How To

Real Solutions: Spring Cleaning

It’s time for spring cleaning, and I’ve learned that some of my favorite cleaning products can be toxic. What’s a good alternative?– M.R., Dover, VT Common household cleaners that contain chlorine, ammonia, and petroleum-based chemicals may contribute to respiratory problems, release harmful fumes, irritate allergies and chemical sensitivities, and burn skin or eyes on contact. […]

New England

Massachusetts: Where Time Stands Still

If you could survey the generations of Cape Cod visitors and draw a composite picture from their most lasting impressions, the result would almost certainly be a sketch of Route 6A, Old King’s Highway (named after the cart path that early settlers used to travel to and from Plymouth Colony). This section of the Cape […]

Homes

House For Sale: Maine Coast

How about this: your own cottage on the Maine coast, complete with sailboats, kayaks, a saltwater pool, a fitness center, a golf course, tennis courts, a bowling alley, a pool table, hiking trails, gardens, and a camp for your children to enjoy when you’re out antiquing. That’s what the Sebasco Harbor Resort is offering with […]

Gardens

Fenway Gardens: Community Gardening in Boston

Drivers rolling down Boston’s Boylston Street are sometimes surprised to see — amid the concrete and high-rises — a splash of lush green, a pergola covered in purple blossoms, and bright-red rows of tomatoes, heavy on the vine. This seven-acre plot is The Richard D. Parker Memorial Victory Gardens, better known as Fenway Gardens.The names […]

Massachusetts

Pittsfield, Massachusetts: 10 Reasons to Visit

By Patricia Harris and David Lyon We’ve been as guilty as anyone of barely slowing down as we’ve driven through Pittsfield on our way from Tanglewood in Lenox to Mass MoCA in North Adams. In years past, Pittsfield seemed to be merely a crossroads with shuttered retail shops and all the untidy business of Berkshire […]

Gardens

Real Solutions: Prepare Your Garden for Winter

Get your landscaping ready for New England’s bitter months by reading our tips to prepare your garden for winter. Our canna lilies and dahlias bloomed fabulously this summer, but I understand they’re not hardy enough to survive our winter outdoors. What do you recommend? — D.C., Antrim, NH Cannas, dahlias, elephant ears (Colocasia), gladiolus, caladium, […]

Magazine

13. Where to Find the Color

A biodiverse forest is what we think of first for the most dramatic displays, but it’s not just the treetops that capture the color. Look also for low-lying blueberry bush barrens, streams where leaves have caught on the bottom, and gardens with fall-blooming flowers such as chrysanthemums. Best advice: Buy a DeLorme map and explore […]

History

The Social Structure of a New England Town

Welcome to the August 2007 edition of Jud’s New England Journal, the rather curious monthly musings of Judson Hale, Editor-in-Chief of Yankee Magazine, published for over 70 years in Dublin, N.H. The Social Structure of a New England Town Over the years, it really hasn’t changed all that much …Get Our FREE Yankee Best New […]

Massachusetts

Ipswich, MA: The Inn at Castle Hill

Vacations are a time for relaxation, good food, dreamless sleep, and quiet morning walks. The Inn at Castle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts, delivers all — except for quiet mornings. Honking geese pass overhead, red-winged blackbirds chatter in the reeds, and ever-present seagulls squawk relentlessly — nature’s vocal welcome to one of the most beautiful places […]

Vermont

Weekend: Woodstock, Vermont

Among the villages in New England that beg you to park your car once and return to it only when it’s time to go home, Woodstock is without rival in its variety of outdoor and indoor treats within a short walk of its center. Across the village green from the stately Woodstock Inn & Resort, […]

Magazine

David Haskell: Green Giant in Massachusetts

Small stones crunch beneath David Haskell’s boots as he strolls along a shady path amid Allen C. Haskell Horticulturists in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Son of the late genius plantsman Allen Haskell, David now presides over the seven-acre retail nursery and landscape design business created by his father over the past 50 years. The nursery, which […]