper of Boston Light, a post that dates back to 1716. She’s the last of her kind; every other Coast Guard light station in the country has long since reassigned its full-time keepers in the wake of automation. Secluded on Little Brewster Island for weeks at a time, she’s one […]
We romanticize them, but what makes New England lighthouses quintessential icons is their simple, sturdy practicality. They weren’t built to be the stuff of tourist brochures, postcards, and collectibles. They were built to mark the rocky shore for ships. At the end of the road on the tiny burr of the prickly Maine coast where […]
Yesterday, friends came over for supper. Our main course was to be strawberry shortcake. It’s strawberry season here and, even though we’ve had way too much rain to make it a good year for berries, there are still wonderful berries to be had. At this time of year, we all have our favorite berry patches. […]
The tradition of Old Home Days began in 1897 in New Hampshire and still goes on every summer across New England. Parades, ball games, and band concerts are the order of the day, while new folks get acquainted and returning folks reconnect with their communities. Read more: Old Home Days: A New England Tradition Here’s […]
Video: Interview with David Carroll Excerpt: David Carroll’s new book, Following the Water Yankee Class from June 1993 In the April afternoon, the sun sinks low, coloring the wide oval expanse of the marsh. David Carroll tugs his waders to the tops of his thighs and strides into the place he calls the Route of […]
Yankee Classic from July/August 2001 In a three-acre sandpit in front of Steve Pelkey, 11,000 live fireworks shells poke out of the grit like land mines. Most are stuffed into mortars, racks of them bolted onto flatbed trailers or strung together on the ground with wooden strapping in sets of three, four, six, and ten. […]
To respond, click on the link below. You will come to our Feedback page. Step 1. Fill in “Pairings” as the subject. Step 2. Fill in your name and e-mail address. Step 3. Type your answer in the box. Please include your city and state with your answer. Good luck! The Clues: FIRST: 44 years […]
To respond, click on the link below. You will come to our Feedback page. Step 1. Fill in “Pairings” as the subject. Step 2. Fill in your name and e-mail address. Step 3. Type your answer in the box. Please include your city and state with your answer. Good luck! The clues: First:Cornish, New Hampshire’s […]
There are times when being there beats getting there by a long shot. We want our foliage vistas, and we want them now — so, onward and upward, in our cars. Herewith, a rundown of nine New England mountain summits attainable by auto road. Some are among the region’s loftiest and most majestic mountains; others […]
When you read this, I’ll be, by the grace of God and the pilot’s skill, in Japan. I’ve traveled some in the world, but never beyond a six-hour flight, and as I type this, I have no idea at all how I’ll spend some 15 hours on an airplane. I suppose I could write my […]
