In the 118-year history of the world championship of horseshoe pitching, only one New Englander has ever won the crown.
Yankee
When you hear New Englanders announce, “We’re going up to the camp for the month,” this could mean a trip of anywhere from 200 miles to 200 yards. A camp, in New England, is a small seasonal dwelling—not a second home, but an antidote to home. While camps tend to be highly idiosyncratic, most are […]
Magazine
Amy Poehler | Knowledge & Wisdom
Credit: Everett Collection Inc./Alamy Stock Photo “Fighting aging is like the War on Drugs. It’s expensive, and it does more harm than good.” —Amy Poehler (born September 16, 1971, in Newton, Massachusetts). This multitalented comedic actress was raised by two high school teachers, which seems about right: Between acting (Saturday Night Live, Parks and Recreation), […]
Compiled by Julia Shipley
Magazine
Speak, the Tooth | Up Close
In an 1831 catalog of what is today the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, there’s an entry for a scrimshaw titled “Tooth of a Sperm Whale, curiously carved.” With it, a second entry: “Another, carved by the same hand.” These two pieces were among the first scrimshaw ever acquired by a museum, and they […]
A father-and-son camping trip to a long-ago family homestead stirs up the past.
Magazine
Entering Paradise | Mary’s Farm
At times, starlight can illuminate what is truly important.
Want a fresh perspective on sightseeing (and a little fresh air, too)? Kayaking Boston offers a memorable way to experience New England’s marquee city.
History
One Way to Catch a Hoot Owl
There are many types of New England humor — that is, the understated variety, the overstated, put-downs, and so forth — but the one most utilized on the first day of April each year is that which endeavors to test the gullibility of the listener. The more gullible he or she turns out to be, […]
Last fall we had a really persistent woodpecker pecking holes in the corner boards of our house. We’ve had the boards replaced, but we wondered if the bird will be back this spring. Why do they do this, and how can we keep them off our new corner boards? —Calvin A., Dublin, NH Woodpeckers drill […]
The Newton family was camping at Coburn Gorge in northern Maine over Labor Day weekend in 1975 when Kurt, age 4, disappeared. What followed has been termed “the most extensive woods search in the history of Maine.” But all the thousands of volunteer searchers ever found were unanswered questions.
Superstitions are actually so deeply ingrained in New England character that we seldom recognize them — or, for sure, admit to them.