This week marks the one year anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Irene, and subsequent devastation and disruption that the storm caused throughout our region. The storm was a tremendous reminder of the forces that shaped the land and landscape that we love, and that though we celebrate her beauty, Mother Nature’s power is not […]
7000 B.C. The first maples appear on the New England landscape. New Jersey tourists soon follow. September 1818 Mass.’ Topsfield Fair, now one of the oldest existing agricultural fairs in the country, opens. September 7-8, 1846 Henry David Thoreau, with friends, makes his first ascent of Maine’s Mount Katahdin. His finding: “Nature was here something […]
Foraging–the fine art of scouring the countryside in search of edibles–predates the ubiquitous farm-to-table movement by at least two million years. Even today, it’s not a bad skill to master, and certainly in New England it’s hard to imagine anything more inherently Yankee: free-ranging off the land (or free anything, for that matter) plus tasty […]
The Big E began in 1917, when Joshua L. Brooks opened an agricultural fair in West Springfield, Massachusetts, to the public. Farming in New England had diminished, and production costs were escalating. Brooks’s vision was to bring the six New England states together to improve agricultural techniques through demonstration and competition. For a dairy show […]
I hewed the road out of wilderness in 1779 with my pickaxe as one of Colonel Hazen’s men. I took over the yoke in 1789 when one of the oxen sickened, pulling the sled the last hundred miles to Wolcott. I herded a thousand turkeys over to Boston in 1826, making twelve miles a day […]
Visit an apple orchard this fall and you’re just as likely to see folks munching on golden-brown apple-cider doughnuts as you are actual apples. Beyond the standard cake doughnut, cider doughnuts have apple cider added right into the batter, lending a touch of sweetness and a subtle cider tang that most people find dangerously addictive. […]
New Hampshire’s Monadnock region, where Yankee‘s offices are located, has an impressive diversity of restaurants, especially considering that it remains a relatively undiscovered vacation destination. Restaurants like Pearl Oyster Bar, Waterhouse, Harlow’s Pub, and the Harrisville General Store make the region a very good place to eat. And come summer, I can’t wait to get […]
This past weekend, a cold front came through New England, bringing some much needed rainfall and a wonderful break from the heat. When I awoke early Sunday morning to do some fly fishing in the mountains, temperatures were in the lower forties, and there was a crispness to the air. Heavy mist was coming off […]
Will the Merrimack Valley in northeastern Massachusetts have any good color left in late October? In most years, by this time, the foliage display would be fading, but the leaves have slowed down so much that there’s the potential to find good color out there. A Sunday drive: Lisa and I drove north from our […]
Perhaps you haven’t noticed yet, but there are signs of fall beginning to show up all around us. The sun is setting a little earlier, and rising a little later. The birdsongs of spring and summer have quieted now as the birds molt before migrating. The last of the wildflowers: the goldenrod, the JoePye weed, […]
A century after the brutal ax murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, the question of who killed them remains unanswered. In this Yankee Classic from 1992, explore Fall River’s enduring fascination with its most infamous native, from the collectors and historians still searching for answers to the startling theories that continue to surround the case.
No matter where I travel around New England from May through October, I am always thinking about which Farmers’ Market I can visit as part of my trip, and I know I’m not alone. The popularity of community markets has grown so much over the past few years that it seems most towns set aside […]
