Yankee Magazine January/February 2024

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● HOT DEALS AT COOL COASTAL RESORTS ● PICTURE-PERFECT COZY CABINS ● CLASSIC VERMONT SKI WEEKEND

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JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2024

CONTENTS

features

76 /// Vanishing Beauty Vermont photographer Jim Westphalen asks viewers to see what is around them with new eyes. By Mel Allen

As New England’s coastal resorts offer their best deals of the year, here are five enticing getaways to warm up to.

A village store is the heart of many small towns, but it takes a special love to keep it beating. By Ben Hewitt

56 /// Winter by the Sea

86 /// New Day for an Old Store

70 /// My Ancestor Was a Salem Witch

92 /// Tipping Point

When your lineage intertwines with New England’s most infamous era, feelings about family can get tangled.

By Alexandra Pecci

Amid extreme weather and encroaching seas, Martha’s Vineyard faces a critical question: Will it change, or be changed by, its climate future? By Ian Aldrich

Yankee (ISSN 0044-0191). Bimonthly, Vol. 88 No. 1. Publication Office, Dublin, NH 03444-0520. Periodicals postage paid at Dublin, NH, and additional offices. Copyright 2024 by Yankee Publishing Incorporated; all rights reserved. Postmaster: Send address changes to Yankee, P.O. Box 37128, Boone, IA 50037-0128.

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CARLEY RUDD

Appealing in any season, Adirondack chairs overlook a wintry ocean at Cliff House, a luxury resort in Cape Neddick, Maine.

Story, p. 56

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MORE CONTENTS

departments 10

home

INSIDE YANKEE

12 CONTRIBUTORS

22 /// Cabin Fever

The fantasy of a cozy backwoods escape comes to life in photos by Vermont-based duo Dirt and Glass.

By Courtney Hollands

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28 /// Made in New England

16 FIRST LIGHT Even when snow is harder to come by, Dartmouth’s famous Winter Carnival parties on. By Jay Heinrichs

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food

19 UP CLOSE Following in the footsteps of Maine-born Tubbs Snowshoes. By Joe Bills

34 /// Chocolate Kiss

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, five ultra-rich recipes to make taste buds swoon. By Sarah Hearn Morrison

120 LIFE IN THE KINGDOM Embarking on a trip away from home leaves you open to the unexpected: both obstacles and revelations.

By Ben Hewitt

40 /// In Season

An ode to the most abundant, affordable, and overlooked fish in New England. By Amy Traverso

travel

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46 /// Weekend Away

Discover 20 ways to get the most out of a classic Vermont ski destination with our Deerfield Valley insider’s guide.

By Lisa Gosselin Lynn

ADVERTISING RESOURCES Retiring to the Good Life............................ 42 Marketplace...................... 112 ON THE COVER

52 /// The Best 5

The temptation to hibernate is no match for these magical winter experiences.

By Kim Knox Beckius

54 /// Literary Classics

Wherever you go in New England, there’s nothing like a top-notch independent bookstore to help you get a read on the local community.

Compiled by Bill Scheller

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The Woods in Norway, Maine, photographed by Chris and Pam Daniele. Story, p. 22

C H R I S & PA M D A N I E L E ( C A B I N ) ; L I Z N E I LY ( F O O D ) ; O L I V E R PA R I N I ( S K I I N G )

At Hubbardton Forge, old-school artistry meets au courant design to create some of the hottest lighting fixtures around. By Jenn Johnson

FIRST PERSON Winter-buckled roads take New Englanders on a wild ride. By Edie Clark

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EDITORIAL Editor Mel Allen Managing Editor Jenn Johnson Senior Features Editor Ian Aldrich Senior Food Editor Amy Traverso Senior Digital/Home Editor Aimee Tucker Travel Editor Kim Knox Beckius Associate Editor Joe Bills Associate Digital Editor Katherine Keenan Contributing Editors Sara Anne Donnelly, Annie Graves, Ben Hewitt, Rowan Jacobsen, Nina MacLaughlin, Bill Scheller, Julia Shipley ART Art Director Katharine Van Itallie Photo Editor Heather Marcus Contributing Photographers Adam DeTour, Megan Haley, Corey Hendrickson, Michael Piazza, Greta Rybus PRODUCTION Director David Ziarnowski Manager Brian Johnson Senior Artists Jennifer Freeman, Rachel Kipka DIGITAL Vice President Paul Belliveau Jr. Senior Designer Amy O’Brien Ecommerce Director Alan Henning Marketing Specialists Holly Sanderson, Jessica Garcia Email Marketing Specialist Eric Bailey — YANKEE PUBLISHING INC. ESTABLISHED 1935 | AN EMPLOYEE-OWNED COMPANY

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Vice President, Finance & Administration Jennie Meister Human Resources Manager Beth Parenteau Accounts Receivable/IT Coordinator Gail Bleakley Assistant Controller Nancy Pfuntner Accounting Associate Meg Hart-Smith Executive Assistant Christine Tourgee Maintenance Supervisor Mike Caron Facilities Attendant Ken Durand BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Publisher Brook Holmberg ADVERTISING Vice President Judson D. Hale Jr. Media Account Managers Kelly Moores, Dean DeLuca, Steven Hall Canada Account Manager Cynthia Fleming Senior Production Coordinator Janet Selle For advertising rates and information, call 800-736-1100, ext. 204, or go to NewEngland.com/adinfo.

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| Connect with Yankee

Want more Yankee? Visit our website, NewEngland.com, for recipes, travel inspiration, home and garden tips, and more.

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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Inside Yankee | M E L A L L E N

Give and Take

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until we found a small apartment for $60 a month. One day he showed us a lovely beach outside Portland. I’d never walked a winter beach before, and the exhilaration of breathing the salty spray, feeling the hard sand under my feet, and watching seabirds scurrying along the ocean’s edge has never left me.

Our “Winter by the Sea” travel feature [p. 56] was spurred by wanting others to share that feeling, too. These chilly months are when prices at New England’s ocean resort hotels are slashed, which would be reason enough to visit them. But also this: watching breaking waves from your bedroom window, knowing you need only to don a warm coat, hat, and gloves to step out into one of the most invigorating landscapes on earth.

At the same time, Yankee has long been defined not just by the desire to inspire readers to enjoy our region, but also to show how New Englanders are facing the challenges of our changing world. “Tipping Point” [p. 92] is a stark reminder that even as the sea gives us so much pleasure, today it often takes away a sense of security for those who live on its shores.

As you turn these pages, I hope you will find, as we do, that New England is worth our love, and also our concern. And that Yankee is right there with you, to share both.

Mel Allen editor@yankeepub.com

JARROD MCCABE

live in a part of New Hampshire known for its lakes, forested hills, and famous mountain. But on nice winter days, when temperatures climb into at least the 30s and there’s even a splash of sun, a visit to the ocean and a long walk on the beach remains the best way I know to make the season slide along. Long ago, a man I met one snowy evening showed me that.

Early January 1970, I arrived in Maine.

I had been working for the Peace Corps in Cartagena, Colombia, a historic equatorial city whose heat and humidity could melt me to a puddle within an hour. I had dreamed of snow the way that Sam McGee, freezing to death in the Yukon, famously pleaded to be cremated so he would finally be warm.

I had never been to New England, but I knew I would find winter there. And because I wanted to be a teacher and needed certification, I came to enroll at Gorham State Teachers College (now part of the University of Southern Maine campus), in the small town of Gorham.

It was dark when I walked into the college library. A man with a flowing mustache who looked to be in his mid-30s sat behind the main desk. I told him I had just returned from the Peace Corps and asked if Gorham was a good place to land in. He said yes. And without hesitation, he invited my wife and me to stay with him and his family until we got settled.

His name was George and he had been both minister and lobsterman in Down East villages; we stayed with him for two weeks,

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Yankee | B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S CONTRIBUTORS

Largely self-taught, and inspired by such painters as Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper, fine-art photographer Westphalen has always had an affinity for the fading structures of America’s rural landscape [“Vanishing Beauty,” p. 76]. When he’s not traipsing around some old New England farmstead, you’ll find the Vermont resident out collaborating with his other favorite muse, the rocky and rugged coast of Maine.

ALEXANDRA PECCI The many-times-great-granddaughter of Mary Bradbury, falsely accused of witchcraft in 1692, Pecci decided to visit Mary’s headstone last spring to “ask if she was OK with me telling a bit of her story” [“My Ancestor Was a Salem Witch,” p. 70]. “I waited for a gust of wind to kick up or for lightning to smite me, but nothing much happened,” reports Pecci, a full-time freelance writer who lives in New Hampshire. “It was rather anticlimactic.”

SARAH HEARN MORRISON This Massachusetts native wears many hats: food writer, recipe developer, proprietor of her own cottage bakery, Small Batch Baking Co. She’s also a self-professed member of Team Chocolate, as shown in this issue [“Chocolate Kiss,” p. 34]. In delving into this favorite delicacy, she came away impressed by the caliber of New England chocolate makers—and even discovered she actually does like white chocolate.

Sweet on Chocolate?

Whether you’re feeling inspired by this issue’s recipe feature, “Chocolate Kiss” [p. 34] or you’ve just always loved this indulgent food, mark your calendar for Yankee’s upcoming Chocolate Webinar hosted by Amy Traverso, Yankee senior food editor.

F R A N C E S F. D E N N Y Salem, Massachusetts, has long had special resonance for Denny, whose photos have appeared in The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, among others. The descendant of a Salem Witch Trials judge, she relished having historical Salem homes as backdrops for “My Ancestor Was a Salem Witch” [p. 70]. “The Peabody Essex Museum gave us special access to those properties, of which they are wonderful stewards,” she says. “I was like a kid in a candy store!”

MIKE HADDAD An Ottawa, Canada–based illustrator and art director, Haddad says his first Yankee assignment was just one of those times when the image jumped right out of the text.

Reading Edie Clark’s essay about frost-heaved roads [“New Crop of Rocks,” p. 14] evoked “clearing rocks from the garden, and new ones popping up as if they were growing like weeds,” says Haddad, whose work has also appeared in Wired, The Economist, and other publications.

JEANNE O’BRIEN COFFEY Visiting Massachusetts’s Beauport Hotel [“Winter by the Sea,” p. 56] also provided this North Shore–based writer a chance to spotlight the city surrounding the luxury hotel, Gloucester. “Its charm lies in its contrasts: Captains in foul-weather gear guide battered boats past vistas of postcard perfection; fine-dining restaurants and decadesold sandwich shops share the same block,” says O’Brien Coffey, who makes her home in nearby Newburyport.

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Learn all about the history and craft of chocolate as Amy is joined by Tom Rogan of Goodnow Farms Chocolate, an awardwinning candymaker featured on Season 8 of Weekends with Yankee (debuting this April). Plus, Amy shares her favorite chocolate tips, tricks, and recipes!

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 Register: newengland.com/ chocolate_webinar

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First Person | E D I E C L A R K

New Crop of Rocks Cowboys ride bucking broncos; New Englanders ride roads that buckle.

ILLUSTR ATION BY MIKE HADDAD

S

omething happens to our roads at this time of year. They rise up. They open. They crack and break as if they were made from delicate materials mistakenly left out in the weather. This can be explained, of course, this rending of our pavements.

It’s the frost, moving up out of the ground. Those of us who are gardeners understand this strange phenomenon.

We discover it in our soil every spring, new stones, rocks we know were not there last year because we dug there, we raked, and we sifted all of them out.

No, these are newcomers, boulders that have worked their way up from deep down under, nudged their way upward to break the surface of the earth.

We shrug and say glibly: new crop of rocks. But what is this that happens underneath us every year? Of course, all this movement is happening everywhere. We discover it in the garden because that is where we dig. We discover it in our roads because that is where we drive.

The roads near where I live are said to be the worst in New Hampshire. I am sure there are other contenders,

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but we’ll accept the crown, or carry the cross, as it were. In the summertime these roads are lovely, meandering macadams that lead from one little town to the next. But sometime in early February, the earth begins to stir.

Almost overnight that good, smooth, even roadway becomes a monster of buckled slabs of tar and menacing cracks, crevices big enough to lose your baby in, chasms that yield a sudden, shuddering, teeth-clenching cah-rash!

Driving these roads is like entering the rodeo, yippee-ay-oh! we cry out as we lurch and soar unexpectedly from one mogul to the next.

The road crews are busy. They post laconic signs that warn “Frost Heave” or “Bump,” great literary understatements that bounce between our ears as we f ly into the air and land on our axles. Our cars shudder and occasionally fall from these encounters with February’s release. An accident with the road is how the insurance companies explain the damages that result without true collision.

Most of us who travel the same routes every day relearn the pavement’s

terrain in early spring. Perfectly sober drivers are seen swerving from one side of the road to the other as they seek to avoid the nauseating, head-lurching ride that can come from meeting these potholes head-on. Certain stretches of road excite hyperbole in young people, especially boys. Wahhhhoa!

That one is awesome! they crow. The time has not yet come for them to worry about their suspension.

Cracks open as if a big iron plow had rent the pavement. Rocks, as big around as beach balls, emerge from the tar. It is so strangely like a seed, growing forth from the earth. It is almost like a blossom. But it’s nothing of the kind. Unless this truly is our crop of rocks, the road our furrow.

But the miracle is not the rising up but the falling back. As the temperature moderates, what heaved the road up dies back. Newcomers to the area sometimes rail about these February roads: Why don’t they do something, why don’t they fix these roads?! The road agents know. These roads are elastic. If the road crews fill that sinkhole with tar, in June it will become a permanent bump. If they fill it with sand, when the road springs back, the sand will disperse and the pavement will return to that smoothness of summer.

It is like some strange kind of poetry, some unnamed force of nature: The earth rises up, the earth falls back.

What kind of tide is this? What kind of sea? For want of a better name, we’ll call it the Rock Tide, which brims up when we most need something to talk about.

This essay by longtime Yankee writer Edie Clark was first published in the February 1996 issue. Edie still welcomes letters and notes from her readers, as they bring a smile to her face and a twinkle to her eye. Send care of Yankee, 1121 Main St., Dublin, NH 03444.

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f irst

LIGHT

Thaw Abiding With snow and ice harder to come by, a famous Dartmouth winter tradition soldiers on.

BY JAY H E I N R I C H S

A

young bullhorn-wielding pirate stands in melting trucked-in snow while two dozen college students, some wearing capes or tutus, position plastic sleds for a human dogsled race. The pirate warms up the small crowd of spectators (What’s a pirate’s favorite food?

BAAAAAR-B-Q!), and then the contest begins. Ready … set … false start. A husky breaks free from its owner and charges down the course. It clearly knows its place in this thing.

Dartmouth Winter Carnival! The storied frosted-Ivy bacchanal that in its 113 years of February fests has boasted a Guinness-record snow sculpture, beer-barrel jumping by fraternity-hardened skaters, a formal ball and a beauty contest with women bused in from all over New England, and a 1939 major motion picture partially written by F. Scott Fitzgerald!

It took young people to come up with the radical and unnatural notion that humans need not spend the winter in hibernation. Established in 1910 by a Dartmouth senior, the festival turned the bitter cold and deep snows of northern New England into good, if not entirely sober, fun.

While this storied college in Hanover, New Hampshire, wasn’t the first to invent the winter carnival tradition—the Vermont city of Burlington, for one, launched its snowy celebration in 1886—Dartmouth’s mix of snow sculptures, daring feats, and red-cheeked young people soon made it the platonic ideal. Over the years, students added a growing mix of competitive outdoor sporting events, from skijoring

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Even amid the mild temperatures at last year’s Dartmouth Winter Carnival in Hanover, New Hampshire, the Polar Bear Swim isn’t for the faint of heart.

NEWENGLAND.COM

11/16/23 11:56 AM

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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First Light | T H A W A B I D I N G

(being pulled on skis behind horses) to ice sculpting. Colleges and towns throughout New England soon followed with their own carnivals.

Given the normal student’s collegiate span of four years, any ritual older than five is necessarily an eternal tradition. And no school has owned tradition more than Dartmouth, whose college song warns students to “set a watch/ Lest the old traditions fail!”

Yet, Mother Nature may be proving stronger than Alma Mater. The 2023 carnival featured freakishly warm temperatures and bright sunshine, making the Caribbean-pirate theme (“Winter CAAARRRnival: Shiver Me Timbers”) eerily appropriate.

On Saturday afternoon, the fest’s third day, students had just begun work sculpting a rapidly melting eightfoot pile of snow. Across the street, elaborately carved ice sculptures stood shielded from the sun by insulation.

There was no barrel jumping (too alcoholic) and no beauty pageant (too precoeducation). The organizers of the annual Polar Bear Swim had no need to chop through the ice in the campus pond, seeing as how there was no ice. “Personally,” a student dressed as a cartoon bear confided in the student 18 |

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paper, “I just call it ‘the swim.’” Fraternities participated in a decidedly torrid fashion: Alpha Chi held an annual beach party; Phi Delt, a chili cook-off.

That same weekend, though, Dartmouth’s Big Green downhill and Nordic ski teams confirmed the school’s winter-sports reputation by winning the carnival title at New Hampshire’s Waterville Valley. Except that it wasn’t Dartmouth’s carnival. It was Harvard’s, scheduled at the same time.

Falling student enthusiasm has accompanied rising temperatures.

Graduating seniors last year ranked Winter Carnival last among the five traditional key events at Dartmouth;

first-year fall hiking trips and homecoming got the highest marks.

Well, so what? We visitors can hold our own private carnival. When there’s snow, we can snowshoe on the Appalachian Trail right from the campus. The college now provides artificial snow on Hanover’s groomed Oak Hill crosscountry ski area and on Dartmouth’s own Skiway. And we can even dance in the little nightclub installed under the Still North bookshop off Main Street.

As for that human dogsled race, the early rounds revealed more enthusiasm than skill. Giggling bodies littered the snow over the 50-yard course, and more than one cellphone had to be retrieved from clueless pockets. Onlookers agreed that the winner was the husky.

Dartmouth students say they dwell more on their studies than on beer barrels and sled races these days. They may not be typecast in a major motion picture, but these are exactly the kinds of bright, tutu-clad young people who might someday solve the climate change conundrum. Go Green! Indeed.

For details on the 2024 Dartmouth Winter Carnival and to see photos of past years, go to home.dartmouth.edu/about/ winter-carnival.

Warm Up to These Winter Festivals Stowe (VT) Winter Carnival: Notable for its ice carvings and snow volleyball tournaments, one of the country’s most celebrated winter fests turns 50 this year. 1/18–1/20; gostowe.com Newport (NH) Winter Carnival: Touted as the oldest consecutively running winter carnival in the U.S. 2/8–2/11; newportrec.com Middlebury (VT) Winter Carnival: A century-old student-run event

featuring top collegiate Alpine racers, fireworks, and even a human sled-dog race. 2/22–2/24; middleburysnowbowl.com Newport (RI) Winter Festival: So much goes on in this historic seaport, it takes 10 days to pack it all in. 2/16– 2/25; newportwinterfestival.com To find more winter celebrations around New England, go to newengland.com/winter-festivals.

