Maine

Brownfield, ME: Stone Mountain Music

  In the foothills of the White Mountains, some 20 miles east of North Conway, New Hampshire, lies the remote village of Brownfield, Maine, the unlikely music center of New England. A terrible forest fire destroyed the town back in 1947; flames ravaged the school, the churches, the fine homes, the tall pines. Many families […]

New England

Hat, Gloves, Skis, Boots, Poles

Hopefully, hearing about the snowfall earlier in the week, or seeing it yourself, has inspired you to make plans to ski this weekend. And if you haven’t made plans yet, I’ll take this moment to tell you — you should ski or ride this weekend. I have quite a full itinerary for the weekend. I […]

Homes

House For Sale: Maine Coast

How about this: your own cottage on the Maine coast, complete with sailboats, kayaks, a saltwater pool, a fitness center, a golf course, tennis courts, a bowling alley, a pool table, hiking trails, gardens, and a camp for your children to enjoy when you’re out antiquing. That’s what the Sebasco Harbor Resort is offering with […]

History

The Three Most-Asked Questions About New England

Welcome to the December 2007 edition of “Jud’s New England Journal,” the rather curious monthly musings of Judson Hale, editor-in-chief of Yankee Magazine, published for over 70 years in Dublin, NH. The Three Most-Asked Questions About New England 1. Where’s ‘Down East’ begin? 2. Why were bridges covered? 3. Were spring dance floors built to […]

Yankee

Antiques: William Matthew Prior’s Paintings

Flat. It’s a word not often associated with beauty or talent. Rather, it conjures up far less remarkable images: flat tire; flat broke; flat as a pancake. But in the world of folk art portraiture, flatness is so desirable, even transcendent, that it practically defines the genre itself. Folk art portraiture, often called “naive” portraiture, […]

Magazine

The Big Question: Opera Singer Lisa Saffer

Lisa Saffer is a 47-year-old diva. She received her master’s degree from Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music in 1984, and today makes her home in Portland, Maine. In the great opera houses and concert halls of the world, she sings in many languages, her small frame launching glorious sounds that reach to the farthest […]

Yankee

Antiques: Federal Furniture

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, […]

Magazine

Sail Away

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 […]

Magazine

Wyeth Art Works in New England

While the public cannot personally visit Allen Island and the neighboring Georges Islands, you can see some of Andrew Wyeth’s Maine paintings, watercolors, and drawings at over a dozen New England art museums. Start with the Farnsworth Art Museum & Wyeth Center in Rockland, Maine. The Farnsworth has the region’s largest collection: 26 (compared with […]

Magazine

Dear Yankee

We heard from many readers in response to our September story “The Maine Connection” about the Portland ticket agent who checked in two of the hijackers on September 11, 2001. These are excerpts from some of the letters we received. I just read your article on the man at the US Airways counter on 9/11. […]

History

New England Coast Trivia | New England By the Numbers

14 Maine communities boasting dog-friendly beaches: Bar Harbor, Biddeford, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Kittery, Ogunquit, Old Orchard Beach, Portland, Saco, Scarborough, South Portland, Stockton Springs, Wells, and York 6 number of the nation’s 28 most important estuaries that are located in New England 1,530 weight in pounds of a shortfin mako shark harpooned 13 miles off the […]

Gardens

Lyme Disease Treatment | One Woman’s Quest for Answers

In July 2002, having spent an idyllic week’s vacation on one of the Elizabeth Islands off Cape Cod, I came home to New Hampshire. The island — a glorious, wild place marked by ancient beech forests, kettle ponds, and open grasslands — is also crawling with ticks, which at the time seemed only a minor […]