Project: Backyard Tree House Jeannie and Gus Merwin’s backyard is 14 acres of New Hampshire woodland. “Peaceful” is the word the Merwins use to describe the way they feel when perched in their new tree house. The east window looks out on a cascading brook and waterfall. From the other windows there are views of […]
If a single sound and a single scent can hold the essence of a New England summer, surely they’re the crash of the surf breaking on our shores and the salty tang that hangs in the breeze as you get ever closer to the sea. Nature and geography have bestowed many gifts on our New […]
One night last summer, I was lying in bed reading, my dog asleep against my side. A comfortable silence enveloped us as the slight breezes of the midnight hour moved through the curtains. Suddenly, an intruder cruised through the doorway into the room on silent wings. I jerked the covers up over everything but my […]
We are Cape people. Every year, for about the past 20, we’ve returned for a week to a shabby cabin with a galley kitchen, lousy TV reception, and a deck with the proverbial “distant water view” of Wellfleet Harbor. Like the bobolinks that return each year from South America to their favorite New England hayfield, […]
Lynne Cox’s strange and wonderful relationship with the coldest waters on the planet began as a youngster turning blue on the coastal beaches of Maine and New Hampshire. She went on to set world records for duration and distance in a variety of exotic cold-water settings, first as a teen crossing the English Channel, and […]
The earliest forms of Nantucket baskets were utilitarian creations, made free-form using wooden splints woven to a round pine-board bottom. During the 1860s, basket making aboard the lightships became an art form. I tip my hat to those plucky 19th-century seamen who first manned the lightships off the shores of Nantucket. Unlike the world’s great […]
Birds, bees, beetles, dragonflies … even spiders and snakes. There’s a surprise waiting to be uncovered when you use this large oval ceramic platter ($425) for the family turkey. Original black line drawings are transferred to white earthenware and subtly highlighted by color — light blue, pine green, or iron buffalo (pictured) — along the […]
Of course, no holiday table is complete without a vessel with which to serve the gravy. Woodbury Pewter’s gravy boat ($57.50) is lightweight and easy to handle when pouring. If you prefer better portion control, also choose the 1-ounce ladle ($19.50). Both items are made in Woodbury, Connecticut, of lead-free pewter with a satin finish. […]
Pies have been a staple of the New England table since the Colonial days. Bring them to a modern-day table in Seal Cove Pottery pie plates ($38). Lisbeth Faulkner and Edwin Marshall Davis’s studio/store/art gallery on Mount Desert Island in Maine is laden with blue, green, and red pottery on the shelves and nautical watercolors […]
We’ve never seen a ceramic bowl this big (20 inches in diameter) and couldn’t imagine a more perfect dish for large quantities of salad, mashed potatoes, or stuffing. D. Lasser Ceramics produces more than 15 colorful, hand-painted patterns (Planet Green shown here, $185) at a post-and-beam barn in Londonderry, Vermont. Insider’s tip: At the showroom, […]
Swiftly share condiments and side dishes with this 14-inch-diameter turntable ($89). Marcia LaRocque-Levy hand paints a beautiful majolica tile, and her husband, David, adds a cherry (pictured) or milk-paint-finish wood frame. Eight tile designs (including pinwheel, pictured here) are available from Levy LaRocque in Easthampton, Massachusetts. 413-527-5040. levylarocque.com
Think of a wine decanter and you probably think of a Victorian cut-glass carafe. No longer: Tsuga Studios’ rolling wine decanter ($180) is an elegant way to aerate wines and help sediments settle. “The canes allow for handmade detail without distracting the eye,” says Nicholas Kekic, a third-generation glassmaker in Chester, Vermont. “[They] appear to […]
