I Know Just the Place | Inside Yankee
There’s a little of the concierge in many of us who live in New England. We like to think we know what makes our region special. You can see this pleasant tendency when visitors pop into our office here in Dublin. Usually they’re on vacation. Their numbers pick up in summer and when the leaves […]
Photo Credit : Jarrod McCabe
There’s a little of the concierge in many of us who live in New England. We like to think we know what makes our region special. You can see this pleasant tendency when visitors pop into our office here in Dublin. Usually they’re on vacation. Their numbers pick up in summer and when the leaves outside glow red, orange, and yellow. They’ll browse a bit in our little gift shop and reception area, where Linda Clukay has been greeting callers and drop-ins for nearly 30 years. Before they go on their way, they may ask about a good place for breakfast (Nonie’s or Audrey’s), or lunch (Dublin General Store or Harrisville General Store), or a cozy inn or B&B (Little River B&B, Hancock Inn, or Monadnock Inn), or a favorite trail to climb the famous mountain that rises over the lake just around the bend. Or simply the prettiest drive to where they’re heading next. They want to know what we know.Everyone knows that feeling of quiet satisfaction when you can say, “I know just the place.” Sharing local knowledge with strangers simply feels good.
In some ways I think Yankee has taken our reader’s arm and gently pointed the way since our first issue in September 1935. But each year our special travel-guide edition (“Best of New England,” p. 89) doesn’t wait to be asked. We know you’re here. Maybe you’re a first-time visitor to New England; maybe you’ve lived here for years. No matter. There are places to see, foods to taste, experiences and adventures down some country road that we want you to know about.
We keep our own personal lists of favorite spots and swirl them around with the places readers tell us about—usually in the form of a letter, a phone call, or an email that says, “I can’t believe you haven’t written about our special town and especially this unbelievable little eatery with the best lobster roll [or ice cream or pizza] I’ve ever had. Ever.” And we have help: contributors with both a deep sense of place and the sensibility and judgment to know what’s truly special. What they recommend matters to us, because we trust what they see. They’re both writers and travelers: Kim Knox Beckius (Rhode Island and Connecticut), Annie Graves (New Hampshire), Patricia Harris and David Lyon (Massachusetts), Hilary Nangle (Maine), Bill and Kay Scheller (Vermont), and Yankee’s food editor, Amy Traverso (Boston dining and “Top 10 Dishes Worth Traveling For This Summer”). We listen when they say, “I know just the place.” I think you’ll be rewarded when you come along.
Mel Allen, Editor editor@YankeeMagazine.com
Mel Allen
Mel Allen is the fifth editor of Yankee Magazine since its beginning in 1935. His first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and in the summer of 2006 became editor. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long form story telling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel taught fourth grade in Maine for three years and believes that his education as a writer began when he had to hold the attention of 29 children through months of Maine winters. He learned you had to grab their attention and hold it. After 12 years teaching magazine writing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, he now teaches in the MFA creative nonfiction program at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Like all editors, his greatest joy is finding new talent and bringing their work to light.
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