P R E V I O U S S P R E A D A N D T H I S PA G E : D A R T M O U T H C O L L EG E / K AT I E L E N H A R T O P P O S I T E : M I C H A E L D. W I L S O N , F R O M T H E C O L L EC T I O N O F T H E N O R WAY M U S E U M & H I S T O R I C A L S O C I E T Y

Tate Greene, Class of ’25, carves one of the ice sculptures featured at last year’s carnival, when the frosty artworks needed insulation to slow down their melting.

NEWENGLAND.COM

11/16/23 11:57 AM

UP CLOSE

Snow Business How Maine-born Tubbs Snowshoes helped winter explorers take two wide steps for mankind.

W

e’ll never know who wore the very first snowshoes, but there’s evidence of their use in central Asia as early as 4000 B.C. Some speculate that they are old enough to have arrived in North America over the prehistoric Bering Land Bridge—perhaps far-fetched, but if true, the first human steps on the “new” continent might have been made in snowshoes.

We do know that snowshoes were common JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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| First Light

among indigenous North American peoples in snowy areas, and that different tribes modified the design to suit their needs. It was the Wendat, whose territory stretched from modern-day Michigan into Maine, who developed the iconic racket-shaped shoe. And as European arrivals discovered their own need for snowshoes, crafting them became a good side hustle for handy farmers.

Around the turn of the 20th century, an enterprising young man named Walter Frederick “W.F.” Tubbs apprenticed under one such farmer, his uncle Mellie Dunham, in Norway, Maine. Dunham’s snowshoes were so well regarded that Admiral Robert Peary wore them on his Arctic expeditions.

W.F. learned his lessons well, and went on to launch his eponymous snowshoe company in 1906. Tubbs footwear trekked to northern Greenland with explorer Donald MacMillan and the South Pole with Admiral Richard Byrd.

W.F. sold the business in 1923, and less than a decade later it moved to Wallingford, Vermont, becoming Vermont Tubbs. The tail-less, maneuverable Green Mountain Bearpaw design, introduced in the 1950s, was a hit with a new wave of recreational snowshoers and remained the industry’s best-seller for decades. In 1998 the company introduced a long-overdue innovation: the first snowshoes designed for women’s feet. Five years later, Tubbs became part of the Seattle-based Elevate Outdoor Collective.

As for the town of Norway? Even though Tubbs had left, snowshoes stuck around. In 1932 some former employees took over the vacant Tubbs factory and launched Snocraft.

The brand was so successful that in 1949 a 16-foot-tall snowshoe-shaped sign was installed on Main Street, welcoming visitors to “the Snowshoe Town of America.” Alas, the sign disappeared in the 1980s, around the same time that Snocraft ceased operations.

Then, just last year, work began on the transformation of the long-vacant factory into a hub for artists and small-business owners, complete with a maker’s area focused on “traditional crafts.” Who knows? Maybe it will inspire someone to follow in W.F.’s footsteps once more. —Joe Bills | 19

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ECLIPSE PHOTO: JZALOPA/ISTOCK.COM

NEW HAMPSHIRE 2024 TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

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New Hampshire is one of just 13 U.S. states in the path of totality for the Great North American Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024. While most of the rest of the U.S. will experience a partial solar eclipse, this 100-mile-wide band is the only place to experience the unforgettable moment of totality, when the sun completely vanishes behind the moon, leaving only its corona blazing brilliantly around the edge.

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11/20/23 11:46 AM

Home | T R E N D S

Cabin Fever The fantasy of a cozy backwoods escape comes to life in Instagram-ready photos

by Vermont-based Dirt and Glass.

BY C O U RT N E Y H O L L A N DS | P H OTOS BY C H R I S & PA M DA N I E L E

I

turned off a dirt road in Deering, New Hampshire, onto a narrow, rutted driveway. Just when I started wondering if I was in the right place, I spotted a sign tacked to a tree: Keep going. Sure enough, the thick forest soon gave way to a clearing, and a sweet little deep-gray cabin on a pond came into view.

Waving, Chris and Pam Daniele stepped into the yard to greet me. They had been editing the photos they’d shot of the one-bedroom house and grounds the previous evening—“We take advantage of dusk,” Chris explains, “so everything will be glowy.” Later, they planned to paddle kayaks onto the pond and photograph the cabin from the water.

It’s all in a day’s work for the Vermont husband and wife behind the video and photography outfit Dirt and Glass as well as Cabinpedia, an online directory of—you guessed it—wanderlust-inducing cabins. The Danieles have carved out a unique niche in the travel industry: Property owners around New England and beyond hire them to stay and take glamour shots and drone footage of their backwoods A-frames and remote cottages, and then post them on social media to boost rentals. The duo also creates branded content and campaigns for Long Trail Brewing Co., Marmot, Vail Resorts, and more.

“There’s this nesting quality to being in a small space,” Pam says. “I think people just like the simplicity that a small space demands, because you really can’t overcrowd it. It feels like you’re getting wrapped in a blanket.” That cozy feeling no doubt resonates with their 377K-and-counting Instagram followers.

Indeed, in the seven years since launching the Dirt and Glass account, Chris and

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Playing the roles of both photographers and models, Pam and Chris Daniele (aka Dirt and Glass) stroll toward the inviting lights of The Woods, a luxury twobedroom treehouse rental in Norway, Maine.

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Home | T R E N D S Pam have truly become #cabinlife influencers—and it all started with an impromptu barter.

Chris grew up in Chicopee, Massachusetts, shooting nightscapes and nature scenes with his mom’s 35mm film camera, but went on to study teleproduction and become a recording engineer and a music producer. Photography “stayed more of a hobby throughout my life, until I met Pam,” he says. Pam, also from Western Massachusetts, was a pastry chef—and they bonded instantly over their love of hiking and the outdoors.

In 2015, the couple stayed at an off-the-grid artist’s shed in East Meredith, New York. Chris, who carried his camera everywhere, had an idea.

He offered the owner the photos he took there in exchange for a return visit. The owner agreed, and the couple continued with this model: bartering photos for free nights at cabins around the Northeast.

And though Chris launched the Dirt and Glass Instagram account in 2016, it was a stay in the Catskills the following January that really set the Danieles’ dream career in motion. Not only did Chris shoot photos of the property, called the Black A-Frame, but they also encouraged the owner to start an Instagram account to drive rentals. It worked, generating word of mouth—and helped convince Chris to officially move his music career to the back burner.

“Our contemporaries on Instagram were posting from really great cabins, but completely gatekeeping the locations,” says Pam, who left her pastry chef gig in 2019 to focus on photography full-time. “And we were like, We don’t want to do that. Airbnb had really taken off, so we saw this opportunity to share the places and help people book their cabins—and it just came together so organically.”

Today, interested property owners submit a form on the Dirt and Glass website, and the Danieles select only those places that line up with their style and point of view to photograph. “It has to fit a vibe; it has to feel cozy to us,” Chris says. Though the getaways range in square footage and amenities offered, “we lean more toward rustic and private,” Pam adds.

“That’s what people want, to go to the woods and reconnect with nature.” The secluded Deering, New Hampshire, guesthouse I visited, for one, was renovated by the owner, an interior designer who lives nearby, and is outfitted with wide plank f loors, a screened-in porch, an outdoor shower, and even an on-site honor-system antiques shop.

Chris and Pam both take photos and videos, mixing architectural and lifestyle shots—often with one or both of them in frame. They start a shoot by scouting the cabin: straightening artwork, exploring 24 |

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The Danieles’ photos bring an intimate, nestleyourself-right-in feel even to larger spaces, such as this Airbnb rental in a converted barn in Elmore, Vermont.

NEWENGLAND.COM

11/16/23 12:28 PM

Space Exploration Here are four rental cabins that knocked the (wool) socks off Chris and Pam Daniele.

Cozy Rock Cabin | Freeport, ME Modern amenities meet coastal Maine rusticity in this light-drenched 750-square-foot cabin named for the giant rock rising over its outdoor hot tub and firepit. Thoughtful touches include a lending library organized by color in the loft’s funky triangular shelves and a detailed guidebook with spot-on lobster roll recommendations. staycozycabin.com Sunrise Cabin at Woolman Hill | Deerfield, MA Featuring a wall crafted from oddly shaped refurbished windows, Sunrise is the most distinctive of the three cabins for rent at Woolman Hill, a 110-acre Quaker retreat center. Even though it’s minutes from downtown Greenfield, the cabin feels “so out there,” Pam says, owing, in part, to the outhouse and decidedly old-school feel—you call to reserve and pay by check or cash. woolmanhill.org The Conscious Cabin | Conway, NH Candles, plants, and twinkle lights add to the chill vibe of this renovated 1950s log cabin in the White Mountains, which boasts a stone fireplace and an outdoor shower and also hosts yoga retreats.

Owner Cassouki Chouramanis “created the space to welcome in and invite peace into people’s lives,” Pam says. “It’s gorgeous.” theconsciouscabin.com

▲ Stone City Treehouse | Hardwick, VT A tree literally grows through the porch and roof of this solar-powered rental (slogan: “Be free in a tree”). The Danieles spent a mini-moon here after their 2018 wedding and were enchanted by the creekside location—and the sleeping loft. “It is so cozy and comfortable,” Chris says. “There’s a window where you can just lie there and look out at the woods.” stonecitytreehouse.com

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Home | T R E N D S

It’s easy to imagine retreating to the warm confines of The Conscious Cabin, an Airbnb in Conway, New Hampshire, after a day spent playing in the White Mountains. below: Chris and Pam Daniele on a shoot at the Fox Ridge Chalet in the Catskills.

angles to take advantage of as much natural light as possible, and working around any space constraints. “Luckily, we’re both pretty good at contortion,” Pam says, with a laugh. “At any given moment, one of us is doing a very deep back bend.”

Over the years, they’ve settled into a schedule. The first two weeks of every month are for work travel and photographing rental properties—they’re excited to add more Appalachian and Western cabins to their roster—and the remaining weeks are for editing, personal projects, and trekking to their own rustic cabin in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. “We go up there as much as possible,” Pam says.

Constructed in 2019 with the help of micro-shelter aficionado and former HGTV host Derek “Deek ” Diedricksen, their own 200-square26 |

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foot abode is ensconced in pine trees, a hilly, quarter-mile hike off the road.

It’s further proof that when it comes to Pam and Chris, there is no Instagramversus-reality debate. What you see on social media is what you get—in this case, a deck, a sleeping loft, and a huge front window that f lips open, letting nature and the breeze in.

The couple christened the cabin “Borrowed Time,” after a trail sign they bought at the Brimfield Antique Flea Market and hung over the door.

And while they’ve built a career out of encouraging travelers to book cozy cabins for a night, the Danieles are keeping this one all to themselves.

To get the Danieles’ tips on how to bring a cabin-cozy feel into your own home, go to newengland.com/dirtandglass.

Instagram: @dirtandglass NEWENGLAND.COM

11/16/23 12:30 PM

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Home | M A D E I N N E W E N G L A N D

Leading Lights At Hubbardton Forge, old-school artistry meets au courant design to create some of the hottest lighting fixtures around.

BY J E N N J O H N S O N

S

ome 1,700 miles from Vermont there stands a showroom in Dallas that’s a testament to modern artisan craftsmanship from the Green Mountain State. Like its sister showrooms in Las Vegas and High Point, North Carolina, it’s filled with the wares of Castleton-based luxury lighting manufacturer Hubbardton Forge. There are sconces that glitter, pendants that gleam, chandeliers whose lines dance and swoop.

But the most popular item on display here is a homely, unpolished hulk of black industrial metal, tucked into a corner by the entryway. It is a forge—it is the forge, the one used by George Chandler and Reed Hampton, two young UVM graduates, when they founded Hubbardton Forge in 1974 and began turning out handwrought candlesticks, fireplace accessories, and eventually lighting fixtures. And to current CEO Maria Mullen, it is priceless.

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Since its founding in 1974, Hubbardton Forge has expanded its design range well beyond traditional New England styles. Some take cues from nature, as with the berry-like Sprig wall sconce (OPPOSITE, TOP) and the dramatic Dahlia chandelier (TOP LEFT). Others incorporate geometric, industrial, and even artistic inspirations, from the cable-hung spheres of the Abacus collection (OPPOSITE, BACKGROUND); to the austere Erlenmeyer line, a play on the famous laboratory flask (LEFT); to the Old Hollywood curves of a Lino table lamp (TOP RIGHT).

INSET: Handcrafting is the hallmark at the company’s Castleton, Vermont, facility.

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Home | M A D E I N N E W E N G L A N D

“We are not like everybody else.

We don’t want to be like everybody else,” she says. “And the best way to do that is to remember our history and our founders—who we are and where we came from. We try to keep that history front and center all the time.”

Having arrived at the company in 2020 as chief operating officer, then stepping into the CEO spot the following year, Mullen is relatively new to the Hubbardton Forge tradition but not to the world of handcrafting. Her grandfather was an expert woodworker in New York City who was known for his custom cabinetry and furniture; both her architect father and her uncle worked with him.

“I grew up around that, and I always 30 |

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loved the smell of woodworking and being down at the shop,” Mullen says.

“Subconsciously, I guess, it somehow got under my skin.”

Her own career path veered at first toward fashion, including jobs at brands such as Versace and Bruno Magli. But it was after she signed on with Murray Feiss, a family-owned company famed for making decorative residential lighting, that she “kind of fell in love with the lighting industry. To me it seemed like it was still fashion, but for your home.”

By the time Hubba rdton Forge recruited her, Mullen had been leading her own lighting design company, Kalizma Home, for six years.

Today, Mullen and her senior

team oversee some 250 designers, artisans, engineers, and staff at what is now one of the biggest and oldest commercial forges in the country.

And while the founders, Chandler and Hampton, transitioned out of the company more than a decade ago, their spirit remains. “This was two guys in a barn with a vision, and they did it their way,” Mullen says. “They didn’t follow the conventions of the lighting industry at the time—they went more on feel, and art, and loving the product that they were putting out. And they absolutely always focused on quality.

“That all still resides here. We really have that feeling in our building of what we call ‘the pride of the forge.’”

Put into practice, that means everything at Hubbardton Forge’s 100,000-square-foot factory in Castleton is made to order and crafted by hand. All the work—from initial designs to shipping the finished product—happens right on-site.

Even in assembling the ingredients of its creations, the company sticks close to a “made in Vermont” ethos. Its lighting and home decor have incorporated, for instance, g racef u l ha ndblow n glass f rom Simon Pearce and Burlington’s AO Glass, Vermont wood and stone from Maple Landmark and Fair Haven’s House of Slate, and lighting technology from LEDdynamics in Randolph. Working with local partners like these not only makes for a smaller carbon footprint, but also gives Hubbardton Forge a big advantage in the design process, Mullen says.

“Collaborating is so much easier when you can go right down the road to meet with the slate manufacturer or the wood manufacturer and say, ‘No, this thickness would be better than

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Home | M A D E I N N E W E N G L A N D 1

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Handcrafted lighting that lets New England’s artisan tradition shine through.

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1. Modernmaine Along with eye-catching geometric shapes and the quiet beauty of wood grain, Julie Morringello’s pendant lights are saturated with a sense of place. Trained in both industrial and furniture design, Morringello—who has been honored as a Society of Arts and Crafts artist of the year—crafts them all in her studio on Maine’s Deer Isle and sources the materials as close by as possible. No wonder her lights were chosen to warm the interiors of the Stonington Opera House and local roastery 44 North Coffee, where they glow with the unmistakable warmth of home.

Stonington, ME; modernmaine.com 2. Janna Ugone & Co. A graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Ugone designs lighting that mixes lively artistic inspiration—birds and butterflies, native plants, maps, journal drawings—with heirloom-weight details like hand-modeled pewter finials and honed slate bases. Visitors are welcome to stop by Ugone’s studio, set in a historic mill building, to see her team of artisans at work, browse the showroom and outlet, and check out the Lamp Bar, filled with lampshades ready to give any old base that extra bit of soul. Easthampton, MA; jannaugoneandco.com

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3. Providence Art Glass The passion of two award-winning artists, Rebecca Zhukov and Terence Dubreuil, not only fires their exquisite lighting creations—colorful, fantastical handblown glass pendants and chandeliers— but also extends to the community at large. Last year they founded the 20,000-square-foot Blackstone River Glass Center, which houses their state-of-theart glass studio along with providing a place for other artists and members of the public to learn and create in a variety of disciplines, and for the tradition of hand-making to live on. Cumberland, RI; providenceartglass.com

COURTESY PHOTOS

this thickness,’ and ‘We need something more like this shape,’” Mullen says. “Because again, we’re not doing cookie-cutter things here. And sometimes just explaining what our crazy ideas are can be challenging.”

Those crazy ideas—say, a customordered chandelier measuring a whopping nine feet in diameter—begin with Hubbardton Forge’s design team, who all come from different backgrounds, including engineering and even jewelry design. They then work shoulder to shoulder with the company’s artisans and engineers, welders and forgers and finishers, to bring the concept to life. “We’re not sending a drawing off to a faraway land and getting a prototype that we may or may not like,” Mullen says. “We’re all putting our two cents in, one way or another.”

These days, Hubbardton Forge’s designs can be spotted in such prestigious locations as Las Vegas’s MGM Grand and Luxor hotels; closer to home, more than 100 of its sconces, chandeliers, and pendants lend sparkle to Stratton Mountain Base Lodge.

The company has also notched a number of accolades, most recently winning the lighting fixtures category at the international home-industry competition known as the ARTS Awards.

Yet as Mullen sees it, making this heritage Vermont company a household name isn’t what motivates those who work there (though a designer once joked to her, “I’m tired of us being a ‘nice surprise’ to people…

I want them to know who we are!”).

The goal instead is to create something that people will want to keep for a lifetime.

“If you buy something beautiful, it stays with you,” she says. “We want people to have that attraction, that feeling when they will look at our product that they can’t live without it. It’s not just plugging a hole; it’s not something you’ll trash at some point down the road. It’s going to become an heirloom.” hubbardtonforge.com

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Food | R E C I P E S P O T L I G H T

Citrus Olive Oil Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache, recipe p. 39

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NEWENGLAND.COM

11/17/23 12:01 PM

chocolate kiss Just in time for Valentine’s Day, five indulgent recipes to make taste buds swoon.

