In the Victorian-era seaside village of Watch Hill in Westerly Rhode Island, the Flying Horse Carousel claims to be one of the nation’s oldest (circa 1867). It differs from others of similar vintage because the carved wooden steeds are suspended by chains from a turning framework attached to the ceiling. As the carousel picks up […]
Somehow it surprises me every year. Summer days melt away all thought of winter; so much so that when those first flakes appear, it’s like I’m seeing them for the first time. Winter arrived in Western Mass with a modest overnight dusting. Watching the shadows of precipitation flit through the beam of my headlights, I […]
Yankee Magazine March 1993 Jamie Huntsman never saw the avalanche that rumbled down Mount Washington, sweeping him and his climbing partner off the highest mountain in New England. But strangely, he could see himself falling, heading downward, and knew that if he didn’t get himself turned around, he was going to die. The afternoon of […]
Our annual celebration of ordinary New Englanders — the angels among us — who are making an extraordinary difference in the lives of others.
For more than 35 years, the popular Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, attracted prominent visitors, including actors (Bette Davis, Gloria Swanson), athletes (Rocky Marciano, Joe DiMaggio), singers (Ethel Merman), composers (Cole Porter), and politicians (Eleanor Roosevelt, JFK). But the inn’s famous legacy is tied to a single day in the mid-1930s, when diners there […]
Before people used the term “windchill” to refer to the weather, there were numerous other descriptions of meteorological conditions. In Maine “Twice as Cold as Zero” (don’t bother doing the math) is an old saying that means it’s zero degrees with a high wind blowing. Excerpt from “The New England Sampler,” Yankee Magazine, January 1993.Get Our […]
After learning untold uses for dryer lint, worn-out panty hose, and used dental floss, we present the winners of the Yankee frugality contest. In our September 1990 issue of Yankee Magazine, our issue devoted to Yankee frugality, we asked for your own frugal tips and anecdotes. You responded with more than 200 letters, many of […]
When Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine, received a new pair of ice skates on Christmas morning (quite an expensive gift in 1873), all he could think of was his ears. “They’ll start aching. They always ache when I’m out in the cold too long,” he complained. His mother suggested wrapping a scarf around his head, […]
A chance encounter stirs the author’s memory of the man who gave him a new life.
We asked Henry Traverso, author of The Art Lover’s Pocket Guide, to share his choices for the 5 best small museums in New England.
Every year at this time, as the last note of “Deck the Halls” fades into the general hubub of Christmas party conversation, the question hangs in the air, unasked: What exactly does the phrase “troll the ancient Yuletide carol” mean? Wonder no more. This troll is not a monster found beneath bridges or a method […]
In November 1888 a 22-year-old Vermont woman named Kate Gillette was plucking and dressing turkeys for the Boston market on her family’s East Randolph farm while waiting for a teaching job to start in December. Worried about how she would live on the $7 a week that the position paid, she tried a novel variant […]
