BEST UPSCALE BAR Drink, Boston Drink’s commitment to excellence at every level–from the quality of the ice, to the historic authenticity of the bitters, punches, and fizzes, to the minimalist design that hides the booze and puts the barkeep front and center–makes this venue a natural winner. 348 Congress St. 617-695-1806 BEST HISTORY LESSON Nichols […]
BEST CHOICE FOR ARCHITECTURE BUFFS Angel of the Berwicks, North Berwick Inside and out, the 25-room Hurd Manor is a gem, showcasing hand-painted 11-foot ceilings, detailed friezes, elaborate woodwork, and plentiful antiques. Rates: from $99, including full breakfast. 2 Elm St. 207-676-2133; angeloftheberwicks.com BEST CLASSIC SEASIDE RESORT The Colony, Kennebunkport The genteel, oceanside Colony blends […]
BEST MOVIE HOUSE Beacon Cinema, Pittsfield The city’s Kinnell-Kresge building is classic 1918, but inside, a new six-screen, all-digital theater features the Met Opera “Live in HD” as well as art films, sports broadcasts, and first-run movies in surround sound. Hot hits may appear on all screens at once–in 3D. A vintage escalator accesses the […]
Destined to be cherished for generations to come, these timeless works showcase the region’s legacy of superb craftsmanship.
The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine, is one of the arts education institutions that draw people to Maine to study the skills that lead to creativity. Like the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine Media Workshops, Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and Watershed Center for the Ceramic […]
Ordinarily, exhibitions of art from a museum’s permanent collection are about as newsworthy as re-arranging the furniture. Staff and a few art historians and critics might take notice, but that’s about it.Contemporary Art from the Farnsworth at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine (through May 22, 2011) strikes me as an exception. The show […]
We’ve lived heah fo-evah,” our longtime friend Carol Dugan told us when we first met in 1987, mimicking the proverbial “RhoDisland” accent that isn’t particularly apparent in her normal speech. And, yes, Carol is a true native, having grown up in Warwick, lived along the western shore of Narragansett Bay all her life, married (no […]
In the 1930s, furniture from Heywood-Wakefield gave American homes a bright, fresh look. Today, you can find Heywood-Wakefield pieces at flea markets, thrift stores, consignment shops, and auctions—and they’re priced to sell. Sometimes I fear that modern-day Americans are like hothouse flowers: big, bold, beautiful, yet too fragile to survive outside a pristine environment. I […]
They say that Dublin, New Hampshire, situated 1,493 feet above sea level on the shoulder of the most-climbed mountain in America, Mount Monadnock, is the highest village in New England. But that’s not a big deal to Dublin residents. They’re more likely to point out how many famous people, particularly artists and writers, have lived […]
How New England Can Save the World, Part III in a series Part I: The Maine Way: Aroostook County Part II: Vermont Neighbors Part IIII: A Bang for Your Buck in the Berkshires When you think of Vermont–white church on the tidy green–you’re not actually thinking of Hardwick, which in its days as the “Building […]
The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut (wadsworthatheneum.org), is home to the largest portion of Wallace Nutting’s collection of original 17th- and 18th-century furnishings, some 550 pieces of furniture, ironwork, lamps, kitchen tools, and other goods, in addition to a sizable collection of the Nutting factories’ 20th-century reproduction furniture, design templates, and hand-tinted photos. Nutting furniture […]
If necessity is the mother of invention, what gives birth to reinvention? Is it dire necessity? A quest for perfection? Or a deeply personal conviction? Whatever the case, scrapping something back to its beginnings and re-creating it is a monumental task. Don’t ask me how, at the age of 43, Wallace Nutting had the energy […]