BY SA R A H H E A R N M O R R I S O N | P H OTO S & S T Y LI N G BY LI Z N E I LY

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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Food | R E C I P E S P O T L I G H T

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes, recipe p. 102

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NEWENGLAND.COM

11/27/23 12:07 PM

t was a raw, rainy November morning in Paris, and as I walked past L’Église de la Madeleine, I consulted a small notebook. I had recently moved to the city to attend culinary school, and from the moment I arrived, I had been recording every recommendation for the best croissant, the perfect steak frites, the can’t-miss fromages shop. Today, I was on a mission to taste the best hot chocolate of my life.

From across the street, I saw a golden glow, a pop of color among so much gray. I had arrived at La Maison du Chocolat, where the air was filled with the aroma of dark chocolate and the minimalist glass cases displayed small squares of chocolate filled with salted caramel, fennel ganache, and cherries. I made my way to the back corner, where a handful of tiny tables accommodated a lucky few, and ordered un chocolat chaud. A few minutes later, a white teacup filled with steaming, rich hot chocolate was set on the table. I still remember the moment as my personal introduction to the world of chocolatiers. This was in 2001, a few years before the craft chocolate movement exploded in the United States.

Chocolate’s roots in America go deeper than you might realize. In 1670, Dorothy Jones and Jane Barnard opened a public house in Boston serving hot chocolate—the earliest such permit on record. In 1765, James Baker and John Hannon established the first American chocolate company in Dorchester, Massachusetts, using cacao beans that they imported from the West Indies, at a time when chocolate production was inextricably linked to the slave trade.

It wasn’t until the 19th century, though, that chocolate was produced with enough efficiency and scale to make it affordable for the middle class.

Today, of course, chocolate is everywhere, and New England is home to many excellent chocolatiers—from larger operations like Vermont’s Lake Champlain and Goodnow Farms to small producers like Maine’s Ragged Coast Chocolates. For baking, there are myriad bars, chips, and powders to choose from. (To learn more about chocolate varieties and get a list of our favorite makers, go to newengland.com/chocolate_101.)

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, chocolate becomes less of a treat and more of a love language.

The following recipes include two versions of New England favorites—Boston cream pie and whoopie pies—as well as rich chocolate bread pudding, a simple orange cake with a chocolate glaze, and a chocolate-walnut-banana coffee cake. I may not always have Paris, but I’ll always have chocolate.

Note: The following recipes all give both volume and weight measurements for f lour. People’s measuring styles vary greatly, and this can impact the final product. Use whichever method you prefer.

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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Food | R E C I P E S P O T L I G H T

Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies, recipe p. 102

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NEWENGLAND.COM

11/17/23 12:02 PM

CITRUS OLIVE OIL CAKE WITH DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Extremely moist, with an almost puddinglike center and dark chocolate ganache, this cake couldn’t be easier to make, requiring only two bowls and a whisk. Thanks to the olive oil, it actually improves with age, so it will stay fresh a few days after baking.

FOR THE CAKE

1¼ cups extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan 1½ cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour ½ cup (50 grams) almond flour 1¾ cups granulated sugar 1½ teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda 1 cup whole milk 3 large eggs ¼ cup fresh orange juice (from 1 large navel orange) 3 tablespoons Grand Marnier 1 tablespoon grated orange zest (from 2 large navel oranges) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Bread Pudding, recipe p. 100

FOR THE GANACHE TOPPING

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 1 cup heavy cream Pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform cake pan (at least 3 inches deep) with olive oil and line the bottom with parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet, and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, orange juice, Grand Marnier, orange zest, and vanilla.

Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking constantly until smooth and emulsified. Add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, making sure to whisk the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the top is golden

ChocolateWalnut-Banana Coffee Cake, recipe p. 100

(Continued on p. 100) JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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11/17/23 12:02 PM

Food | I N S E A S O N

Amy Traverso is Yankee’s senior food editor and cohost of our TV show, Weekends with Yankee.

Mushroom, White Bean, and Spinach “Scampi”

Baked White Fish with Ritz Cracker Topping

Tipping the Scales

Two recipes to make you a fan of the most abundant, affordable, and overlooked fish in New England.

BY A M Y T R AV E R S O PHOTOS & ST YLING BY LIZ NEILY

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couple of times a month, we receive a front-porch delivery of produce, fish, meat, and dairy from local farms and fisheries through a CSA called Family Dinner. We work our way through these goodies pretty quickly, but over time I’ve noticed that the items most likely to linger in our freezer were packages of assorted white fish: redfish, grey sole, tilapia, hake, black sea bass, butterfish, and the like. While the beautiful tuna steaks in our bag went right on the grill, I often failed to get inspired by their pale, delicate brethren.

This is a shame, because lesserknown white fish are some of the most sustainable species around. Whereas salmon, cod, haddock, lobster, tuna, and scallops dominate most seafood counters and with premium prices to match, white fish is abundant and affordable and helps keep the local fishing industry afloat.

I just needed to remind myself of a few good preparations that I could apply to just about any species I found in that delivery bag. I’ve developed many fish recipes over the years, but it’s easy to get into a rut, forget a oncefavorite dish, or overlook the classics.

First, I returned to the iconic New England baked fish with Ritz cracker topping. How had I forgotten how delicious this is? I tried it with three different fishes and it worked with all of them. Next, I went for a pan-cooked NEWENGLAND.COM

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filet with a simple sauce. At this time of year, I like bold citrusy flavors, and this lemon-caper sauce does the trick.

A note on cooking times: These recipes can be used with everything from thin sole filets to thick halibut steaks.

As a result, the cooking times can vary by 10 minutes or more. You’ll need to get in there to test for doneness: Check the fish at the thickest point, and if it flakes easily and is opaque rather than translucent, it’s done.

BAKED WHITE FISH WITH RITZ CRACKER TOPPING

The amount of topping in this recipe is calibrated for small or medium filets. If you are working with large cod filets or halibut steaks, double it.

4 white fish filets, such as tilapia, hake, sole, or redfish 6 tablespoons salted butter, melted, divided 1 cup crushed Ritz or similar buttery crackers 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 tablespoon minced parsley or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves White Fish with Caper Butter Sauce

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1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder ½ teaspoon kosher salt ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Lemon wedges and minced parsley or thyme sprigs, for garnish

Preheat your oven to 400°F and set a rack to the second-from-top position.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Arrange filets on the paper. Pat dry.

Pour 2 tablespoons butter over all.

In a small bowl, stir together the cracker crumbs, 4 tablespoons butter, lemon juice, parsley or thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Generously top the f ilets with this mixture.

Put the fish into the oven and roast until the topping is browned and the flesh is flaky, 8 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the filets (as a general rule, you bake fish at this temperature for 10 minutes per inch of thickness). Just before serving, squeeze lemon over the fish. Garnish with parsley or thyme sprigs and serve hot. Yields 4 servings.

WHITE FISH WITH CAPER BUTTER SAUCE 1 tablespoon brined capers 4 white fish filets, such as tilapia, hake, sole, or redfish ½ teaspoon kosher salt ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 large shallots, minced ½ cup dry white wine 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon minced chives, plus more for garnish

Rinse the brined capers under cold water, then drain well and pat dry.

Season each of the fish filets on one side with salt and pepper. Preheat your oven to 200°F. Heat a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Add the butter and olive oil. Carefully add the fish to the skillet, starting with the end closest to you and laying in the rest of the filet away from you (this protects you from any oil splatters). Spooning the hot fat over the top to help it cook, let the fish sit in the skillet until the bottom of each filet is set and releases from the pan. Carefully turn the filets with a thin spatula and cook until the fish is cooked through but still moist.

Depending on the thickness of the fish, the total cooking time will be anywhere from 3 minutes for sole filets to 10 or 12 minutes for thicker cuts.

Use a thin spatula to transfer the cooked fish to a plate, cover loosely with foil, and keep warm in the oven while you make your sauce.

Add the shallots to the pan and cook, stirring often, until translucent, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the wine and lemon juice and simmer, swirling occasionally, until the sauce has reduced a bit. Add the capers and 1 tablespoon minced chives and stir.

Taste the sauce and add salt as needed.

Pour the sauce over the fish, garnish with minced chives, and serve immediately. Yields 4 servings. | 41

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

RE TIRING to THE GOOD LIFE 5 Reasons to Make the Move to a Retirement Community

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ment communities often have transportation available for such trips. They may even offer rides for things like an evening at the local theater. No more worries about driving at night or in bad weather!

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5. Enjoy the Freedom of Your New Life Making the move to a retirement community can offer ease and peace of mind — what more could you ask Integritus IKF2212406_YankeeMagazine.qxp_R8 1/11/23 10:33 AM Page 1 for when it comes to entering the next chapter of your life? Consolidating

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Travel | W E E K E N D A W A Y

DEERFIELD VALLEY 20 WAYS TO SPEND A MEMORABLE FEW DAYS IN A CLASSIC VERMONT SKI REGION. B Y L I S A G O S S E L I N LY N N | P H O T O S B Y O L I V E R PA R I N I

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Mount Snow is one of the first Vermont ski areas to open each season and among the last to close, thanks to an extensive snowmaking system that covers more than 85 percent of its trails. opposite, clockwise from top left: Caviar-topped mini crepes at the Alpenglow Bistro; ice skating at the country resort Farm Road Estate; a view of downtown Wilmington; sweet treats from Starfire Bakery; the Hermitage Inn’s classic covered bridge; handcrafted wooden wares at the Vermont Bowl Company.

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Travel | W E E K E N D A W A Y

There is an “ahhh” moment that people talk about when they cross the border into Vermont. The billboards disappear (they are not legal in the state), weathered barns shoulder the winter snowpack, dirt roads meander up the hillsides into hidden hollows.

It doesn’t take long for the gentleness of the rural landscape to sink into your soul. Just a 25-mile drive from the Massachusetts border on I-91, the Deerfield Valley is classic Vermont. It’s also a place that has seen many upgrades in the past few years.

In 2019, Vail Resorts bought the ski resort Mount Snow and made it part of its Epic Pass offerings. Then Covid hit, and many establishments closed up shop. But since then, the Deerfield Valley has had a resurgence: Dozens of new restaurants, hotels, and breweries have blossomed up and down Route 100 in the eight or so miles that link the historic town of Wilmington with West Dover and Mount Snow.

Thankfully, careful stewardship has ensured that many of the new

establishments have built on the valley’s heritage. Barnboard and white clapboard, family-owned restaurants, and proud innkeepers still prevail.

And thanks to a legacy of skiing, you’ll also find a touch of the Alps on the menus and in the decor.

EAT & DRINK 1. Go for gourmet fondue … in a gondola. If your vision of a perfect

après-ski moment is sitting on a leather banquette in a refurbished private gondola car and noshing on fondue and venison meatballs while perusing an award-winning wine list, the Hermitage Inn has you covered. Work up an appetite by cross-country skiing on one of the trails that wind through the inn’s 112 acres, and then retire to

one of the elegant historic rooms, completely renovated in 2021. thehermitageinnvermont.com 2. Dine Alpine-style. Sheepskin throws and candles lend a cozy ambience to the Alpenglow Bistro, where the menu starts with Bavarian pretzels and oysters before letting you move on to such Alpine favorites as savory crepes, fondues, and bratwurst. alpenglowbistrovt.com 3. Go beer-tasting. Home to one of the biggest and oldest beer festivals (held in both fall and winter at Mount Snow), the Deerfield Valley has experienced an explosion of microbreweries. Wilmington’s Valley Craft Ales opened in 2022 and now has a brewpub in the Old Red Mill Inn, with reasonably priced rooms upstairs for those who don’t want to drive. At Snow Republic Brewery, located in the largest log cabin in Vermont, order a Hop Avalanche and let the kids enjoy the shufflepuck and other games. Set atop Hogback Mountain in nearby Marlboro, Beer Naked not only boasts some of the best views in the state but also serves tasty wood-fired pizzas from Pizzapalooza (try the Honey Pear Pie with gorgonzola and maple bacon). valleybeer.io; snowrepublicbrewery.com; beernakedbrewery.com 4. Visit one of Vermont’s most treasured diners. Betsey’s Dot’s of

Dover has been one of Vermont’s best-loved places for eggs and pancakes for nearly 40 years—so much so that the town helped rebuild the place after it burned in a fire in 2019. dotsofdover.com

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Patrons are greeted

by Alpine elegance at Wilmington’s Alpenglow Bistro. opposite: Another Wilmington highlight is the White House Inn, a 1915 summer estate that now welcomes luxuryminded travelers.

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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Travel | W E E K E N D A W A Y 5. Fill up on local treats: cakes, breads, and coffee. The Deerfield

Valley has no shortage of great bakeries. Home bakers Carolyn Weston and Andrew Allen opened Starfire Bakery in 2022 with menu items such as a pistachioorange-cardamom cake. Just down Main Street in Wilmington, get a cup of locally roasted, sustainably sourced coffee at 1A Coffee Roasters; owners Brian and Chrystal Holt moved to Wilmington from Helsinki, Finland, where Brian worked at the U.S. embassy, and opened the roastery in 2018. And if you like crusty Italian breads and fresh challah, go to Sticky Fingers Bakery in West Dover. starfirebakery.com; 1acoffee.com; stickyfingersvermontbakery.com

PLAY

9. Skate by an outdoor fire. For a

true Vermont-y moment, skate under the lights at the pond at West Dover’s Farm Road Estate, sip cocoa and roast a marshmallow at the outdoor firepits, or head into the inn’s Sawmill Bar & Table for house-made tortellini. Farm Road, renovated by new owners in 2020–2021, has rooms and cottages you can stay in as well. farmroadestate.com 10. Explore Mount Snow. Now owned by Vail Resorts and part of the Epic Pass program, Mount Snow has more than 600 skiable acres and a vertical drop of 1,700 feet. The resort hosts popular annual events such as the Cloud Nine nuptials (you can

renew your vows atop the mountain), beer festivals, and the Duct Tape Derby. mountsnow.com 11. Watch the pros catch big air—or try it yourself. Some of the best

freestyle skiers in the world have come out of Mount Snow’s terrain parks, and many still come back to train. You might catch a glimpse of World Cup winner Mac Forehand launching 80 feet in the air, or see Olympian Caroline Claire doing backflips. But it’s not all big jumps and rails: Mount Snow’s 100-acre Carinthia Parks section has a series of 10 progression terrain parks aimed at every skill level of skier or rider, from novice toddlers to pros. mountsnow.com

6. Pay homage to an Olympic great. In 1979, Mount Snow ski

instructors Terry and Cathy Clark opened a casual seasonal eatery, TC’s, in West Dover, then made it year-round in 1983. Their daughter, Kelly Clark, went on to become one of the most decorated snowboarders in history, earning three Olympic medals. TC’s tells her story in memorabilia and is now run by Kelly’s brother, Tim Clark, and his wife, Becky, who also run the more upscale restaurant Two Tannery Road. tcsrestaurantvt.com STAY 7. Check into a classic Vermont hotel. The Vermont House is a

four-column 1850s white Colonial in the heart of Wilmington that was recently renovated as a boutique hotel. Rooms are often under $200 a night. thevermonthouse.net 8. Bed down like a baron. Built in 1915 as the summer residence for a lumber baron, the White House Inn sits high on a hill with a view of the valley, like a grand dame surveying her surroundings. The inn’s restaurant, Clara’s Cucina Italiana, serves homemade pasta and Northern Italian specialties. whitehouseinnvt.com 50 |

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a few steep uphills and some small stream crossings. catamounttrail.org/ ski-the-trail

17. Catch a live music show with a comedic twist. Comedian/

above: Mount Snow’s Carinthia

Terrain Parks are filled with jumps and features designed for every rider—up to and including the pros.

Gondolas are reimagined as swank mini dining rooms at West Dover’s Hermitage Inn.

left:

12. Make a day of it with the kids.

There aren’t many places in Vermont where you can go snow tubing. Mount Snow is one of them, with eight lanes for you to rocket down and a dedicated magic-carpet lift to ferry you back up. After, head to the Last Chair Bar & Grill—set in a converted red barn in West Dover— to refuel with locally brewed drafts and a full après-ski-style menu while the kids play air hockey, shufflepuck, or Guitar Hero in their own arcade area. mountsnow.com; lastchairvt.com

13. Go on a snowmobile adventure.

One of Vermont’s biggest expanses of undeveloped land sits just west of the Deerfield Valley. The local snowmobile clubs maintain trails in the Green Mountain National Forest, and Snowmobile Vermont offers two-hour guided tours out of its base in Woodford. snowmobilevermont.com/mount-snow JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

YK0124_Travel_Weekend.indd 51

14. Ski backcountry glades. Put on some touring skis with climbing skins and explore four gladed backcountry ski zones in the 1,400acre Dover Town Forest, part of the Southern Vermont Trails Association, or the four smaller zones in the Horace Hill trail network.

The routes (including the uphill skin tracks) are flagged but ungroomed, so skiers should travel in groups, be prepared, and carry maps, GPS, and basic safety gear. sovta.org 15. Snowshoe or cross-country ski from mountain to town. Depending

on snow conditions, use snowshoes, alpine touring gear, or cross-country skis to explore the Crosstown and Valley Trails, a network of groomed, flat trails between Mount Snow and the towns of Dover and Wilmington. doververmont.com/ community/page/crosstown-trails 16. Conquer a section of the Catamount Trail. One of the most

beautiful sections of the Catamount, the state-long backcountry skitouring trail, Section 3 runs 7.4 miles from Route 9 in Searsburg to the Somerset Reservoir, traversing a gorgeous, remote area west of Mount Snow. It’s generally flat with

musician/entertainer Bruce Jacques has spent many of his winter weekends for the past 30 years in the Deerfield Valley doing classic rock covers (and hilarious impersonations), with his shows often ending with patrons dancing on the tables. Catch the local legend himself at Mount Snow’s Cuzzins Bar & Grill in the base lodge on many Saturday nights and at other local music venues. brucejacques.com 18. Laugh at art. For humor with a bit of an acerbic (and often political) bite, stop by the Art of Humor Gallery in Wilmington, which features work by late gallery owner Skip Morrow. He started his cartoon career with the book I Hate Cats and published more than 20 other books, including I Still Hate Cats. skipmorrow.com SHOP 19. Bring home some local handcrafts. For 50 years, the

Vermont Bowl Company in Wilmington has been producing hand-turned wooden bowls designed by local artisan John McLeod as well as cutting boards and other great gift items. Also in Wilmington, Far Beyond Woodworking’s Mark Sprague creates gorgeous custom furniture, much of it handmade and inlaid. vermontbowl.com; farbeyondwoodworking.com

20. Treat yourself to a good read.

A classic independent bookstore for 35 years, Bartleby’s Books in the heart of Wilmington channels rustic Vermont as it offers the perfect book to curl up with by a fire, including classics by local authors such as John Irving’s The Last Chairlift or a mystery by Archer Mayor. myvermontbookstore.com | 51

11/16/23 12:56 PM

Travel | T H E B E S T 5 Night skiing at Jiminy Peak in the Massachusetts Berkshires.

and sharing stories of the singing von Trapps. It’s mostly easy, downhill terrain; you’ll be a pro in five minutes.

