If there is a straight line in the state of Vermont I have never seen it. Vermont is, by seasonal turns, a green or white landscape of hills and mountains, hollows, valleys, and gorges, all bucking and turning and curvilinear in the extreme. Vermont is also, perhaps because it is located upriver from New York, […]
When I was doing graduate work at Simmons College back in the early 1970s, I often spent my lunch break next door at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, that elegant little palazzo frozen in time on Boston’s Fens. The art, the architecture, and the atmosphere, especially the indoor garden, were like a vacation abroad, if […]
Jean Maginnis, founder and executive director of the non-profit Maine Center for Creativity, was out bicycling in South Portland, Maine, a few years ago when it occurred to her that the large oil storage tanks along the South Portland waterfront would make great canvases for an artist. In 2005, she first floated the idea that […]
Are there trees and shrubs that flower in the fall that I can use in my landscape? — R.M., Lincoln, MA A good number of herbaceous perennials (soft-stem plants that die to the ground in winter) bloom during the fall in New England — including Aconitum, Aster, Chrysanthemum, Sedum, and Filipendula, among others — but […]
Biennial art exhibitions, whether by invitation only or juried shows open to all, have become waypoints on the contemporary art landscape, providing artists and audiences alike a chance every couple of years to see what’s new, what’s happening, who’s hot, who’s arrived. As big, brawling, messy, and imperfect as they are, biennials are welcome events, […]
Yankee classic from January 1981 People who live along inland waters in northern New England know there are really only two seasons: ice-in and ice-out. All else is but prelude and aftermath. A frozen lake draws us: we dare it early and we dare it late, probing the limits of a most delicate balance — […]
During my childhood summers in Chester County, Pennsylvania I did many things: played baseball, rode my bike, caught fireflies, waited for the twilight jingle of the ice cream truck — but swimming in clear fresh water was not one of them. My town was too far south for the ice age glaciers to have reached […]
For many years and many reasons, travelers have been drawn to Bethlehem, New Hampshire. This quiet vale at the edge of the White Mountain National Forest once boasted dozens of resort hotels. Its pure mountain air gave rise to the National Hay Fever Relief Association. Signs proclaim it the poetry capital of the state. These […]
The July/August issue of Yankee features one of the most complex stories we have done during my nearly 30 years here at Yankee. We titled it “25 People You Must See This Summer.” We put this together many months ago when the editors got together repeatedly to toss out the names of New Englanders we […]
Yankee classic from August 1993 Plan a weekend visit to Wethersfield today. In those days, you could smell Wethersfield before you could see it. Outsiders dubbed the Connecticut village “Oniontown,” with a crosshatch of affection and derision, for this was home of the world-famous Wethersfield red onion, and its pungent scent stung the air. Wethersfield […]
“For the last 19 years,” says June LaCombe, Maine’s one-woman outdoor sculpture campaign, “I have been trying to get sculpture out of the white box of the gallery and back into people’s lives where it belongs.” June LaCombe is not just an art dealer; she is an art believer. She curates exhibitions of outdoor sculpture […]
To understand the problem with lawns, it’s helpful to understand that diversity is essential to the natural world. Great energy expenditure is required to maintain a monoculture, whether it’s a field of corn or a lawn. A nonessential “crop” with a combined national acreage larger than Pennsylvania, our lawns require more water, insecticides, fungicides, weed […]
