Jane C. Nylander is a well-established expert historian on New England domestic life and decorative arts,. Here, she shares a light-hearted historical look at Fourth of July Parades in New England. The Horribles Parade Around Town For hundreds of years, Americans have celebrated important occasions with parades. Marching soldiers, stirring music, colorful flags, groups of […]
The beginning of summer in New England is embraced and celebrated in a way that only those who have endured a long New England winter can appreciate. Especially this past winter, with its record-setting snowfall that continued into early spring. One way to know that summer has truly arrived (because as New Englanders, we don’t […]
New England artisans craft beautiful (and durable) baby and toddler gear. 1. Designer Mary-Alice Dalton applies couture-quality details to her “Victoria Rose” dress ($145 and up) and coordinating “Shaped Brim” hat ($48). For more on Mary-Alice Dalton, see “Artisan Spotlight,” opposite. Children’s Couture, Belmont, NH. 603-524-8801; madcouture.com 2. “Natural ABC Blocks” ($98 for a set […]
This past Saturday, I faced a delicious dilemma: When you’ve had a perfect breakfast and lunch, where do you go for dinner? It started at Sofra, Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick’s incredible bakery in Cambridge, MA. My parents were in town to celebrate Father’s Day, so we treated them to a breakfast of glazed orange […]
The haunting cry of the common loon is vanishing from many New England waters. Whether we hear it much longer depends on us.
I’m haunted by a pickle. The kitchen shelves glimmer with jars of homemade preserves after a summer’s worth of gardening, harvesting, and putting up. Clove-scented beets glow deep garnet, and the cauliflower sparkles crystalline, bejeweled with tiny bright-red–and lethally hot–Thai peppers. Zucchini pickles stack up right next to the oven-roasted tomato sauce. Strawberry and wild-blueberry […]
The secret to New England’s best ice cream is a rich custard base made with the freshest ingredients. My first taste of Susanna’s Ice Cream happened on a chilly March day at a farmers’ market in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Stuffed with pastries and fixated on the piles of oysters and root vegetables, I almost […]
Within earshot of the surf along Narragansett Town Beach sits a burnished little gem of a museum that dunks you into the lives of the farmers and fishermen of a coastal Rhode Island community. South County Museum, under the lively direction of Jim Crothers (a theater professor at the University of Rhode Island), trots out […]
For more than 25 years, Tim Matson of Strafford, Vermont, has designed ponds for clients around northern New England. Tim Matson got his start designing ponds by building one for himself. That was 33 years ago. Since then, it has served him well. “It’s done just about everything,” says Matson, who’s authored four books (the […]
Christine Chitnis traveled to more than 50 venues while writing Markets of New England (The Little Bookroom, 2011), and she knows a good one when she sees it. Chitnis writes for local and national publications, often on farming and sustainability, and blogs at christinechitnis.com. See her five “honorable mentions.” MAINE Portland Farmers’ Market Portland’s first […]
A visit to the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, just may change the way you view the world.
I’m writing this on a sun-splashed (finally!) afternoon, after so many days of cold rain it seemed as if all of New England had collectively willed the heat away after the temperature peaked near 100 only a week ago. It seems that we do have that power sometimes: thousands of people all praying silently (or […]
