Connecticut Hammonasset Beach State Park Boasting 900 acres, Hammonasset is two miles of sandy beach with mild ocean temperatures (we’ve enjoyed the sea there well into September) and a light surf, perfect for swimming, hiking, and surfcasting. More than 550 well-maintained campsites make for an inexpensive beach vacation when the big resort hotels are overflowing. […]
The New Hampshire seacoast is the Lichtenstein of New England–a small, generally overlooked principality much beloved by the few who know it, and given little thought by the rest of us. That’s ripe for change. In an era when the long weekend has replaced the two-week vacation (itself a replacement of the months-long summer sojourn […]
Looking for the perfect way to spend a summer day with your family? Here are our picks for the best New England waterways. Connecticut Farmington River. There’s no better way for a family to spend a summer day than floating down the Farmington together on bright-yellow inner tubes. Although the river flows for more than […]
Connecticut Mark Twain House & Museum. Although a son of Missouri, Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) made his home in Hartford’s beautiful West End. The 90-minute tour of his Louis Tiffany-designed house will introduce visitors to Twain as a loving father, a hapless businessman, and a consummate jokester (he named his cats Famine, Pestilence, Satan, […]
Connecticut Kent. The first dilemma when visiting Kent is whether to look up to the Berkshire Hills or down at the sparkling Housatonic River. Take in both views: Hike a stretch of the Appalachian Trail, which crosses Route 341 about a mile west of downtown. Kent has attracted throngs of artists, resulting in art shows […]
New England honey ranges from light in color and softly fragrant to dark, rich, and intense. Maple syrup isn’t New England’s only deliciously sticky homegrown product — this region is one of the country’s leading producers of honey, too. Local New England honey is worth buying for more than its heavenly taste. Supporting small-scale beekeepers […]
Most of Krista Kern’s prior experience was in desserts, but this woman is a force to be reckoned with, from appetizer to pasta to salad to entree. Most of Krista Kern’s prior experience was in desserts, but this woman is a force to be reckoned with, from appetizer to pasta to salad to entree. Her […]
At Hugo’s in Portland, Maine, Rob Evans uses his French, Italian, and Japanese cooking skills on “foods within the region that work together, while being creative and fun about it.” Rob Evans is having a good time. After years of cooking gigs that had him bouncing back and forth between Maine and Hawaii, Rob has […]
The plates that come from Sam Hayward’s Fore Street kitchen carry strong Mediterranean influences, but the ingredients and simplicity are undeniably coastal Maine. The plates that come from Sam’s kitchen carry strong Mediterranean influences, but the ingredients and simplicity are undeniably coastal Maine. Fore Street’s signature dish, for example — mussels with garlic and almonds — gives […]
A visit with five Portland, Maine chefs, plus recipes! Although I’m a native New Englander, I confess that I hadn’t spent much time in Portland, Maine, until the late 1990s. My first real visit was simply to eat at Fore Street restaurant. My foodie friends were raving about chef Sam Hayward’s gorgeous food and his beautiful […]
York Beach in southern Maine is more honky-tonk than exclusive coastal resort, so chef Lydia Shire’s exciting new eatery, Blue Sky, is turning heads — not just for its sleek, sexy design but also for the inspired plates coming out of the kitchen. A well-known kitchen maverick, Lydia has been wowing diners since the 1980s […]
In terms of a sustained vision of everyday beauty, painter Lois Dodd would be hard to beat. Since the 1950s, Dodd has pursued a simple, direct, pleasurable approach to painting the stuff of ordinary life — the landscapes around her, the environments she inhabits, her gardens and yards, her homes and her friends — all […]
