For all the tragedy of the stories in their stones, New England’s historic graveyards are restful places.
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If the earth could speak, it might offer words of gratitude to New England for inspiring the most persuasive environmental voices the nation has ever known. Perhaps, as some fear, the tipping point of the earth’s warming has already been reached—but that hasn’t silenced the indefatigable Bill McKibben, ardent environmentalist and lucid writer, who from […]
Love a menu with historic ties? This collection of 21 fresh-but- familiar holiday recipes from the Yankee recipe archives is here to help.
There’s a reason why fishermen won’t paint a boat blue…
We’d been climbing Katahdin in the near darkness, lighting our way from Chimney Pond over the boulder-strewn Saddle Trail by flashlight, then by the breaking dawn. On the plateau we paused. My companion, Irvin “Buzz” Caverly Jr., had seen this view hundreds of times. He didn’t gush about its beauty; his feelings ran deeper than […]
Samantha Smith | New England’s Gifts
In the summer of 1983 the most famous child in the world was Samantha Smith, the 10-year-old girl from Maine who sent a letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov: “My name is Samantha Smith … I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war …” Her subsequent journey to […]
Winslow Homer | New England’s Gifts
Prouts Neck thrusts out into the Atlantic, exposed on three sides to the water and completely exposed to easterly storms, and the rugged, weatherbeaten rocks show the effects of the pounding surf. It was here that Winslow Homer was most at home for the last 27 years of his life. He captured the storm-whipped Maine […]
Ashley Bryan | New England’s Gifts
Ashley Bryan’s life story is among the most extraordinary in American arts and letters. The son of West Indian immigrants from Antigua, Bryan was raised in the Bronx. After serving in a segregated Army unit in World War II, he completed a degree at the Cooper Union Art School and pursued a doctorate in philosophy […]
In April of this year, Charlotte’s Web was declared “the most popular children’s book ever” in a survey produced by BBC.com. E. B. White’s spartan boathouse, where much of the book was written, is still standing in a town in Midcoast Maine, although now the building has been prettied up by new owners. White’s granddaughter […]
Gruesome images today of refugees, fleeing poverty and war in North Africa and the Middle East, only to drown in Mediterranean waters, are arousing horror and sympathy around the world. European governments are faced with painful decisions: How many can they take in without being overwhelmed? The crisis is a reminder that New England has […]
In New England, Hollywood producers have found mountains, lakes, lighthouses, small towns and fishing villages, beaches, rockbound cliffs overlooking ocean, opulent mansions, Ivy League colleges, and iconic Colonial architecture all waiting in one compact region. New England has always been ready for its closeup. Imagine a darkened movie theater anywhere in the world. The movie […]
The change was abrupt. A cold front rushed through New England and temperatures dropped, as rain, and then snow, began to fall. After a generally warmer-than-normal autumn, it was rather shocking to be reminded that sometimes in New England, autumn means pulling out the winter hat and gloves! By Sunday morning, skies had cleared, but temperatures all across […]