And with the Bierhall and its awardwinning lagers (and apfelstrudel!) as your finish line, motivation is baked in. trappfamily.com/tours.htm Live Music Packages at Snowvillage Inn

BY KIM KNOX BECKIUS

on’t sit back and allow winter days to run one into the next. Punctuate this hunkered-down season with wondrous experiences you’ll remember long after the snow and slush have vanished.

in addition to melting stress, you can shuck your own and jump into an oyster pen in the bay. The benefits of the cold-hot cycle “make winter survivable,” says Stratton, who also operates saunas at her Montville, Maine, homestead. cedargrovesauna.com

Cedar Grove Sauna Pop-ups

Headlamp Snowshoe Tours at Trapp Family Lodge

Midcoast Maine Join the email list, and you’ll know when to book your private hour inside the coolest wood-f ired sauna on wheels. All winter long, Jackie Stratton parks this ruby-red former horse trailer in idyllic coastal settings such as Glidden Point Oyster Farms, where, 52 |

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Stowe, VT Moonlight is fickle, but your headlamp’s beam is strong. Dependable.

So is the voice of activities director Bob Stafford, who leads most of these 90-minute after-dark excursions, pointing out trees and animal tracks

Night Skiing at Jiminy Peak

Hancock, MA Fly down the slopes into the colorless dreamscape created by globes of light that keep more than half of Jiminy Peak’s skiing and snowboarding trails (even three black diamonds) open until 10 p.m. nightly. This entire mountain resort runs on renewable energy, so night owls needn’t fret the environmental impact of their nocturnal sport, nor cozying up at après spots that cater to the late crowd. jiminypeak.com

Winter Spectacular at Cava

Southington, CT You’ve never seen a bauble-icious interior like this, even if meeting loved ones at Cava for molten cheese–stuffed garlic bread and pleasing pasta plates is already your wintertime tradition. Each year’s decor is all new in five themedto-the-hilt dining spaces, and illumination has been ramped up to nearly 200,000 bulbs this go-round. Will you journey to Oz? Let your hair down with Rapunzel or chill in the Eggnog Pub? You have until March ends to experience all the sparkle. cavact.com

COURTESY OF JIMINY PEAK

Magical Winter Experiences

Eaton Center, NH After a brisk snowshoe on Snowvillage Inn’s own trails, nothing warms a winter’s night like dinner and an intimate concert in a snow-globe setting. You’ll be chauffeured across the Maine border to Stone Mountain Arts Center, where a converted barn’s church-like windows frame starlit sky, and songs reverberate in the rafters. Talent onstage this winter includes a New Orleans–inspired jazz band and folk icon Judy Collins. snowvillageinn.com/live-music-packages

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Trim: Trim: 7.75” X 10.5” Bleed: 8” X 10.75 Live: 7.25” 7.25” X X 10” 10” Live:

Shake off the post-holiday blues this winter with a trip to the Heart of Massachusetts!

1 Wachusett Wachusett Mountain, Mountain, Princeton Princeton

WINTER FUN

START IN IN NORTH NORTH CENTRAL CENTRAL MASS MASS as as you you ski ski and and START snowboard snowboard down down iconic iconic Wachusett Wachusett Mountain, Mountain, New New England’s most most accessible accessible ski ski resort, resort, then then warm warm up up with with hot hot cider cider England’s and and cider cider donuts donuts at at the the mountain’s mountain’s Bullock Bullock Lodge.

Lodge. Enjoy Enjoy crosscrosscountry country skiing, skiing, hiking, hiking, or or snowshoeing snowshoeing at at Wachusett Wachusett Meadow Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, Sanctuary, Carlson Carlson Orchards, Orchards, Finnish Finnish Center Center of of Wildlife Saima Saima Park, Park, or or Leominster Leominster State State Forest.

Forest. Take Take aa sleigh sleigh or or horseback ride ride at at Cornerstone Cornerstone Ranch.

Ranch. Skate Skate or or ice ice fish fish on on one one of of horseback the many frozen lakes or ponds like Asnacomet Pond.

Want to get the many frozen lakes or ponds like Asnacomet Pond. Want to get out out of of the the cold? cold? Slip Slip and and slide slide through through the the region’s region’s only only indoor indoor water water park, Great Great Wolf Wolf New New England.

England. For For winter winter cultural cultural fun, fun, visit visit the the park, Fitchburg Fitchburg Art Art Museum Museum or or experience experience aa concert concert in in the the gorgeous gorgeous Groton Groton Hill Hill Music Music Center.

Center.

2 Great Wolf Wolf Lodge, Lodge, Fitchburg Fitchburg Great Great Wolf Lodge, Fitchburg

HEAD HEAD TO TO METROWEST METROWEST BOSTON BOSTON for for aa libations libations tour tour of of the the region’s region’s 17 17 craft craft producers. producers. Be Be sure sure to to visit visit Jack’s Jack’s Abby Craft Craft Lagers Lagers or or GlenPharmer GlenPharmer distillery distillery for for aa tour, tour, tasting, tasting, Abby and and great great meal. meal. Or Or try try unique unique Framingham Framingham Station Station Brazilian Brazilian Steakhouse, where where Gaucho Gaucho Chefs Chefs carve carve meat meat tableside. tableside. Enjoy Enjoy the the Steakhouse, outdoors with hiking or snowmobiling at Hopkinton State Park. outdoors with hiking or snowmobiling at Hopkinton State Park.

Take Take the the kids kids to to an an aerial aerial class class at at Earth Earth & & Aerial Aerial Yoga, Yoga, explore explore the the Discovery Museum, Museum, or or play play at at Apex’s Apex’s indoor indoor amusement amusement park. park.

Discovery Discover Discover the the American American Heritage Heritage Museum’s Museum’s immersive immersive exhibits exhibits with with planes, planes, tanks, tanks, and and fascinating fascinating war war stories. stories. Watch Watch aa fabulous fabulous show or or concert concert at at Hopkinton Hopkinton Center Center for for the the Arts, Arts, atac: atac: show downtown downtown arts arts ++ music, music, or or Claflin Claflin Hill Hill Symphony, Symphony, then then visit visit the the Danforth Art Art Museum.

Museum. Finish Finish your your visit visit wandering wandering the the Natick Natick or or Danforth Franklin Cultural Cultural Districts.

Districts.

Franklin

3 Old Sturbridge Sturbridge Village, Village, Sturbridge Sturbridge Old Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge Earth && & Aerial Aerial Yoga, Yoga, Hudson Hudson Earth Earth Aerial Yoga, Hudson

053_YK0124_HeartOfMass.indd 53

CONCLUDE IN IN CENTRAL CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS MASSACHUSETTS in in and and CONCLUDE around Worcester.

Families love Ski Ward.

Enjoy skiing, around Worcester. Families love Ski Ward. Enjoy skiing, snowboarding, snowboarding, and and tubing, tubing, plus plus fuel fuel up up at at the the Slopeside Slopeside Bar Bar & & Grill. Skate Skate the the day day away away at at the the Worcester Worcester Common Common Oval Oval Ice Ice Grill.

Rink Rink in in the the heart heart of of the the city, city, then then warm warm up up with with aa gingerbread gingerbread hot hot chocolate chocolate or or peppermint peppermint mocha mocha at at Brew Brew on on the the Grid.

Grid. Weather Weather not not cooperating? Treat Treat everyone everyone to to an an afternoon afternoon at at the the EcoTarium, EcoTarium, cooperating? with with cute cute creatures, creatures, interactive interactive science science exhibits, exhibits, and and aa planetarium. planetarium.

An action-packed action-packed outing outing for for sports sports fans fans is is aa Worcester Worcester Railers Railers An Hockey game at the DCU Center, who are also hosting the Hockey game at the DCU Center, who are also hosting the Harlem Harlem Globetrotters, Globetrotters, Monster Monster Jam, Jam, and and Professional Professional Bull Bull Riders this this winter! winter!

Riders Whatever Whatever your your reason, reason, whatever whatever the the season, season, the the Heart Heart of of Massachusetts Massachusetts has has something something for for you! you!

Plan your your trip trip at at TheHeartofMA.com TheHeartofMA.com Plan

11/21/23 11:57 AM

Travel | R E S O U R C E S

Literary Classics There’s nothing like a top-notch independent bookstore to help you get a read on the local community.

COMPILED BY BILL SCHELLER

CONNECTICUT ATHENA BOOKS, Old Greenwich. Lots of

bookstores provide the wherewithal for local book clubs, but Athena goes one better: For a modest fee, clubs can reserve the store for their evening meetings, complete with cozy seating, music, and discounts on the titles selected. There are also story times for kids, and a full schedule of author readings and discussions. athenabooksog.com BANK SQUARE BOOKS, Mystic. Wandering down Main Street in the historic seafaring town of Mystic, you’ll find the entrance to Bank Square Books marked with, 54 |

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appropriately enough, a sculpture of a whale (colorfully painted by Connecticut artist Pamela Zagarenski, a two-time Caldecott winner). Inside, look for the area’s best selection of books, with a special emphasis on independent publishers. banksquarebooks.com THE BOOK BARN, Niantic. It’s a secondhand bookshop that couldn’t stop growing: There’s the three-level barn itself, with its dollar annex and gardens (complete with cats and goats); nearby Chapter Three; and Book Barn Downtown. Altogether, the Barn complex houses an inventory of 350,000 gently used books, neatly arranged by subject and fed by an inflow of purchases

that sometimes reaches 14,000 books a week. bookbarnniantic.com BYRD’S BOOKS, Bethel. Located across from the Bethel Public Library, Byrd’s carries new releases in all categories, as well as a selection of deeply discounted books. The shop sponsors history, science fiction/fantasy, and general book clubs, as well as occasional writing workshops where participants might use fine-quality Blackwing pencils and eco-friendly Decomposition notebooks, available right here. byrdsbooks.com POSSIBLE FUTURES, New Haven. The name speaks volumes, and the volumes on the shelves run strongly toward social justice and sustainability, with what the store calls “historically underrepresented” authors and topics being well represented.

More than a bookstore, the shop serves as a community gathering place and reading room, hosting groups and events such as a Radical Thinking Book Club and a Youth Day Neighborhood Block Party. possiblefuturesbooks.com RJ JULIA, Madison. “Putting the right book in the right hand” is the goal of this shop,

(Continued on p. 106)

AT H E N A B O O K S

Athena Books, Old Greenwich, CT

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AT H E N A B O O K S

The land of author James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small

BOOK NOW! DISCOVER

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Mountain Top Resort | Chittenden, Vermont | 802.483.2311 | mountaintopresort.com Photos: (1) Gary Hall (2) Idena Beach (3) Joanne Pearson (4) J and J Photography

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Greet the day from your own private balcony overlooking Little Harbor Marina at Wentworth by the Sea in New Castle, New Hampshire.

sea

BY THE

With the next few months offering the year’s best deals at New England’s exclusive coastal resorts, here are five enticing getaways to warm up to.

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winter

The Chanler at Cliff Walk brings a touch of Versailles to Newport, Rhode Island, with its ocean-view Louis XVI Room.

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Cliff House CAPE N ED D I C K , M E P H O T O S BY C A R L E Y R U D D

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off with a few practical suggestions to keep the peace. All of which is to say: Whatever resort premium you’re paying here for spa services, it’s worth it.

Also worthwhile: Bald Head Coffee Company is an on-site café by the firepit terrace offering a great casual companion to the resort’s fine-dining restaurant, The Tiller, with espresso drinks, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, snacks, beer, and wine. At night, the terrace is bedecked with party lights and warmed by a blazing fire, so you can soak up some heat while listening to waves below. (The nearby hot tub may well be the most spectacularly sited of its kind in New England.)

Speaking of The Tiller, plan to have dinner at sunset, when the views are most spectacular. The menu has delicious options from land and sea, but here in Maine, the cod with celery root–potato puree and the scallops with lobster fried rice are particularly alluring. And be sure to order the homemade bread.

At some point, you will have to reenter the world, if only to take a walk on the famous waterfront Marginal Way, just a short drive away. Walk to the highest point and look south for one more view: the grandeur of Cliff House, perched like a beacon, calling you home. —Amy Traverso n Nightly rate for typical room option: $579 winter vs. $899 summer. cliffhousemaine.com B E YO N D T H E LO B BY: What to eat, see, and do in and around Cape Neddick, p. 110

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he stark beauty of the Maine coast in winter is something not many of us travelers get to see up close. You might venture out on a sunny January day, marveling at the swirls of frozen sea-foam at the water’s edge—then an arctic wind blasts through your reverie, not to mention the tight weave of your best winter hat.

But nestled in my bed at Cliff House, propped up on fluffy pillows and perched a few meters from the ocean, I savor the pale pink midafternoon light that illuminates the roiling sea outside my window. I look out on striated rock formations stacked perpendicularly, evidence of some longago cataclysm that heaved the whole mass out of the earth before slamming it down on its side. Who needs TV or the Internet when you have geology? I don’t ever want to leave.

Fortunately I don’t have to, at least for now. At Cliff House, a sprawling complex of modern buildings that hugs the contours of Bald Head Cliff, I can walk from one end of the resort to the other without ever leaving climate control. There are two restaurants, bars, and a cinema, plus a spa, gallery, art studio, games library, gym, indoor pool, and hot tub. Also: shops, live music, and a big fireplace in the lobby perfect for sipping and chatting or curling up with a book. Everywhere, the view beckons.

Most of New England’s top vacation destinations—the White Mountains, New Hampshire’s Lakes Region, Cape Cod—were established on the heels of railroads, and Cliff House is no different. It has welcomed visitors since 1872, when the Boston and Maine Railroad expanded to York. As I make my way to the spa from my wing (called “The Cove,” and known for having the best views), I see a wall of photographs outlining the resort’s history, beginning when Elsie Jane Weare, mother of seven, saw an opportunity in the rail lines and persuaded her husband to invest.

All around, the decor reads modern-nautical, thanks to an extensive 2016 renovation that added more guest rooms and suites (for a total of 226) and the 9,000-square-foot spa. A fountain fills the spa’s reception area with the burble of water on stone, and a plush waiting room gives wide views of the ocean. In one of the treatment rooms—which are cut lower into the slate cliffs so that the crashing waves leap just outside the window—I submit to the skilled massage team. My therapist identifies the deep knot in my wonky shoulder, kneads it into submission, and sends me

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P R E V I O U S S P R E A D : T H E C H A N L E R AT C L I F F WA L K ( R O O M I N T E R I O R )

clockwise from left: Perfect for roasting s’mores, a firepit lends its warmth to Cliff House’s 70-acre grounds; the Tidemark Lounge, where soaring windows are paired with a two-story fireplace made from local bluestone; waves foam at the foot of Bald Head Cliff, the hotel’s imposing seat since 1872; in nearby Ogunquit, Harbor Candy Shop makes for a sweet pit stop; upscale Cape Neddick eatery Walkers Maine whets diners’ appetite for its wood-fired fare with a craft cocktail or two.

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W I L D VA L EN T I N E (CA F E)

clockwise from right: Studded with windows all the way up to its signature turrets, Wentworth by the Sea’s facade promises a surfeit of water views; the tidal Piscataqua River brings a wash of blue to the hotel’s sophisticated neutral decor; one-of-a-kind dining options in nearby Portsmouth include Wild Valentine, a flower shop and neighborhood café serving oat bowls, sweet and savory toasts, and seasonal treats like butternut squash soup; colorful decor and gifts inspire browsing at the Portsmouth boutique Nahcotta; Wallis Sands State Park offers a portrait of the Seacoast in winter.

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W I L D VA L EN T I N E (CA F E)

Wentworth by the Sea N E W CASTLE, N H

P H O T O S BY K AT H E R I N E K E E N A N

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s there anything more relaxing than watching flurries seesaw to the ground as you lounge in a steamy outdoor hot tub?

At Wentworth by the Sea, the answer is yes: This snowy scene can be even more soothing if it’s bookended by a visit to the dry sauna and a Swedish massage in the Victorian hotel’s spa. There, you’ll settle onto a heated table that vibrates softly to classical music and is cushy in JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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all the right spots. The extended foot rub? Pure heaven for soles that have been shoved into ski boots for months on end. Sixty minutes later, the technician will draw a cooling jade roller across your forehead and up and down your cheeks to cap off the transportive experience.

Indeed, your whole winter weekend stay at the Wentworth will feel this way—a world apart. Once you cross the bridge over the Piscataqua River, you’re on (New Castle) Island Time. This bit of New Hampshire’s smallest town starts to feel like your special place, just as it’s felt to visitors who return season after season, year after year. There’s no better spot to catch these escapist vibes than in front of the lobby fireplace, where the surrounding couch and chairs are never empty for long.

There could be friends gossiping before lunch, or a child discussing the finer points of Harry Potter with her grandma. (See? Pure magic.)

Of course, this otherworldly feeling owes a lot to the 150-year-old inn’s setting. Set on a grassy hill above Little Harbor, the grand dame is especially pretty at night, with white lights outlining the hotel turrets. For a panorama of boats bobbing in the harbor and darting bufflehead ducks, book a two-bedroom Marina Suite: You’ll have your own personal fireplace kitty-corner to a wall of windows on the first floor, and if you leave the primary bedroom’s bathroom door open, you can even shower with water views.

You’d be forgiven for staying put, braving the elements only to amble up the gravel path to the Wentworth’s main building for a dip in the indoor pool, a negroni in the cozy-chic lounge, or dinner at Salt (look for the seared bluefin tuna atop roasted potatoes and Castelvetrano olives, dotted with arugula puree). But if you’re bundled up and ready for action, it’s just a 10-minute drive to downtown Portsmouth’s shops, breweries, and art scene. You could also spend a sunny afternoon exploring New Castle’s historic sites—just follow the paved path out of the hotel’s parking lot and head east. It’s less than a mile to weatherbeaten Fort Stark; a little farther on 1B is the Great Island Common, a seaside park with views of two lighthouses.

After checkout, you might notice a hot commodity.

The sofa facing the lobby fireplace is open. Sit and feel the Wentworth’s spell drawing you back in—Why would you want to leave this place? Eventually, you’ll have to shoulder your luggage and trudge back to the salt-streaked sidewalks of wherever you live, to real life. But for now: five more minutes. —Courtney Hollands n Nightly rate for typical room option: $399 winter vs. $899 summer. opalcollection.com/wentworth B E YO N D T H E LO B BY: What to eat, see, and do in and around New Castle, p. 110

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Beauport Hotel G LO U C ESTER , MA

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inter afternoons at Beauport Hotel: Floorto-ceiling windows stretch across the lobby, inviting the late-day light to paint the walls in glowing pink and orange and framing the setting sun over Gloucester Harbor. Some days, the display even stops busy employees in their tracks.

