On Bruce Ware’s porch above the shores of Lake Champlain, I lower myself into a deep wooden chair and lean back. “The way you’ll know a real one is the height of the chair off the ground, and where your knees come up to,” Ware tells me. “In some, where the angle is wrong, they’ll […]
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 largest lighthouse museum in the United States is right here in New England, thanks to the 2007 merger of Rockland’s Maine Lighthouse Museum with the collections of the American Lighthouse Foundation, an advocacy and preservation organization, formerly based in Wells, Maine. Paintings, photographs, artifacts, lectures and presentations, and more. 1 Park Drive Rockland, ME […]
Once you climb the 55-step winding staircase to the top of Rear Range Light in Newburyport, Massachusetts, you won’t really care what you eat or drink. You’ll be filled with the view from your glass-paneled private dining room. The 365-degree vista follows the Merrimack River to the Atlantic Ocean and Plum Island, then back to […]
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. […]
Bag the fall foliage view with an easy cruise up to elevation and sites that set your sights over sweeping landscapes.
ATTRACTIONS Best Children’s Clothing:THE RED WAGON, Boston Find well-made outfits in fun colors that won’t break the bank or fall apart after washing. Accessories are functional and irresistible, plus there’s a thoughtful selection of books and toys. 69 Charles St. 617-523-9402; theredwagon.com Best Furnishings Store:BLISS HOME, Boston Tastes may vary from century to century, but […]
ATTRACTIONS Best Boutique Art and Science Center: BRUCE MUSEUM, Greenwich It’s a small but mint venue that mounts extraordinary exhibitions that often go on to tour nationally or internationally. On view through May 24, Innovations in the Third Dimension: Sculpture of Our Time (Rodin, Calder, Nevelson, Moore); through June 14, Dinosaurs: The Art of Reconstruction; […]
LODGING Best Green-Friendly Stay: TOPIA INN, Adams The beauty and comfort of this solar- and biodiesel-powered B&B is proof positive that reducing the carbon footprint of your travels doesn’t require sacrificing a thing. Ten artist-designed rooms, unique in their exotic motifs, have been built and furnished exclusively with inert and organic materials. Rates: from $135, […]
DINING Best Inn Breakfast:STONE’S THROW INN, Narragansett The lavish multicourse breakfast put on by hostess Pam Flavin includes fresh fruit and yogurt, followed by cooked-to-order omelets, baked-apple French toast, or Belgian waffles, with a choice of toppings, plus bacon, sausage, or ham–all served inside a 1902 Victorian cottage within walking distance of the expansive wraparound […]
