Before people used the term “windchill” to refer to the weather, there were numerous other descriptions of meteorological conditions. In Maine “Twice as Cold as Zero” (don’t bother doing the math) is an old saying that means it’s zero degrees with a high wind blowing. Excerpt from “The New England Sampler,” Yankee Magazine, January 1993.
After learning untold uses for dryer lint, worn-out panty hose, and used dental floss, we present the winners of the Yankee frugality contest. In our September 1990 issue of Yankee Magazine, our issue devoted to Yankee frugality, we asked for your own frugal tips and anecdotes. You responded with more than 200 letters, many of […]
When Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine, received a new pair of ice skates on Christmas morning (quite an expensive gift in 1873), all he could think of was his ears. “They’ll start aching. They always ache when I’m out in the cold too long,” he complained. His mother suggested wrapping a scarf around his head, […]
Is this New England’s greatest gift to America? Well, it’s just our opinion…
Every year at this time, as the last note of “Deck the Halls” fades into the general hubub of Christmas party conversation, the question hangs in the air, unasked: What exactly does the phrase “troll the ancient Yuletide carol” mean? Wonder no more. This troll is not a monster found beneath bridges or a method […]
In November 1888 a 22-year-old Vermont woman named Kate Gillette was plucking and dressing turkeys for the Boston market on her family’s East Randolph farm while waiting for a teaching job to start in December. Worried about how she would live on the $7 a week that the position paid, she tried a novel variant […]
On the first day of 1802, the residents of Cheshire, Massachusetts, presented Thomas Jefferson with perhaps the oddest gift ever offered to a U.S. president — a stupendous cheese weighing 1,235 pounds. A local paper reported how the event came about. “The old dairy town, in a triumphant mass meeting, resolved to put its curds […]
With November’s arrival, we have reached the final New England Fall Foliage Report of 2014 at Yankee Magazine. With the exception of downtown Boston proper, and the far southwestern corner of Connecticut, the fall colors have either faded or fallen around New England. After the rush of autumn activity, the fairgrounds are shuttered, the orchards […]
To many, the word camp goes with the words fire and counselor. But to New Englanders, it’s a whole different concept. Around this time of year, you’ll hear many New Englanders announce, “We’re going up to camp for the month.” This could mean a trip of anywhere from 200 miles to 200 yards. A camp, […]
At the end of October, Daylight Savings Time will add an hour of daylight to a portion of the day that most of us now call “morning.” But the current notion of morning, like Daylight Savings Time itself, is a fairly recent development. When most New Englanders either lived on a farm or came from […]
Excerpt from “Beans and Harmony,” Yankee Magazine, February 1995. Being married to a Yankee meant we had franks and beans every Saturday night for years. Our eldest daughter hated beans, but her father insisted she eat every bean on her plate. I’d like to say that when she grew up she learned to like baked […]
Excerpt from “’Noank’s House of Fables,” Yankee Magazine, August, 1967. The “House of Fables” stands on a hill in Noank, Connecticut, overlooking the harbor. Not very long ago children called it the ghost house. In the daytime it appeared to be a large, dark, ornate Victorian house in need of repair and a coat of […]