Locals say the spectacular sunsets are a by-product of reflections off the area’s granite-rich geography.

But regardless of the cause, the hotel’s southwestern exposure—uncommon among New England oceanfront properties—takes full advantage, with cozy seating areas and a horseshoe-shaped bar and deck just beyond.

A basket full of bright red blankets by the door beckons guests to step outside and grab a seat by the firepit, perhaps with a cup of tea or a cocktail. When it’s stormy, sheltered rocking chairs offer a peaceful spot to watch the snow fall and the sea swell.

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clockwise from top left: Beauport Hotel’s 1606 Restaurant & Oyster Bar invites guests to pull up a chair to a seafood feast; a cozy corner of the oceanfront bar; off the dining area, alfresco seating and a firepit await; the vintage VW van that now serves as the hotel’s highly Instagrammable shuttle, the Beauport Beach Bus; vintage coastal photos complement an oceany palette of sand and water hues; built to evoke a shingle-style “summer cottage,” Beauport sits directly on Gloucester’s Pavilion Beach.

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Beauport is all about gracious relaxation—it was designed to echo classic New England resorts, and it feels as if it’s been there forever. But the property is actually less than 10 years old: It opened in 2016 on the site of the old Birdseye plant, where it stands in luxurious contrast to Gloucester’s working waterfront churning away across the street.

An escape here begins in the grand lobby, where two bars tempt you with craft cocktails or local beer, and perhaps a platter of oysters. Hungry for more? The hotel’s 1606 Restaurant & Oyster Bar, wrapped in water views, offers a menu centered on modern American fare—think locally sourced lobster Benedict for breakfast and an allday menu stretching from falafel to long-bone rib-eye.

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B E YO N D T H E LO B BY: What to eat, see, and do in and around Gloucester, p. 110

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DAV I D H A N S EN/D I S C OV ER N E W P O RT

After a stop at the city’s iconic Fisherman’s Memorial, exploring Gloucester might include (clockwise from top left) sitting down to refined Italian cooking at Tonno; surveying the local art scene at the Salted Cod Arthouse; and loading up on Caffè Sicilia’s biscotti, cookies, and cannoli for the trip home.

daily housekeeping, Beauport provides daily cleaning and evening turndown service, with slippers placed by each bed and locally made chocolates left on each pillow. Of course, there’s room service and fluffy bathrobes, too, in accommodations done up in yacht-club chic and decorated with historic photos from the collection of the nearby Cape Ann Museum.

Request a water view and a fireplace. If it’s available, ask for Room 326: This corner room has windows on two sides to bring in the ocean views and a balcony where you can ponder the odd structure standing just offshore (it’s a greasy pole platform, the scene of a spirited competition during St. Peter’s Fiesta every summer).

In winter, the price of such luxury can plunge by as much as 75 percent, but the amenities all remain—right down to complimentary jaunts in the property’s hippiechic vintage Volkswagen van or elegant Cadillac SUV. Not surprisingly, rides are a lot easier to come by in winter, and if staff aren’t too busy they’re happy to take guests on a tour of Gloucester, pointing out Good Harbor Beach and the massive mansions of Bass Rocks.

To simply explore downtown, though, there’s no need to get a ride. The shops and restaurants of Main Street are a five-minute walk from the hotel, and most are open year-round. But don’t worry: If the chill is too sharp, or your purchases too heavy, someone will drive you back in time for sunset. —Jeanne O’Brien Coffey n Nightly rate for typical room option: $269 winter vs. $495 summer. beauporthotel.com

DAV I D H A N S EN/D I S C OV ER N E W P O RT

Newport’s famed Cliff Walk teems with crowds in summer, but in winter you might have this New England bucket-list destination all to yourself.

The Chanler at Cliff Walk N E WP O RT, RI

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ome hotels are little more than a base camp: You check in, drop off your luggage, and you’re out the door. Then there are places like The Chanler at Cliff Walk, where you could completely confine yourself for the weekend and still feel as if you got away.

The in-house restaurant might just be the best in town, while the guest quarters are spacious and steeped in lavish touches fit for a Vanderbilt (e.g., a “bath butler” who will draw the water for you and your loved one and complement the experience with rose petals, candles, and champagne).

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of luxury elements that warm the soul on cold winter nights: private fireplaces, heated bathroom floors, whirlpool tubs for two. Stay in the Renaissance Room, for one, and you’ll immerse yourself in a large Italian-andFrench-inspired space anchored by a four-poster king bed, an enormous walk-in shower, and more living space than some apartments.

But the little things also matter, and to stay at The Chanler is to be awash in personal touches that make you feel taken care of. You’ll come to look forward to the small box of “bedtime chocolates” left on your pillow, and you’ll marvel at how the housekeeping service discreetly tidied up your dangling computer and phone cords with Velcro ties. All this can make returning to The Chanler from your Newport adventures—like strolling to those other mansions on the Cliff Walk—so much the sweeter. —Ian Aldrich n Nightly rate for typical room option: $475 winter vs. $1,025 summer. thechanler.com B E YO N D T H E LO B BY: What to eat, see, and do in and around Newport, p. 111

T H E C H A N L E R AT C L I F F WA L K ( I N N ); C O R E Y FAV I N O/ D I S C O V E R N E W P O R T ( W H A R F )

offers the kind of opulence most of us rarely know.

Like the Newport mansions themselves, The Chanler traces its history back to the Gilded Age. Built in 1873 as a home for a prominent New York congressman and his wife, a member of the Astor family, it once welcomed such summer guests as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and President Theodore Roosevelt. After falling out of the family’s hands and undergoing a few different iterations, the property opened as a hotel in the 1940s, and since extensive renovations were completed by new owners in 2003, it has stood out as one of Newport’s most polished stays.

The Chanler is situated at the starting point of the Cliff Walk (it’s the only hotel on the city’s famous pathway), and everything about it is oriented toward the sea. The building sits on a perch above the water, and nearly all of its 20 rooms and villas offer ocean views … from a king-size bed … from a private deck … from a bathtub. There’s even the opportunity to sit by an outdoor fire and sip a hot toddy or mug of boozy hot chocolate as you watch the waves roll in on nearby Easton’s Beach.

Bestowed with names such as Louis XVI, English Tudor, and Regency, the guest rooms have the kinds

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clockwise from above: A gourmet

winter warm-up from The Chanler Hot Chocolate Bar; post-Revolutionary elegance in the Williamsburg Room; the hotel’s awardwinning restaurant, Cara; The Chanler’s Gilded Age grandeur set against the backdrop of Easton Bay; Bowen’s Wharf, an anchor of the local shopping and dining scene.

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Water’s Edge Resort & Spa

T

here’s a different slosh to Long Island Sound in the wintertime. It’s weightier. More resonant. A cello to summer’s violin. Checking into Water’s Edge places you in a front-row orchestra seat: a rarity on the Connecticut shore, where few lodging properties have direct waterfront access … and acoustics.

The private beach here is minimal, yet it’s a canvas long and wide enough for couples to etch their initials into the gluey sand or, better yet, a fresh sprinkling of snow. The resort’s varied accommodations attract all ages, but it’s the newly engaged—giddily anticipating their summer beach weddings—who provide an undercurrent of joy and hope that feels contagious. It warms winter days in tandem with the lobby’s wood-guzzling fireplace and a vibrant slate of culinary offerings and entertainment. Water’s Edge makes Westbrook feel like a major destination, not a smallish coastal town.

You’ll appreciate the on-property hubbub all the more if you venture out to Hammonasset Beach, dressed snugly and armed with a steamy latte from the resort’s Cappuccio Caffé. The state park, a 15-minute drive west in Madison, charges no fees this time of year. Mornings are often fogbanked, ghostly: These two miles of white sand are devoid of all but a few hardy human souls (except in those rare years when a snowy owl sighting lures observers). It seems

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almost unfathomable that on peak summer days, the beach can get so crowded that cars are turned away. In the heat, it’s a scavenger hunt to find seashells. Now, they’re piled in broad, thick brushstrokes, picked clean by wintering shorebirds.

Your own hunger may be what propels you back to Water’s Edge. The stone-fireplaced Seaview Bistro serves comfort food all day. Dattilo Fine Italian restaurant is open for three meals daily, too, and the main dining room’s high wall of windows makes this Connecticut’s most dramatic spot for savoring pasta, steaks, or seafood with a water view.

Sunday brunch is a spectacle of interactive chef stations, with cocktail shrimp heaped around an ice carving, and chafing dish upon chafing dish of tantalizing fare. It will faze no one if you drizzle warmed maple syrup on it all.

Or perhaps it’s a spa appointment that beckons. When you’re paying a fraction of peak summertime rates for accommodations, the urge to splurge is real. So close your eyes and be transported to the tropics as the spa’s Coconut NEWENGLAND.COM

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WAT E R ’ S E D G E R E S O R T & S PA ( R E S O R T ); C O N N EC T I C U T O F F I C E O F TO U R I S M ( B I S T R O)

WESTB RO O K , CT

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Island Body Polish treatment erases winter’s roughness and leaves you feeling renewed. Allow extra time for a sauna and steam or for staring into the relaxation room’s glass fireplace—it’s mesmerizing in a far healthier way than a smartphone screen.

In a season when darkness creeps into too many hours, nightlife is the resort’s calling card. It may not be of quite the caliber that Bill Hahn attracted when he turned a private seaside estate into this vacation destination in 1941: Imagine Barbra Streisand, at the tender age of 20, singing for guests here in 1962. But Friday “Comedy at the Edge” nights are just the ab workout you need if you’ve been more potato than pro athlete lately. And every lowseason Saturday night brings a different tribute band to the ballroom stage. Your ticket includes an expansive buffet and costs far less than seeing the actual Eagles or Billy Joel. Or time-traveling to hear Tom Petty’s edgy voice or to cheer Elvis’s swivelly hips. —Kim Knox Beckius n Nightly rate for typical room option: $189 winter vs. $430 summer. watersedgeresortandspa.com B E YO N D T H E LO B BY: What to eat, see, and do in and around Westbrook, p. 111

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opposite, from top: A serene Long Island Sound vista at Water’s Edge; the entrance to the resort’s spa ushers guests into an oasis of pampering. this page, from top: Looking down the Water’s Edge property toward its Oceanfront Villas; among the foodie field trips to consider here is the Chamard Vineyards Bistro, located 15 minutes away in Clinton.

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Author Alexandra Pecci, photographed at the John Ward House in Salem, Massachusetts.

Now owned by the Peabody Essex Museum, the house once stood opposite the jail used during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692–1693.

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My

Ancestor was a

Salem Witch •

When your lineage intertwines with New England’s most infamous era, feelings about family can get tangled.

By Alexandra Pecci portrait by Frances f. denny

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At first, the woman seemed excited

to talk to me. But that changed when I uttered a single word.

Witch.

It had barely left my lips when her expression darkened.

“I wish they would take the witch part out,” she said.

We were discussing our shared ancestor, Mary Bradbury, who in 1692 was accused of witchcraft and consorting with the devil during the Salem Witch Trials. Mary was found guilty, convicted, and sentenced to the gallows, but somehow she escaped prison before meeting the hangman.

The “somehow” remains an unanswered question, but the prevailing theory is that her family bribed the jailer. Apparently, greased palms were more powerful than Satan, even in 1692. However it happened, though, Mary was the only convicted “witch” who escaped.

It’s a story that fascinates me. But the woman I was talking to didn’t share my feelings.

This was early last June. We were gathered for a memorial service for Mary and her husband, Captain Thomas Bradbury, two people who had been dead for more than three centuries. Another of Mary’s descendants, Rae BradburyEnslin of New Hampshire, had raised money to commission two hand-carved headstones for Mary and Thomas. The headstones had been installed a few days earlier at the Salisbury Colonial Burying Ground in Salisbury, Massachusetts, where historians believe the couple are buried.

The woman and I were among several dozen people— many of us Bradbury descendants—gathered on the rainy lawn at the Salisbury Historical Society to dedicate the stones. She was chatty and friendly, asking if I was also a descendant. Yes, I told her.

“Which line?” she asked.

“Um, Judith,” I said, racking my brain for the name of Mary and Thomas’s eldest daughter, which to my relief I’d double-checked that morning. I felt like I was being quizzed about my Bradbury family bona fides.

The woman’s tone changed when I said Mary interested me because of the witch trials.

She vehemently defended Mary against the witchcraft accusations. Mary was a good Christian woman! She endured the ocean voyage from England to America! She worked hard! Raised a family! Became, along with her husband, one of Salisbury’s most respected and prominent citizens!

I listened, nodding. Of course, she was right. Mary Perkins Bradbury of Salisbury, Massachusetts, was not a witch.

She was not baptized by the serpent in a river. She did not appear as a blue boar to trip up a rider on horseback. Her disembodied spirit did not torment a man on his deathbed.

She did not wield her evil powers to turn butter rancid.

But she was convicted of witchcraft in one of the most infamous events in New England history, one we’re still obsessed with. The Salem Witch Trials are why Mary is remembered today. It’s impossible to separate the two.

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TOP: A detail of a July 22, 1692, petition in support of Pecci’s ancestor, Mary Bradbury, a 77-year-old grandmother who was accused and eventually convicted of practicing witchcraft. ABOVE: Historian Richard Trask talks to a visiting school group in 1971 at the Salem Village Parsonage site, which had been discovered and excavated the year before. OPPOSITE: A powerful highlight of the Peabody Essex Museum’s Salem Witch Trials collection, the 1855 painting Trial of George Jacobs, August 5, 1692 by Tompkins Harrison Matteson shows the elderly Jacobs —accused by his own granddaughter—at lower right, pleading with the judges. He was eventually convicted and executed.

I remained quiet, and in truth I understood the woman’s distress. Despite all the time that’s passed, the wound of the witch trials remains open for many. Some resent the false accusations against their ancestors. Others dislike the Hocus Pocus commercialism of a tragedy. A few Salem attractions even spread a false history of the accused NEWENGLAND.COM

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C O U R T E S Y O F R I C H A R D T R A S K ( E X C A V AT I O N ) ; C O U R T O F O Y E R A N D T E R M I N E R , S A L E M W I T C H T R I A L S P A P E R S , P E T I T I O N I N S U P P O R T O F M A R Y B R A D B U R Y, J U LY 2 2 , 1 6 9 2, J U - S J C / O AT/ S E R I E S 0 0 3 , M A S S A C H U S E T T S S U P R E M E J U D I C I A L C O U R T A R C H I V E S , M A S S A C H U S E T T S A R C H I V E S , B O S T O N , M A ( D O C U M E N T ) ; T R I A L O F G E O R G E J A C O B S , A U G U S T 5 , 1 6 9 2 B Y T O M P K I N S H A R R I S O N M AT T E S O N , G I F T O F R .W. R O P E S , C O U R T E S Y O F P E A B O D Y E S S E X M U S E U M , P H O T O B Y M A R K S E X T O N A N D J E F F R E Y R . D Y K E S / P E M ( P A I N T I N G )

women being misunderstood folk witches or healers. “In fact, they were Christian,” historian Richard Trask told me, and would have been “completely taken aback” by the idea that anyone would say they were practicing witches.

The shame of witchcraft, it seems, is nearly impossible to shake, even across the centuries. Traces of that shame lingered within my own family, too. I’d written about the Salem Witch Trials for years before I learned I was descended from anyone involved. My mother found out while she was researching my father’s family history.

I was stunned. But apparently my father’s mother had known all along.

“Gram!” I said. “Did you know about this?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“I didn’t like to talk about that.”

My grandmother died several years ago, but I recently asked her sister why she might have kept such a thing a secret.

“Your dear grandmother,” my great-aunt wrote me on Facebook, “did not want it to be known and said it was not true.”

My grandmother certainly wasn’t alone in wanting to keep her connection to the witch hysteria quiet. Until relatively recently, the Massachusetts town of Danvers, Salem’s neighbor, wasn’t too keen on its role in the history, either.

It was in Danvers, not Salem, where the accusations of “witch” were first hurled in 1692. Danvers was known as JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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Salem Village then, and it’s where the first two “afflicted” girls—Betty, age 9, and her cousin, Abigail, age 11—were overcome by unexplained fits and visions. They thrashed and cried in pain, writhed in their beds, and screamed about being pinched and bitten by invisible specters. Even more disturbing, it happened in the very house where God should have a mighty hold: the parsonage where Reverend Samuel Parris, Salem Village’s minister, lived. Betty was his daughter, and Abigail his niece. Frantic doctors and clergy said the source of the girls’ affliction was clear. “Who torments you?” they asked, pressing the girls to identify the witches hiding in their midst.

It didn’t take long for the girls to name their spectral abusers. They accused an enslaved woman, Tituba, and two other townspeople, Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good.

But that was only the beginning. Within weeks, the hysteria spread throughout Essex County and beyond, and over the course of the next year, more than 150 people were accused, including Mary Bradbury. But that first wicked spark of witchcraft ignited in Danvers, where it became a black mark in the town’s history.

Richard Trask is now the town’s archivist, but when he was a young boy growing up in Danvers, its role in the story wasn’t discussed, and for good reason. Nineteen innocent people were hanged and one man was pressed to death after the county sheriff piled stones upon his chest for days, | 73

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The Puritan view of witchcraft was

very different from our modern one. Witchcraft in 1692 had little to do with crystals and herbs and everything to do with the devil. Satan was a real presence in daily life, lurking at the rough edges of temptation, hungry to test the faithful and entice people away from God. I saw this firsthand last March when I visited the Massachusetts Judicial Archives in Boston, home to hundreds of original handwritten documents from the Salem Witch Trials, including accusations, pleas, depositions, indictments, and even a death warrant for Bridget Bishop, the first person executed during the trials.

“Back then, they had a strong preference for written testimony,” explained judicial archivist Christopher Carter.

“Thankfully, that means we have a lot of the depositions or witness testimony in written form.”

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I suppose I am what Mary Bradbury and her contemporaries would have considered a witch.

And perhaps they would have hanged me for it.

• space between 65 and 68 degrees and at 40 percent relative humidity to preserve the centuries-old paper and leather.

Carter had pulled every court document related to Mary Bradbury. In them, her accusers make fantastical accusations against her, and Mary herself pleads her innocence.

There’s even a petition from dozens of her Salisbury neighbors attesting to her “courteous and peaceable disposition and carriage.”

But there was one document that I wouldn’t be able to shake from my mind, even months after my visit. It was the testimony of Mercy Lewis, who had confessed to witchcraft perhaps in the hope of saving herself from hanging. In it, she named others who were also in league with the devil.

“Mrs. Bradbury, Goody Howe, and Goody Nurse baptized by the serpent at Newbury Falls, and that he dipped their heads in the water, and there saw they were his and had power over them,” Carter read out loud, tracing the words with his finger as he parsed the archaic handwriting, and I shivered in the chilled room.

