The Williams College Museum of Art has mounted a series of late fall exhibitions that celebrate and provide context for its 1878 William Morris Hunt masterpiece “Niagara Falls,” a symphonic oil of one of America’s iconic landscapes. Hunt (1824-1879) was a Vermont native who became a celebrated Boston portrait and landscape painter. A Strong Impression: […]
Yankee
Scenes from an unexpected ice storm in December 2008 that caused remarkable hardship for thousands of New Englanders without power and heat.
Of Sick Dogs, Of Mad Dogs
Here was my week: Monday When I got home in the afternoon, I found Mayday, my 13-year-old mini-schnauzer, sitting in the corner, staring at the floor and trembling. When I picked her up, she felt hot. A few months ago she had been in hospital for a week with a high fever. The cause was […]
Fitchburg, MA: Mayor Lisa Wong
In November 2007, residents of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, overwhelmingly voted for change when they elected Lisa Wong, a 28-year political novice and the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as their mayor. In Wong, Fitchburg, a once thriving manufacturing city whose biggest exports these days are its jobs, gets a leader who matches an expertise in economic development […]
Pairings Hint — November/December
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:In Bangor, Paul […]
Newport, RI: Touro Synagogue
I once brought my mother, Adele, to Newport on a small cruise ship. We visited the mansions and Hammersmith Farm, and I showed her the bustling shops. But when we left, what she wanted to talk about most was a modest but lovely building visited by only a fraction of the city’s tourists: Touro Synagogue. […]
Robert Solotaire passed away a year ago this month at a very youthful 78 years of age. Bob was a downtown kind of guy, a ubiquitous presence on the streets of Portland, particularly up in the West End where he ran a boarding house, wrote for the neighborhood newspaper, and painted the lively urban scenes […]
VIDEO: Where is Peak Color?
Yankee editor Mel Allen explains why the search for “peak color” in New England is an elusive one. Think, instead, of a process of color lasting a month or more.
VIDEO: Brimfield Antique Show
Route 20 in Brimfield, Massachusetts, is best known for the annual three-part fairs, Brimfield Antique and Flea Market Shows, that take place each May, July, and September. Catch the next one September 8-13, 2009. Yankee editor Mel Allen gives his tips for visiting the countless booths, “as far as you can see.” Hints: wear comfortable […]
35 million Americans who claim descent from the original 102 Pilgrims 51 original colonists who survived that first New England winter, 1620-21 7 homes erected by colonists by the end of 1621, their first full year at Plymouth Colony 252 feet (and 7 inches): height of the 99-year-old Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, MA 5750 gallons […]
Eilen Jewell | Music Review
Musician Eilen Jewell is a ghost behind the microphone–a thin, blond wisp of a woman with a pair of probing doe eyes and a heart full of wanderlust. “Homesickness is kind of my muse,” she explains coolly. “I like that tension of not being at home and wondering where home is and do I ever […]
Here in New England: Hard Work
When strangers taste Nancy Brown’s balsamic vinaigrette, they know it’s special. What they don’t know is just how special.