Americans are a loud bunch. We talk big. We act out. We don’t truly embrace the “less is more” mentality. Our heroes are risk takers, and we value action over restraint, boldness over subtlety. I suppose it’s inevitable that a country spawned from revolution would embrace boisterous ideals, but I fear that in doing so, […]
Joan and Tim Porta have literally made a career of interior decorating. They travel to several gift shows a year to purchase items for three shops they run in conjunction with Migis. Much of the ambience they create in their guest rooms originates on these buying trips. Joan’s specialty is the lodge look. Her advice […]
Sebago anchors Maine’s Lakes Region. The state’s second-largest lake (after Moosehead), its shoreline is dotted with summer camps and cabins where children swim and canoe while grown-ups fish and hike. Migis Lodge, tucked into the northeast edge of Sebago Lake, is a resort known for rustic refinement. Here generations of outdoor enthusiasts have been nurtured. […]
In an 1840s mill in Maine, Dana Bourgeois and eight fellow craftsmen work in a shop cutting, sanding, and gluing spruce and rosewood. It’s loving work from which eight acoustic guitars are made each week. Their handcrafted instruments are treasured by serious guitarists around the world, including professional musicians Ricky Skaggs, Steve Earle, Marshall Crenshaw, […]
Wadsworth Atheneum, Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut Hurting economically at the outset of the Civil War, the small towns of backcountry New England swelled the Union army with new recruits. Casualties were overwhelming, with some towns losing most of their young male populations. Postwar New England experienced a deep sense of loss that transformed its […]
20 percentage of Vermont’s trees that are sugar maples — explaining in part the golden-orange and red hues of the state’s foliage season 107 number of years that Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut — oldest burger joint in America — has been cooking hamburgers 2 Babe Ruth’s favorite room at the Cranmore Mountain Lodge […]
Lyme Watch I think Edie Clark’s piece on the Lyme disease epidemic is one of the finest things she has ever written (“Trouble in Paradise,” July/August). Last year, I, too, had Lyme disease, for the first time at age 74, after working in an abandoned bee balm bed in Maine. Fortunately, I had what might […]
This is my 28th autumn at Yankee. for each of those years, the editors have talked for hours about how to best capture on our pages this most singular of New England’s seasons. Can we do it just with photographs? Can words give our readers a sense of the color marching up the hillsides; the […]
The answer, my friend, is a wind chime by Goose Rocks Designs. Each stained-glass mobile not only delights the ears with its lyrical sound, but also pleases the eyes. Choose from 62 models, ranging from contemporary designs (named after Maine locations) to New England icons such as sailboats and trees. Pictured is Baxter ($69), one […]
Maine natives Hannah Kubiak and Beth Shissler have created an innovative recycling program — turning retired sails into hip tote bags. “We like the ones where you can taste the salt on the outside,” says Beth. Sea Bags, sewn in Portland, Maine, can weather rough handling, thanks to the extremely durable fabric and hand-spliced rope […]
“Boats are designed to work best in the waters of the designer,” says boatbuilder Nick Schade. “The coastline from Long Island Sound all the way up the coast of Maine is wonderful paddling.” Our favorite for these waters is his 18-foot Night Heron kayak. It handles well in rough water such as wind chop and […]
C. H. Becksvoort of New Gloucester, Maine. It’s a name synonymous with high-quality Shaker-style furniture. Chris Becksvoort uses the same simplicity of design when making music stands (a little-known line of his). “[They] give pleasure, and I think a lot of musicians do appreciate that, whereas the metal folding ones merely hold the music,” Chris […]