I stared at the piece of paper, trying to grasp the historical enormity of it. It was in remarkably good shape, with only a few ragged tears along the sides. The penmanship was crisp and clear, dark upon the page in brown ink. I touched it with a single finger, this physical link between me and Mary.

C O U R T E S Y O F A L E X A N D R A P E C C I ( G R A V E S T O N E ) ; F R A N C E S F. D E N N Y ( P O R T R A I T )

trying to elicit a confession. Five more people died in the putrid jails, including Sarah Good’s infant daughter, Mercy, whose mother was executed.

“Back in Danvers [in the] ’50s and ’60s, in polite society, you just didn’t talk about it,” Trask told me. “It was one of those subjects that was looked upon as being not appropriate, sad. Mistakes had been made, and bad things happened to good people. It just was not a subject that most people were really talking about.”

Eventually, Trask—himself a descendent of several victims—became one of the people who helped Danvers accept and embrace its connection to the shameful history.

In 1970, he led an archaeology team that rediscovered and excavated the site of the Salem Village Parsonage, where the witch hysteria began. “I always tend to think that with our excavation, witchcraft became not quite as taboo a subject in Danvers,” he said.

Today, things have changed even more. “People love to find out that they’re related to one of the witchcraft victims,” he said. I understood—I did, too. Still, I wondered whether Mary would be horrified that witchcraft is the reason her name is still on people’s lips all these years after her death, in 1700. And I wondered whether Mary would be horrified by me, too.

I have the phases of the moon tattooed on my wrist.

Our home is filled with crystals, herbs, tarot cards, feathers, homemade potions, botany books, and candles. I keep pyrite on my desk for luck and black kyanite (aka “witches broom”) in my purse for protection. Instead of church, I attend full-moon circles and solstice celebrations.

I suppose I am what Mary Bradbury and her contemporaries would have considered a witch. And perhaps they would have hanged me for it.

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left: Folk Magic founder Žhana Levitsky, a Massachusetts-based coach and mentor in witchcraft studies who works to help reclaim the image of witches from negative historical stereotypes. opposite: Mary Bradbury’s headstone, installed last summer alongside her husband’s at the Salisbury Colonial Burying Ground.

A few months later, once the biting

cold of winter had passed, I drove to Newbury Falls and stood on a bridge at the crook of a winding road, staring into the rushing water. Newbury Falls is on the Parker River in Byfield, Massachusetts. It’s a spot that had been used for industry—as a sawmill, gristmill, snuff and chocolate mill, textile mill—since at least 1636. A dead fish, an alewife, maybe, was wedged between the rocks at the river’s edge, and I thought I could smell it, rotten on the air.

Mary was a devout Christian, a beloved neighbor, mother, and grandmother who was in her late 70s when she faced the gallows. She wasn’t baptized by Satan in these waters. It was a lie so terrible that her children were eventually awarded financial reparations. Yet, I tried to imagine what people believed Mercy had witnessed. I erased the houses, the paved roads, the power lines, and even the sun.

There was only the light of the moon, the menacing dark wilderness, the churning river, and Satan himself, rising up from the water in the form of a black serpent. I stood on that bridge for a long time, unsure, exactly, what I was looking for. Whatever it was, I didn’t find it.

Several weeks later, I closed my eyes during a full-moon circle led by Žhana Levitsky, founder of a coaching and teaching enterprise called Folk Magic and a self-professed traditional witch. It was a beautiful ceremony, calming and JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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introspective. But when Levitsky implored us to “call on our ancestors,” my thoughts went straight to Mary, and I quickly backed away, as though I couldn’t shake that deeply imprinted family shame of witchcraft.

I called Levitsky later to ask: What if my ancestor doesn’t want to be called upon?

Levitsky refers to herself as “an animist and educator.”

An animist believes that everything—objects, places, living things—possess a spiritual essence. That’s fitting for Salem, which still bears the deep psychic wounds of its past, even as it’s become both tourist attraction and yearround Halloween party.

“When a place of great injustice and violence is so clearly marked upon the map,” Levitsky said, “it’s inevitable that people want to come and heal that wound, that witches want to come and heal that wound.” Where Salem could have been “a hokey tourist destination that celebrates gore and violence with kitsch,” she said, instead it’s a “safe haven to ensure that the sins of history are not repeated again and again.”

She’s right. The Salem Witch Trials are the reason Salem has intentionally welcomed marginalized people of all kinds, from the LGBTQ+ community to refugees, and to witches themselves. In calling our ancestors, Levitsky said, we’re asking those “who lived and died in good ways to show us how we can become good ancestors in our turn.”

Despite—or, more accurately, because of—its history and pain, Salem itself has become a good ancestor.

I thought about Mary’s new headstone, upon which Rae Bradbury-Enslin inscribed the words “wholly innocent.”

Those words were Mary’s own, written in her plea against the witchcraft charges. They’re also inscribed on the ground at the Salem Witch Trials Memorial.

I texted Rae to ask her why she had chosen those particular words.

“I tried very hard not to make these stones about the trials. That wasn’t their point,” she replied. “But the fact of the matter is that it was a huge part of how Mary’s descendants remember her. I thought it was appropriate to use that for her quote, because it was also the overarching truth about her.”

Mary, by all accounts, lived and died in good ways. And for that reason, we cannot remove “the witch part” from her legacy. It was terrible, yes. But it also revealed her character—her neighborliness, her steadfast beliefs—and lodged it in our memories forever. For that, as her greatgranddaughter many times over, I’m grateful. And perhaps, if I’m lucky, I can live and die in good ways, too. | 75

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VA N I S H I N G

In focusing on things that have been buffeted by time and tide, Vermont photographer Jim Westphalen asks viewers to see what is around them with new eyes.

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B E A U T Y

UPON ENTERING THE PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO of Jim Westphalen, which sits down a country lane just off busy Route 7 in Shelburne, Vermont, I stopped. A photo titled Ocean Outcrop 2 held me like few images I have seen. And I have seen many. This image from Reid State Park in Georgetown, Maine, occupied much of the wall, and I felt as if I were standing right there, on the sea-slick rocks. That is not an unusual response to a Westphalen photo. There is no glass on the frame. Nothing between the eye and the image. “I want people to sink into the picture,” he says.

I visited Westphalen just a few months after he put the finishing touches on his first documentary film, Vanish: Disappearing Icons of a Rural America. Four years in the making, it follows his passion to create art from the forgotten and mostly unseen structures that once filled the lives of people in a different era: farmhouses, barns,

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Ocean Outcrop 2 Weather, land, and sea flow into one another in this image from Maine’s Reid State Park, a photographer’s dream location encompassing nearly 800 acres of diverse topography: sand dunes, sandy beaches, rocky tidal pools, salt marshes, and tidal lagoons.

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churches, silos, schoolhouses, railroad cars. They are relics he has cherished for decades, searching them out wherever he is—on the coast, in rural New England, out in Western prairies. In the film, we see him peering through the large-format view camera he has carried for 35 years, hands numb from cold and snow; stepping cautiously inside abandoned buildings; being buffeted by windstorms. He will wait for hours until light and shadow converge at just the right moment. He wants to stop time. To let others see what he does: that decay is both poignant and beautiful.

After years as a successful commercial photographer, first in New York and then in Vermont, where he’s lived since the mid-1990s, Westphalen today is a fixture in prominent fine art galleries. Collectors find his work there; others see it on Instagram or in his book, or hear about it via word of mouth, and then seek out his lightfilled studio, where they may spend several hours. It is new territory for him. And a prominence he did not chase.

He traces his life today to something he saw in 1996 near Poultney, Vermont. “I had just moved to Vermont, and I saw this old house that was being slowly covered by vines of wild cucumber. I remember being so excited, seeing the textures of the old barnboard, the glass-less windows, the drop shadows, the rusted roof. The feeling it was all being reclaimed by nature. I was like, Oh wow.”

Whenever he could steal time from his work shooting

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for resorts and magazines and architecture firms, he’d roam Vermont, stopping whenever he found a structure that seemed it was just holding on, fighting for another year, even if nobody else cared. “Over time, as I processed these images,” he says, “I saw I have a body of work. Some people told me it was too sad, that nobody would get it. But I kept shooting.”

In the fall of 2014, an exhibit in Burlington of what he called his “Vanish” work showed Westphalen he had tapped into something, a longing to know what was being lost. “I was nervous,” he says. “Will anybody care about these? [But] I saw from their reaction it was not just me. I realized I can make art. I can sell art from these images.”

A coffee table book called Vanish followed, and now the film. “My stuff is not nostalgia,” he says. “I see it as a respite from the craziness of the world. When I go out there, my cameras set up, whether on the coast or in a rural landscape, I get in that space. Just this calming thing.”

He is soon to be 65. “My wife reminds me the clock is ticking. But I feel I am just getting started. I’ll always have a passion for the disappearing.”

“Always?” I ask.

“Forever,” he replies. —Mel Allen To see a wider portfolio of Jim Westphalen’s work and to find out how to watch Vanish, go to jimwestphalenfineart.com.

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 Brook Road Farmstead Part of Westphalen’s “Somewhere in America” portfolio, this scene was captured in Chelsea, Vermont, a town that defines timelessness: While most places on the National Register of Historic Places are single buildings or memorials, Chelsea’s entire local historical district, including nearly all of the central village, was officially entered into the register in 1983.  Stonington Ark 1 Used years ago as a lifeboat by the Maine Maritime Academy, this craft now serves as a bait boat for local lobstermen in Stonington Harbor, Maine. The weathered vessel seems to evoke a line from the introduction to Westphalen’s “Vanish” portfolio, describing subjects that “will eventually succumb and fold into the soil on which they were built, taking their stories with them.”

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The Clearing Storm A hay barn in Orwell, Vermont, sits under a sky churning with clouds and sunlight. Westphalen may visit a location half a dozen times before photographing it, watches the weather closely for the right conditions for the shoot, and even logs the best times of day to get certain lights and shadows. “I’m intentional about it—it’s not just like, ah, I’ll grab my camera and go out today,” he says.

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The Fishing Shacks Located at Fisherman’s Point in South Portland, Maine, these three lonely shacks are all that remain of the original wharf that was constructed by Scottish and Irish settlers who arrived here in 1718. With interior timbers dating back more than 200 years, these shacks predate the city itself. Local volunteers have taken on the continuous process of maintaining the historically significant buildings, which were repaired and repainted in 2023.

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Box Car 8319 An old refrigerated boxcar in Machias, Maine, inspired one of Westphalen’s rare midday photos. While early morning and late afternoon are usually the sweet spots for lighting, here he wanted hard, raking sunlight to bring out the contrast between the boxcar’s rusty patina and the lush grass below, and to spotlight structural details on the car itself. “You can even see drop shadows on all the individual rivets,” he says.

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 Top: Salisbury Barn 2 Along with the other two photos on this spread, Salisbury Barn 2 typifies the “beauty in decay” feeling of Westphalen’s “Vanish” portfolio. A mixture of 18th- and 19th-century construction, this barn in Salisbury, Vermont, was used right up to the 1990s, mostly for storage, but now sits abandoned, surrounded by a working dairy farm.  Bottom: Prairie Sentinels Having photographed vanishing icons in the New England landscape, Westphalen also wanted to show how it was happening around the country. “I needed to find a place that was, in a landscape way, the antithesis of Vermont and New England. A place with ‘big sky,’” he says.

Traveling out West, he discovered these old grain elevators in Rapelje, Montana—time-worn, but still standing tall in their rural community.  Ormsbee Barnside 1 Built in 1866, this barn belongs to the Ormsbee family, who first settled in East Montpelier, Vermont, in 1803 and still farm there today.

One reason Westphalen decided to make the Vanish documentary was to highlight some of the people who worked and lived in the landscapes he photographs. “It’s their stories that give so much more depth to what I do,” he says.

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NEW DAY FOR AN OLD STORE

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Snapshots from the Etna Country Store in Etna, New Hampshire, which was reopened in 2022 by Tyler and Kayla Dickinson after two years of renovations. Tyler (far left) worked in wholesale plumbing and heating before taking the plunge into storekeeping with his wife. Today their kids can often be seen around the store—including their eldest, Ainsley (left, in orange crocs), shown lending a hand to summer employee Riley McGuire.

A village store is often the heart of a small community. It takes commitment and a special love to keep it alive.

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if opposite: Tyler and Kayla Dickinson outside the Etna Country Store. In a landscape increasingly crowded with big-box retailers and dollar stores, the couple is working to keep alive the centuriesold tradition of the New England village store.

you drive east out of Hanover, New Hampshire, following the twists and turns of Greensboro Road as it unfurls across a landscape of soft-domed hills and well-maintained country homes, many of them separated from the road by stone walls representing generations of earthbound toil, you’ll soon find yourself in the village of Etna, where the population is 770, 814, 870, or 962, depending on which source you’re inclined to believe. The town stretches itself along the banks of Mink Brook, and its center is ill-defined, though if one were pressed to define it, one could do worse than to mark the very spot where I park my car on a Friday morning in early June.

Above me, daylight rushes to fill the sky; below me, down a steep bank, the steel-colored waters of Mink Brook rush to join those of the Connecticut River; before me, through the front door of the establishment I’ve come to visit, Tyler Dickinson rushes to prepare for the opening of the Etna Country Store. It’s 5:48 a.m., and already he’s been working for nearly two hours, tidying up, making coffee ready for the store’s 6 a.m. opening. Tyler is 40 years old; he was born and raised in Etna, where nearly three decades ago he could have been found in precisely the same spot, at the tender age of 14, working his first job at the same village store he would someday own with his wife, Kayla.

But that was then and this is now, and it’s four minutes to 6. The warming station is loaded with Tyler’s popular chorizo breakfast sandwiches wrapped in foil. The coffee dispensers are full, and the machine is gurgling its way to a replacement pot. There are eight more minutes’ worth of daylight warming the

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sky, and down the steep bank behind the store, the Mink is still churning along, having deposited eight more minutes’ worth of water into the Connecticut. A truck pulls up to the front of the store, and a young man disembarks. Tyler situates himself behind the register. He looks relaxed. He is smiling. He greets the man.

There are 11 hours and two minutes to go before closing time, and his first sale of the day will be a $2 cup of coffee.

When I was young, we lived exactly one mile up a steep gravel road from a small village store that was attached to the post office where we received our mail. The store was (and still is, for that matter) called the Maple Corner Store, and at the time it was owned and operated by a family that seemed old to me then but would probably seem young to me now. I remember that the man’s name was Orville, likely because Orville is a memorable name, and I remember that he struck me as gentle and shy, although that could also be because I was rather gentle and shy myself, and therefore didn’t give him much to work with.

The Corner Store (as we called it) was a popular destination for me and my friend Trevor.

Both of us belonged to households where sugary treats made infrequent appearances, so the store, which was well stocked with all the treats a sugar-deprived boy could want, shone like a beacon to us. This was back in the day when the term “penny candy” actually meant candy that could be purchased for a penny per piece, which meant that a small (or not-so-small) bag of Tootsie Rolls, Root Beer Barrels, Bit-OHoneys, Everlasting Gobstoppers, and Atomic NEWENGLAND.COM

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Tyler and Kayla were keenly aware that they were doing something audacious in reopening a village store in the very location that had seen numerous others attempt to do the same.

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Fireballs was almost always within our means. We’d speed down the long hill toward the store, pockets full of loose change and heads full of what we could buy, then push our bikes back home, pausing every so often to root around in our newly acquired bag of goodies.

Growing up, I never thought much about the Corner Store’s foundational role in my life, despite the frequency of my visits. It was always just there, offering its bounty to all—gallons of milk, emergency rolls of toilet paper, daily mail—as steadily and reliably as the rising sun. I had no particular appreciation for the store; it felt unremarkable in the way that so many things that actually are pretty remarkable can come to feel once the curse of familiarity settles in.

What I didn’t know then—what nobody knew, really, in that innocent, pre-Amazon era—is just how precarious that familiarity was. A formal diagnostic report on New England’s country/village/general store industry (the qualifier depends mostly on regional and even individual preferences; I’ve chosen to use “village” throughout this story) is hard to come by, but it’s telling that in Vermont alone, the number of “country stores, general stores, and village stores” dropped from 245 in 2009 to 180 in 2019, a decline of more than 25 percent in just 10 years. This is not likely to surprise anyone with Internet access and an Amazon Prime account; after all, who among us can resist the siren call of one-click shopping and unlimited free shipping for only $139 annually, including access to more streaming entertainment than you could likely squeeze into a year’s worth of waking hours?

Yet over the past half decade or so, I began to notice a curious shift, as numerous village stores underwent revitalization. Some were being reopened after having been shuttered for years; others were finding new owners, many of them young and ambitious, and eager to make their mark. This trend first caught my attention when the very store whose penny-candy jars I pillaged as a child went up for sale, and, after some initial struggling to find a buyer, was ultimately purchased by a 90 |

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COUNTRY STORES REBORN Harrisville (NH) General Store: Set in the heart of a historic mill village just steps from a lovely pond, this store was rescued by the nonprofit Historic Harrisville in 2008 and has kept its original 19th-century look and feel. historicharrisville.org/ general-store Mont Vernon (NH) General Store: After closing in 2011, Mont Vernon’s gathering place since 1840 was brought back to life by new owners Dan Bellemore and Mike Wallenius, with the help of tasty specialties like bacon-cheese potato salad. montvernongeneralstore.com Putney (VT) General Store: Fires in 2008 and 2009 seemed to signal the demise of a local institution dating to 1796. But the community raised funds to rebuild and sustain it, and today owners Mike and Kim Cosco oversee the store with its deli, bakery, and gift shop. putneygeneralstore.com Owl’s Head (ME) General Store: Closing in 2017 also meant the demise of the store’s famous “Seven-Napkin Burger,” touted by the Food Network as the state’s best. When Maya Newson bought it a few years later, the burger— along with its fans—returned. owlsheadgeneralstore.com The Country Store (Petersham, MA): The East Quabbin Land Trust rode to the rescue with funding to reopen the 1840 Country Store in 2014, two years after it closed. After nearly a decade in the hands of Ari and Jeanneane Pugliese, it’s now owned by longtime employee Josie Telepciak and features, among other things, “cinnamon buns the size of your head.” petershamstore.com

group of 200 community shareholders.

There were others: Davoll’s General Store in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, which at 231 years old is one of the oldest general stores in the U.S., was purchased in 2021 and renovated by two brothers who had frequented the store as children. Not far from my home in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, the long-vacant Albany General Store was recently purchased by a community trust and placed under the management of the same three young women who had successfully revitalized the Crafts-

bury General Store (known locally as “The Genny”) only a few miles down the road. Clearly, there were at least a few people ready to place their stake in their local community.

