To plan a successful flower garden, Honey Sharp‘s rule is to first seek out native plants; they create a link between your garden and local natural habitats. To discover species that might thrive in your garden, Honey suggests visiting nature preserves and botanical gardens that showcase regional plants. “Many woodland perennials are among my favorite […]
Gardeners know winter really does end, and spring color always returns. Pansies, daffodils, and forsythia commonly herald the vernal transition, but still other blooms also contribute to a stunning early-season display. Here’s how three New England gardens host diverse plantings that strut their stuff in April and May.Get Our FREE Yankee Best New England Vacations […]
The Last Green Valley in northeastern CT (and MA): An oasis of peace old-time nostalgia. Trails to hike, places to stay, meals to eat, gifts to buy, and what to do with the kids. When You Go —Yankee-recommended places to hike, stay, eat, and shop in Connecticut’s Last Green Valley. The skies don’t lie. From […]
A lot of letters come to me, all kinds of letters. I often read that the handwritten letter is dead. Everything happens now on e-mail. Probably that is our future but in the meantime, there are reasons why all people don’t use e-mail. Not so long ago, I received a letter. The back of the […]
The eccentric but loving family has long been a staple of American literature, movies, and television, and the Lovelaces of Hamilton, Massachusetts, seemed an exemplar of the species: the father, a minister who collected reptiles and showed Rosemary’s Baby to his stunned congregation; the artistic mother who dreamed of illustrating children’s books; three bright children […]
SLIDE SHOW: New England stone walls by William Hubbell, from Good Fences: A Pictorial History of New England’s Stone Walls (Down East Books, 2006; $29.95) When geologist Robert Thorson came to work at the University of Connecticut in 1984, he was smitten by stone walls. In all his travels–from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest to […]
NOTE: In memory of Pulitzer-Prize winning author and New Englander John Updike, we share this short story from Yankee Magazine September 1985. Fulham, with a history of hypertension, had taken early retirement from his brokerage firm and managed his own investments and those of a favored few old clients in an upstairs room of his […]
I once read in a guidebook: “Of all the natural regions of the United States, New England is the smallest, the most compact and convenient to get around in, the most homogeneous… ” For four decades now, I’ve lived and worked in New England, the land from which America evolved. There are few nooks and […]
From Yankee Magazine March 2005 THWAP! David Cicilline, the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, drives a gloved fist into his sparring partner’s gut. SMACK! WAP! BAP! A pair of red Everlasts flashes in the dim early-morning light. Twice a week, Cicilline begins his day in a boxing ring, channeling the pent-up frustration of governing this […]
For eight years I’ve taught magazine writing at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The class is always small, seminar-like, about 12 or 13 students. Over 15 weeks we get to know each other well. They write unflinchingly about their lives in personal essays, they explore the lives of strangers in their profiles, and they […]
Choosing the best chocolate shops in New England was a tough job – but someone had to do it. We know it’s more than a bit hackneyed to say, but choosing the best chocolate shops in New England was a tough job and someone did have to do it: An embarrassment of riches indeed. From the […]
If you’re female, live within driving distance of central Massachusetts, are fed up with winter, love to cook, scrapbook, quilt, knit, discuss books–whatever–and have several girlfriends who feel the same way, read on. We’ve found the place for you to spend a fun winter getaway weekend. It’s a 10-room, rose-colored Federal-style home on four acres, […]