Including, of course, Tyler and Kayla Dickinson, who in 2020 f led their relatively lucrative corporate jobs (plumbing and heating wholesale for Tyler, bank management for Kayla) so that they could refurbish, restock, and reopen the Etna Country Store. At the time, the building sat dormant and was owned by Tyler’s father, Rick, who’d purchased it in 1986 during another period of dormancy. Back then, Etna— which is officially a hamlet of nearby Hanover—was considered a bit of a hardscrabble community, the town you lived in if you couldn’t afford to live in Hanover, or if you’d been born in Etna and hadn’t really figured out how to leave. That reputation had slowly been fading over the intervening decades, and then disappeared altogether in a single, pandemic-induced whoosh, when suddenly half of New York and Boston’s populations seemingly got a hankering to move to the country.

Indeed, the modest house across the road from the store recently sold for $950,000, a sum that would have been unheard of in Etna only a few years ago.

For Tyler, the opening of the store on July 28, 2022, was the realization of a long-held dream. “Ever since I’ve known Tyler, we’d drive by and he’d say, ‘I would love to make that happen,’” Kayla tells me. For her, it was a path out of banking and a way to become more connected to the community she lives in and loves, as well as to her own memories of how a village store can shape a person’s life. She’d grown up in Brownsville, Vermont, where she’d stop at the Brownsville General Store every day after school for a Popsicle. “I loved growing up there, and the store was part of what I loved.”

Of course, love alone won’t pay the bills, and Tyler and Kayla were keenly aware that they were doing something audacious in reopening a village store in a community of fewer than 1,000 residents situated only a handful of miles from Hanover, where, at the NEWENGLAND.COM

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long-established co-op grocery, one can wander well-lit aisles stocked with all the food items any Etna resident might reasonably desire, and probably a few more besides. What’s more, they were doing so while raising a family in the midst of a global pandemic (they now have three children, Ainsley, 8, Nora, 2, and Brooks, 1). And they were opening a village store in the very location that had seen numerous others attempt to do the same and, in many cases, fail.

So perhaps it wouldn’t be love alone that allowed the Dickinsons to succeed.

Nor would it be an existing model of success that they could simply replicate, since that didn’t seem to exist. What, then, could they rely on to help ensure the viability of their new venture? It’s simple, really: The Dickinsons were prepared to work harder than anyone who’d come before. “Our family is just stupid about working,” Tyler tells me, with the hint of a grin on his face. “My father grew up very poor and constantly working, and I grew up seeing that it was totally normal to always be working. And it’s never worn off.”

Here is a partial list of the items you can buy at the Etna Country Store: cat litter, Aqua Net hairspray, diapers, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Lawry’s Lemon Pepper Marinade, dried dill, PopZup popcorn, a dust pan, candles with a scent known as “Welcome to the Shit Show,” and, of course, the gallon of milk you forgot to pick up at the grocery store in town. You can also buy Cool Whip, Boston cream doughnuts, and toilet paper. You might decide on the Maple Combo sandwich (in fact, I recommend it) and a bag of Wrap City potato chips, which are made less than 90 miles away and are likely to ruin your taste for more pedestrian offerings. You can buy a lot of beer and wine; Tyler and Kayla soon realized that beer and wine were hot sellers, so they have continually expanded their offerings and begun to host regular tasting events. “When people get into the wine section, that’s when we start smiling,” Tyler says. “Because you have to sell a lot of gum and iced tea to pay the bills.”

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challenge facing the Dickinsons and, presumably, any other village store proprietor: Most transactions simply don’t add up to much. The majority of purchases I witnessed revolved around three common items: coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and soda. And yet the Dickinsons know that if they don’t stock the less commonly purchased items, they risk losing customers who become frustrated that they can’t find, say, the exact scented candle they were looking to purchase. “Right now, we’re bleeding money trying to figure out what works,” says Tyler. “We’re basically broke and in debt up to our asses. I don’t think people understand just how invested we are.”

That investment includes the simple fact that the entire family spends more of its waking hours at the store than anywhere else. They’ve created an upstairs room that serves as an office, a playroom for the kids, and a brief refuge from the never-ending stream of tasks awaiting below. Tyler is generally the first to arrive at the store, in those dark, predawn hours; Kayla will get the kids up, send Ainsley off to school, and arrive at the store usually by 8 a.m., often with Nora and Brooks in tow. At the end of her school day (at the same school Tyler attended as a child), Ainsley rides the bus to the store, where she alights to join the rest of her family. Steady help has been hard to find (never mind afford), so the store, which is open 74 hours each week and demands roughly an equivalent amount of attention outside its normal operating hours, runs primarily on Tyler and Kayla’s labor. It is not much of an exaggeration to say that the store has consumed their lives.

And yet there are compensations.

There’s the inherent satisfaction of hard work, and the well-earned pride of overcoming obstacles. There’s the pleasure of working together as a family, and the sense of belonging that comes of having rooted oneself in a place and of committing to that place. There are the relationships with fellow community members (by my rough count, Tyler and Kayla knew the names of at least 80 percent of the customers who walked through the door while I was there), and the fulfillment that comes

of serving the community, not only as a resource for an emergency roll of toilet paper, but also as a place to congregate, and to share the small news of this small town. Perhaps more than anything else, this is what the Dickinsons are contributing to the community they love: a place to co-create the story of what it means to live in Etna, New Hampshire, in the early part of the 21st century.

By the time you read this, the Etna Country Store will have been open for about a year and a half. If you’re reading this anytime between the hours of, say, 4:30 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, it’s a pretty safe bet that at least one of the Dickinsons will be on the premises, preparing food, stocking shelves, cleaning up, talking to customers, maybe even stepping outside for a moment to feel the sun on their face and listen to the gurgle of Mink Brook. Maybe, if you’re in the area, you’ll stop by. Maybe you’ll grab a cup of coffee and one of those incredible chorizo breakfast sandwiches. Tyler would be very pleased if you’d consider a bottle of wine or two, perhaps a six-pack of craft beer, maybe even a novelty scented candle. If you’re able to pay with cash, that’d be great—those pesky credit card transaction fees really add up, and can make the difference between realizing a profit and barely breaking even.

Still, maybe the most important thing you can do is take a moment to consider everything a business like the Etna Country Store brings to its community, and how much poorer all of our lives would be without these stores. And furthermore, just how fragile an existence it really is, even for owners as committed and hardworking as the Dickinsons. “I think I can speak for both of us when I say that I don’t think we’d do this again,” Tyler tells me during my second visit to the store. “At the same time, we don’t regret it for a second.”

A car pulls into the lot, the front door opens, and a middle-aged man walks in. “Marcus! What are you getting up to today?” Tyler asks. And Marcus stays awhile to tell him. | 91

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TIPPING

POINT

In the wake of a massive storm in December 2022, crumbling cliffs at Squibnocket Beach show the kind of erosion that’s increasingly being seen along the south shore of Martha’s Vineyard.

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Amid extreme weather and an encroaching sea,

Martha’s Vineyard must answer a critical question: Will the fabled island change, or be changed by, its climate future? B Y I A N A LD R I C H

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In

December 2022, just days before Christmas, a powerful storm slammed into the East Coast. Sleet and snow hit central Florida; the wind chill dropped to -11 in Richmond, Virginia; and frozen f loodwaters held hostage the city of Edgewater, New Jersey. In New England, steady rains and heavy winds gave way to a sudden, f ierce arctic blast that in some spots dropped the temperature by as much as 50 degrees in just a few hours. More than 250,000 Maine residents lost power, wind gusts topping 147 mph scoured New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, and rising sea levels brought coastal towns like Gloucester, Massachusetts, to a grinding halt.

Seven miles from the mainland, surrounded by water on all sides, the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard offered a portrait of not only the storm’s fury, but also a community’s vulnerability in the face of extreme weather.

The rain and wind forced the cancellation of mainland ferries, while floodwaters lapped the front doors of downtown businesses in Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven. In anticipation of a long power outage, emergency planners in Aquinnah opened a warming shelter at the town hall.

For island residents, the immediacy of the moment was matched by its familiarity. The Vineyard is accustomed to nor’easters, but as the frequency and strength of these storms increase, the island’s sandy geography and contrary mix of isolation from and reliance on the mainland have exposed it to a climate threat that is no longer a projection.

The Vineyard’s south-shore beaches have some of the most aggressive erosion rates on the Eastern Seaboard.

Sunny-day floods have become more frequent—notably in downtown Vineyard Haven, where residents in low-lying areas sometimes find it easier to kayak to their mailbox when water washes over their driveways. Bigger storms have impacted the island’s comings and goings, too, forcing the cancellation of more than 1,700 ferry trips between 2018 and 2020 alone. There have been other upticks: in daily temperatures, in ocean acidification, in Lyme disease, in housing development and its accompanying freshwater demands on an island that relies on a single aquifer. The repercussions of all this touch everything, from food security to energy dependence to transportation to an economy built largely on building booms and tourist dollars.

“We have these contradicting things that we’re trying to protect,” said Ben Robinson, an architect who grew up on the island and a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC), the regional planning agency. “There’s the economy and then there’s the environment of the island, and that can be a hard thing to reconcile—because we’re all

eating and feeding our families and housing ourselves off that economy. But what does it mean to protect the economy, if we’re just giving it the ability to make more money by using more and more of the island’s resources?”

In light of such a question, the Vineyard has been spurred to confront not just climate issues but also how it contributes to them. Over the past few years, it’s become a hub for the development of the country’s first offshore wind farm, giving teeth to the Vineyard’s effort to eliminate

P R E V I O U S S P R E A D : T I N A M I L L E R . T H I S S P R E A D : J E R E M Y D R I E S E N ( D U R K E E ); TO M B U Y S E E / S H U T T E R S TO C K ( W I N D FA R M ); R AY E W I N G/ V I N E YA R D G A ZE T TE (CHILMARK HOUSE); KRISTOPHER R ABASCA FOR THE MV TIMES (FLOODING); DENA P ORTER FOR THE MV TIMES (BE ACH)

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above: As the coastline is

worn down by erosion, cliff edges move precariously close to island homes such as this one in Chilmark, shown in 2021. left: Flooding on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven, December 2022. below: Community members join together to plant thousands of strands of beach grass on Lobsterville Beach, an annual restoration effort hosted by the local Wampanoag tribe.

left, top: Liz Durkee, longtime island resident and climate change coordinator for the MVC regional planning agency. left, above: Turbines

similar to the ones now being installed off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard for the country’s first largescale offshore wind farm, Vineyard Wind.

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from top: Greenhouse manager Taz Armstrong at Island Grown Initiative,

a nonprofit that promotes resilient agriculture practices; local architect and MVC member Ben Robinson, who helped launch the commission’s Climate Action Task Force in 2019.

relocate houses and roads from some of the Vineyard’s most vulnerable coastal zones.

It’s not as though they have to look far to see what’s at stake.

As the 2022 Christmas storm unfolded, Edgartown’s Norton Point Beach took a beating. Stretching two and a half miles between the village center and Chappaquiddick, Norton is an important but fragile ribbon of sand that buffers the Katama Bay shoreline. In the few months leading up to the storm, however, the eastern end of the beach had eroded. Wash-overs and other small storms accelerated the process, putting further pressure on the Chappy bluffs that the beach protects.

Near midnight on December 27, a breach erupted on Norton Point Beach, sending the open Atlantic rushing toward a portion of the Chappy coastline where the area’s only house sat. Over the next several weeks, the ocean pummeled the defenseless bluff, erasing the last vestiges of the 1,600 feet of land that had once separated the building from the water. By late January, the structure—a single-story building constructed in 1984—sat precariously at what was by then the cliff ’s edge.

“If not this storm, then the next storm, or the next one,” Steve Elgar, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who has studied the area, said at the time. “Eventually it will happen. The [owners] are really nice people, but they built their house on a pile of sand. It’s a good reminder that [Martha’s Vineyard] was formed by glaciers 10,000 years ago…. [It’s] all sand.”

Just a few weeks later, the owners were forced to raze it.

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R I C H A R D B E AV EN

the use of fossil fuels here by 2040—a full decade ahead of Massachusetts’s statewide initiative.

In addition, the MVC’s Climate Action Task Force, which guides island policy on resilience and adaptation projects, recently completed an ambitious plan for the next two decades. The product of more than 150 community sessions with the island’s six towns and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the lengthy document outlines a sweeping set of proposals on such things as biodiversity, land use, infrastructure, and food security. On an island so prized for its relationship to the ocean, delicate discussions have even begun about what it might mean to

focuses on an array of issues—education, infrastructure, energy access, health and safety—that demonstrate how a changing climate affects far more than temperatures and storm activity.

“We’re not like just any coastal community dealing with rising seas. We’re an island—it’s rising all around us,” she said. “But it’s also not just about sea level rise. It’s getting hotter, we’re going to have more issues with supply chains, our health is going to be impacted. It’s all interconnected.”

Durkee’s path to the Vineyard is a familiar one. A Long Island native, she summered with her family in Oak Bluffs, where her parents, like her grandparents before them, owned a house. After college she worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C., but the pull of the Vineyard and its ends-of-the-earth feel never left her. “I knew from the age of 7 this is where I wanted to be,” she said. In 1991, Durkee returned to the Vineyard to live year-round.

R ANDI BAIRD (GREENHOUSE); JOSHUA ROBINSON-WHITE (ROBINSON)

en months before the Norton Point breach, I met T with Liz Durkee for a tour of the island’s pressure points. As climate change coordinator for the MVC, she

As coastal communities grapple with the threat of rising seas, New England’s river towns face a different wave of climate peril.

By Howard Mansfield

A home near the base of Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vermont, is engulfed in rocks and mud in the wake of last summer’s devastating floods.

E

R I C H A R D B E AV EN

R ANDI BAIRD (GREENHOUSE); JOSHUA ROBINSON-WHITE (ROBINSON)

WHEN THE RAINS DON’T STOP

veryone has two countries: their own and France, say Francophiles. And the same could be said about Vermont. For many, the Green Mountain State has come to stand in for New England. Home to just 647,000, Vermont hosts more than 13 million visitors a year.

It’s a strong brand, say marketing experts, like Coke or Disney. “Vemontness” sells many products.

Vermont is also seen as a safe refuge, a good place to avoid the ravages of a changing climate. It takes first place on the SafeHome.org Risk Index, and second on a list of the states facing the least danger from climate change, as ranked by the independent insurance broker PolicyGenius.

But consider some other rankings. From 2011 to 2021, Vermont had 17 federally declared weather disasters—sevJANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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enth among states, not far behind the expected leader, California. And it comes in fifth in terms of money spent per person to rebuild after an extreme weather event.

The Vermont brand and climate reality are diverging.

Like so many New England communities whose economies thrived for centuries in large part because of their rivers, Vermont’s beloved, calendar-image towns set in river valleys were built in a climate we no longer have. And so last July, the state’s trim little capital city, Montpelier, made national news as its streets were flooded with muddy water from the Winooski River. More than five inches of rain fell in one day, with more than 12 inches for the month—five times the usual rainfall. Residents watched as the Wrightsville Reservoir, a few miles upriver, rose to within a foot of its spillway. | 97

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As businesses and homeowners hauled out river muck and piled ruined furniture in heaps on the sidewalks, they were told that this “once in a century” flooding can happen again at any time. Welcome to a new planet.

On the Black River, in Ludlow, 75 miles south, this was how one small town faced a storm unlike any it had known.

W

ith the rain falling hard, Angela Kissell’s week began at 1:30 a.m. She couldn’t sleep. The day before, Sunday, July 9, she was out knocking on doors in her town, Ludlow, warning people that they might have to evacuate tomorrow. She’d been watching the weather reports: Vermont was facing a deluge.

Or you could say that her week had begun back in April, when she went to the Ludlow select board and told them that the town was not prepared for emergencies. They needed a new emergency management director. The current director had not held a meeting in four or five years. This was touchy. She knew the director—Ludlow is a small town, after all—and typically she doesn’t like to cause a stir, but this was urgent. Ludlow sits in a steep, narrow valley, close upon the Black River. If its waters rise fast, as they did when Tropical Storm Irene hit in 2011, the river overflows its banks.

The board thought it over and appointed Angela director in May. She’d had time to call only one meeting to review their emergency planning before she found herself facing a storm that would be more damaging than Irene. “The first day was a little rough,” she said. There were no written procedures, but working with their new municipal manager, the police and fire chiefs, and the highway department, “I felt like we got a rhythm.”

Or you could say that her week had begun long before, when she was growing up. Angela, now 48, is one of those people who feels called on to serve. With her husband, Fran, she’s also a volunteer firefighter in two towns, Ludlow and neighboring Plymouth. Fran is the deputy chief in Ludlow.

If a call comes in for both departments, they get in their car and pause at the bottom of their driveway, deciding which department will get them to the call sooner.

I

n the early-morning hours, not long after Angela had woken up and gotten into town, the fire department was called, in quick succession, first to the base lodge of Okemo Mountain Resort, then to evacuate a small, lowlying mobile home park, and also to rescue itself. The fire station is across the road from the big resort’s entrance.

Water four feet deep was rushing over Route 103 right by the fire station. “We’ve got one truck out,” Angela recalled.

“And then it got to the point—it was like at 4:30 or five o’clock—we couldn’t gain access. So all the other equipment was in the building.”

The fire department had already moved its base uphill to the police station, which is the emergency operations

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Peggy could see her home and her car. “The water is up to like where the hood is. Oh God, I just see the nose of the car.” center. The highway department was doing “an amazing job, clearing and cleaning [the road],” she said, and around 8 a.m. they had rescued the key trucks. The fire department had escaped.

F

irefighters went right from Okemo to the Black River Mobile Home Court, 15 homes arranged in a horseshoe between Main Street and the river. It’s a small community within the community, looked after by its owner, Gerald Sheehan, who lives three houses down. Gerry is always around checking on things, the residents say.

Peggy Fletcher was asleep when a firefighter came knocking at her door at 4:30 a.m. “I didn’t even know it was raining,” she said. Peggy, 76, had returned after 45 years away down South, teaching the deaf. When her husband died, her children convinced her to come home to Vermont. Her son has “a place on the mountain,” at Okemo, and her daughter lives next door to her.

A firefighter in full gear must have been an imposing figure at that hour. “He told me to gather a few things for a couple of days and he followed me around, helped me put some things into a bag, and then he took me out on the deck,” she said. He waded into the water, now thigh-high, and had Peggy grab onto his back. She rode him out of the f lood.

“He was sloshing through the water. Lights were flashing.

It was like a movie,” she said. Her daughter was waiting in her car. They didn’t go far—just across the road, uphill to the community center. They spent the next day and a half there.

Peggy could see her home and her car. “The water is up to like where the hood is. Oh God, I just see the nose of the car.”

M

ore than two months’ worth of rain fell on Ludlow in two days. A mudslide closed Route 103. The town was cut off. For 24 hours the only medical help was the local EMT. A trapped truck driver escaped to a floating hot tub. It was five hours before a swift-water rescue team, fighting the raging current, could get to him. He was treated for hypothermia.

The town’s one supermarket, Shaw’s, flooded, as it had in Irene. A railroad trestle washed out, leaving the tracks hanging in midair. The wastewater treatment plant was wrecked.

The basements and first floors of houses and businesses were covered in river mud. Mounds of rocks and mud blocked Okemo’s main entrance. Ludlow’s new $300,000 skate park, finished one week before the storm, was washed away. At the mobile home park, the trailer closest to the river went for a ride, ending up smashed and twisted into a parallelogram.

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But the four old dams in town—Angela’s biggest worry— held. The water level in one was just a foot from the top; the other three went over the spillway.

Angela and many of her fellow firefighters slept that first night, Monday, on the floor of the police department; there was no way to get home. That day the fire department responded to 18 calls, about as many as they’d get all month in an average July.

Even when she did get home, Angela was still answering calls and emails—she’s the town clerk in Plymouth, another hard-hit town. She had two phones in front of her, ringing constantly. Angela and Fran were at the station from 7 or 8 in the morning until 9 or 10 at night. In her first week as Ludlow’s emergency management director, from Monday through Sunday, she put in 100 hours. “I felt responsible for everybody in this town,” she said.

“We’re trying to recover and rebuild, and nobody wants to think, Oh gosh, it could happen in two months from now, or a month from now.”

A

fter the rain, the world rushed in. Hundreds of eager volunteers showed up. The owners of seasonal homes in town came back. Mennonites from around the country, experienced in disaster relief, got right to work.

Volunteers overwhelmed the various websites and Facebook community groups, offering to help. Someone had to match them with donated tools and jobs to do—no small task.

That’s where the Mud Puppies came in. Three women— Kelly Stettner (who named the team), Melissa Rockhill, and Laurie Marechaux—who never met in person. They couldn’t—they were cut off—but with social media, Google spreadsheets, and phones, they coordinated about 350 volunteers who mucked out basements, tore out wet wallboard and insulation, and rounded up lost boats and docks. They made sure that residents connected with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the many agencies that were there to set up things like water tests and unemployment insurance. As part of the grassroots Black River Action Team, the Mud Puppies were experienced in mobilizing the public.

“We would be on the phone till 11:30 at night in conference calls, figuring out our next plan of action,” said Laurie.

“I was so exhausted. I never knew I could be that tired.” Laurie had lived through Irene, and knew what do when it was time to evacuate: She grabbed her homeowner’s insurance policy and called her claim into FEMA. Once she got back home, she went right out to the mobile home park, whose owner, Gerry, is a friend from her school days. She went to JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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comfort “these broken people,” she said. “They’re broke and they’re hurt; their souls are crushed. They’re scared, and it’s going to rain more.”

The Mud Puppies always sent out volunteers in pairs.

“This mucking out was really dangerous stuff. Slippery, slimy, vintage basement stairs that maybe had no railings,” said Laurie. The silt could be five feet deep, sometimes mixed with diesel fuel and chemicals. “One job took six days of teams of five people mucking out in buckets,” she said. After that, a basement had to be hosed down, sometimes with water from tank trucks, sprayed with a mold inhibitor, and dried out.

“The second homeowners came out to help like you would not believe,” she said. “These people were generous with their time, their energy, their focus, and their emotional support.”

One woman found her on Facebook and offered to bring two dehumidifiers, but, as Laurie recalled, “they could have done an airdrop of them, and there still wouldn’t be enough to go around.” So she told the woman, “I don’t want the dehumidifiers to be lonely”—could she find 18 more? The woman showed up with 25 units, worth about $5,000. “I was so grateful.”

And after all this work, Laurie, 67, who went through five surgeries for breast cancer the previous year, volunteered for more. “I went right in to the town manager, and I said, ‘We’re going to need a long-term recovery committee, and I’m ready.’”

At the mobile home park, the firefighters returned to Peggy’s door, this time with a check for $2,500. She used it to help pay for a new car. An anonymous donor had contacted the fire department and asked them to decide how to distribute the money. Angela, Fran, and the department’s chief, Peter Kolenda, made a list. The donor sent the checks, and they had the happy task of handing them out.

L

udlow rushed to clean up, to aid neighbors. Roads, railroads, houses are being rebuilt; some businesses are restarting. Happy endings. But: “There will be a next time,” Angela said.

She’s not alone in saying this. This is what Vermonters are being told in almost every recovery and planning meeting. “It’s a pretty big leap, I think, for a lot of people to realize that this could happen again, once you get through it all,” she said. “We’re trying to recover and rebuild, and nobody wants to think, Oh gosh, it could happen in two months from now, or a month from now.”

On a sunny day late in August, I catch up with Angela at the fire station. She talks me through everything that happened during the flood. Even though the floods are six weeks gone, Angela and Fran have canceled their summer vacation. There’s still too much going on in town, and down in the Caribbean the hurricane season has gotten off to one of its busiest starts in 100 years. One of those hurricanes could come their way, she says. “We’re bound to get one of them.” | 99

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Chocolate Kiss (Continued from p. 39) and a cake tester comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan, gently remove the cake from the pan, and place directly on the cooling rack to finish cooling.

Meanwhile, make the ganache: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof glass bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it just starts to steam. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 4 to 5 minutes, then use a spatula to stir until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Stir in the salt. Allow to cool for a few minutes (you want it to slightly thicken but still be easily pourable) and then pour the ganache over the center of the cake, using an offset spatula to gently spread it evenly over the sides of the cake.

Allow the ganache to set for 10 minutes before serving. Yields 8 servings.

CHOCOLATE-WALNUT-BANANA COFFEE CAKE

A decadent take on a brunch favorite, this cake has the delicious flavor of banana bread and the velvety crumb of a sour cream coffee cake. Fudgy chocolate filling is sandwiched between layers of cake, with everything topped by a toasted walnutchocolate chip streusel that is crunchy, chocolaty, and just a bit salty. Serve with coffee in the morning or warmed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream after dinner.

FOR THE CAKE

1½ cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon kosher salt ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon 6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing pan ¾ cup granulated sugar 100 |

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All About Chocolate Just in time for Valentine’s Day, you can learn about the history and craft of this beloved food in a free Chocolate Webinar hosted

by Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso. Joining her in this fun and informative session is Tom Rogan of Goodnow Farms Chocolate, an award-winning candymaker featured on the upcoming season of Weekends with Yankee. Plus: chocolate tips, tricks, and recipes!

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6 Register: newengland.com/ chocolate_webinar

1 large egg, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 medium very ripe bananas, mashed ¹⁄ 3 cup sour cream FOR THE STREUSEL

1 cup walnut halves, chopped ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips ¹⁄ 3 cup (43 grams) all-purpose flour ¼ cup granulated sugar 6 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar ½ teaspoon kosher salt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Preheat your oven to 350°F and butter an 8-inch square baking dish. Set aside.

First, prepare to make the cake: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. In another small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and cocoa powder, and set aside.

For the streusel, stir together the walnuts, chocolate chips, f lour, both sugars, and salt in another small bowl.

Add the melted butter and toss lightly with a fork until the mixture is moist and crumbly. Set aside.

Now, make the cake: Using a stand or handheld mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and f luffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through, 2 to 3 minutes

total. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on medium-high until combined.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the banana, and mix until combined.

With the mixer set on low speed, add half of the flour mixture followed by all of the sour cream, and then the remaining f lour mixture, mixing until just combined. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure that the batter is thoroughly mixed.

Spread half of the cake batter into the prepared baking dish and then cover evenly with the brown sugar– cocoa mixture. Spoon the remaining cake batter in dollops all over the filling and spread evenly. Sprinkle the streusel over the cake.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yields 9 servings.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

Bread pudding is a simple dish of milk, stale bread, sugar, eggs, and vanilla— more comfort food than fancy-dinnerparty material. However, this version is both a straightforward pudding you can assemble the night before and a decadent chocolate dessert.

Note: If your bread is fresh, lightly toast the cubes by spreading them out on a baking sheet and placing them in a 325°F oven for 10 minutes.

1 1-pound loaf of stale challah or brioche, crusts removed, cut into 1-inch cubes 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, divided 4 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup whole milk 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 2½ cups heavy cream ¾ cup granulated sugar

Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, evenly spread out the bread cubes, and sprinkle 1⅓ cups chocolate chips over the bread. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and salt. Set aside.

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In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together ⅓ cup milk and the cocoa powder until a smooth paste forms. Add the remaining milk and then the cream, whisking until combined. Whisk in the sugar, then add the remaining ⅔ cup chocolate chips, stirring until the mixture is mostly smooth. Remove from heat and slowly ladle a small amount of the hot chocolate mixture into the egg mixture while whisking vigorously to warm the eggs.

Slowly pour the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan, whisking until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.

Pour the chocolate custard over the bread cubes, gently pressing down on any pieces of bread that aren’t submerged. Let the pudding sit for 30 to 45 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 325°F, then bake until the center is set, about 45 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Yields 8 to 10 servings.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE WHOOPIE PIES

A New England classic, these soft, fudgy, and not-too-sweet cakes use a chocolate Marshmallow Fluff filling for a double hit of chocolate.

Note: This recipe calls for Dutch-process cocoa powder, which has a richer chocolate flavor than standard unsweetened or “natural” cocoa powder. Most major supermarkets carry it. Hershey’s sells it as “Special Dark Cocoa Powder.”

FOR THE CAKES

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour ½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder 1¼ teaspoons baking soda ½ teaspoon kosher salt ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ teaspoon espresso powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk 102 |

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Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies

FOR THE FILLING

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 1 16-ounce container Marshmallow Fluff ¾ cup powdered sugar ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat your oven to 350°F and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

First, make the cakes: In a medium bowl, whisk together the f lour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a stand or handheld mixer, beat the butter with the brown sugar on mediumhigh until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom. Add the vanilla and the espresso mixture and mix until smooth. At low speed, add half the dry ingredients and then half the buttermilk followed by the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining buttermilk, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix until just combined.

Using a 2-tablespoon cookie dough scoop, place 12 mounds of batter onto each baking sheet, about 1½ inches apart (if you do not have a scoop, you can drop spoonfuls, estimating about 2 tablespoons of dough per cake). Bake

the cakes until the tops are set, about 12 minutes. Let the cakes cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then carefully transfer to cooling racks and let the cakes cool completely.

Now, make the filling: Using a stand or handheld mixer, cream the butter on medium-high until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the Marshmallow Fluff, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and salt.

Carefully mix on low, pulsing a few times initially until partially blended, then increase speed to medium-high and whip until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Use a 2-tablespoon cookie dough scoop and place one scoop of filling onto the flat side of 12 cakes. Top the filling with the flat side of the remaining cakes to create whoopie pies, pressing firmly to help distribute the filling.

Serve immediately or chill overnight.

Yields 12 whoopie pies.

BOSTON CREAM PIE CUPCAKES

This classic New England dessert gets remade as individual cakes, perfect for a crowd. Don’t be intimidated by the three components: The batter is a quick recipe made by hand, the cupcakes can be baked in advance and frozen, and the filling takes just 10 minutes. (Freezing actually makes it easier to cut and fill them.) With these fluffy vanilla cupcakes filled with pastry cream and glazed with semisweet chocolate, you have a classic in an easy-to-serve format.

FOR THE CUPCAKES

1½ cups (195 grams) cake flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon table salt 1 cup granulated sugar ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled 2 large eggs, at room temperature ½ cup sour cream, at room temperature 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ¼ cup whole milk, at room temperature FOR THE FILLING

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4 large egg yolks 2 cups whole milk 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces 2 teaspoons vanilla extract FOR THE GL A ZE

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips ½ cup heavy cream Pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350°F and line 12 muffin tins with cupcake liners.

First, make the cupcakes: In a small bowl, whisk together the cake f lour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract until they’re fully combined. Add half of the f lour mixture, followed by the milk, and then the remaining flour mixture, whisking until the batter is just smooth.

Fill each cupcake liner about ½ full and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean, 14 to 16 minutes.

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Making the filling for Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely. For easiest results, freeze for 20 minutes before filling.

Meanwhile, make the filling: Set a sieve over a heatproof bowl and set aside. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add the egg yolks and whisk until the mixture is pale yellow and f luffy. Slowly whisk in the milk until smooth. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken, 6 to 7 minutes. Continue whisking until it begins to bubble and then cook, stirring, for an additional minute.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the cold butter and vanilla. Pour the pastry cream into the sieve set over the bowl, using a rubber spatula to press the cream through. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours.

When you’re ready to assemble the cupcakes, make the ganache: Place the chocolate chips in a small heatproof bowl. Pour the cream into a small saucepan over medium heat, add a pinch of salt, and bring to a gentle simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 3 to 4 minutes. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Use immediately.

Assemble the cupcakes: Using a sharp paring k nife, cut out a 1-inch hole in the top center of each cupcake, being careful not to cut through to the bottom. Use the tip of the paring knife to carefully lift out the cylinder of cake. Set aside.

Fill the cupcakes using a piping bag or a small spoon, being sure to stop just before the top. Trim the reserved cylinder so that it fits atop the filling and press gently so that the top of the cupcake is smooth. Lightly dust off any crumbs. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.

Carefully dip the top of each cupcake into the glaze, being sure to cover to the edge of the cupcake liners. Place on a tray or cooling rack and allow the glaze to set. Cover and refrigerate until serving. May be served cold or at cool room temperature. Yields 12 cupcakes.

NEWENGLAND.COM

11/20/23 2:37 PM

“SANDY NECK LIGHT”

On the Northside of Cape Cod Forrest Pirovano’s painting “Sandy Neck Light” shows a lighthouse on the eastern tip of Sandy Neck Sandy Neck Light was built in 1826 to accommodate the whaling and fishing industries coming into Barnstable. The current tower was built in 1857 and strengthened in the 1880s. In 1931 the lighthouse was decommissioned and its lens was moved to a steel skeleton tower closer to the tip of Sandy Neck. In 1952 the property was sold into private hands. In 2007, the owner, with the assistance of the American Lighthouse Foundation, was able to fund and install a new lantern. The lighthouse was relit as a private aid to navigation and is used today. This beautiful limited-edition print of an original oil painting, is individually numbered and signed by the artist.

This exquisite print is bordered by a museum-quality white-on-white double mat, measuring 11x14 inches. Framed in either a black or white 1 ½ inch deep wood frame, this limited-edition print measures 12 ¼ X 15 ¼ inches and is priced at only $149. Matted but unframed the price for this print is $109. Prices include shipping and packaging.

Forrest Pirovano is a Cape Cod artist. His paintings capture the picturesque landscape and seascapes of the Cape which have a universal appeal. His paintings often include the many antique wooden sailboats and picturesque lighthouses that are home to Cape Cod.

FORREST PIROVANO, artist P.O. Box 1011 • Mashpee, MA 02649 Visit our studio in Mashpee Commons, Cape Cod All major credit cards are welcome. Please send card name, card number, expiration date, code number & billing ZIP code. Checks are also accepted.…Or you can call Forrest at 781-858-3691.…Or you can pay through our website www.forrestcapecodpaintings.com

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11/15/23 11/8/23 12:17 11:41 PM AM

Travel | R E S O U R C E S (Continued from p. 54) honored as a Publishers Weekly Bookseller of the Year. They’re serious about making personal connections, partnering with book clubs and offering a “Just the Right Book” program, in which subscribers receive books based on preference profiles they submit. Even casual browsers can be sure that every book on the shelves has been hand-selected by staff. rjjulia.com WHITLOCK’S BOOK BARN, Bethany. The turkeys and sheep were evicted 75 years ago, replaced by a vast and eclectic array of books.

Whitlock’s 50,000 volumes are divided into an under-$5 group, housed in the upper barn, and rarer, more expensive books in the lower. There’s also an antique map department, strong in local coverage but also ranging across 21 states and numerous foreign countries. whitlocksbookbarn.com

MAINE BIG CHICKEN BARN, Ellsworth. The trick

is getting past the first floor, where book browsers can easily get sidetracked by 11,000 square feet of antiques and collectibles. There are 150,000 volumes up above, though, so press on—and don’t miss the Maine Room, a trove of books by regional authors. A special attraction is the Barn’s massive inventory of magazines, including extinct titles like Life, Look, Collier’s, and many more. bigchickenbarn.com CARLSON TURNER BOOKS, Portland.

The age of print is alive and well at this traditional shop that not only stocks a finely curated selection of more than 40,000 antiquarian and scholarly volumes—nautical, Civil War, and Maine history are among the specialties, along with maps, manuscripts, and prints—but also offers bookbinding, repair, and letterpress printing services. It’s a place to stock a private library and keep it in top condition. carlsonturnerbooks.com GREEN HAND, Portland. This small shop on the fringe of Portland’s lively downtown carries new and used titles in a broad variety of categories, with a special emphasis on classics and new releases in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, including rediscovered works published by indie Valancourt Books. There’s a good selection of books on Maine subjects, a children’s section, and an ample assortment of tarot decks and books. greenhandbookshop.com GULF OF MAINE BOOKS, Brunswick.

Independent bookstores were popping up in college towns across America in the 1970s, when poet Gary Lawless and his wife, Beth Leonard, founded Gulf of Maine Books just down the street from Bowdoin College. Surviving most of them and still going strong—and still run by Lawless and 106 |

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Leonard—the shop is robustly stocked with regional-interest books, poetry, and tomes on environmental, spiritual, and Native American subjects, along with current popular literature. If you are lucky when you stop in, you might spot best-selling author Elizabeth Strout, who lives a short walk away. bookshop.org/shop/gulfofmaine HARDING’S BOOKS, Wells. Harding’s is the literary equivalent of a corn maze—any serious browser will start wondering if there’s actually a way to get out. The shop’s 14 rooms house 100,000-plus volumes, and while the proprietors advertise strength in Americana and New England subjects, there’s hardly any field that isn’t well represented. Maps and prints dating back centuries are also on offer. hardingsbooks.com SHERMAN’S MAINE COAST BOOK SHOPS,

multiple locations. Originating as a Bar Harbor printing and stationery shop in 1886, Sherman’s now has stores in nine Maine communities—that’s more than three times as many as a certain national chain. In 2016, acquisition of Damariscotta’s Maine Coast Book Shop brought that great trove of Down East–related titles—and its Barn Door Baking Company Café—into the Sherman’s family. shermans.com

MASSACHUSETTS BEDLAM BOOK CAFE, Worcester. Don’t be

put off by the name: Things are actually quite calm at this literary oasis in a part of the state that had been lacking a serious bookshop before Bedlam’s 2018 arrival. Offerings include new, used, and remaindered books, with an emphasis on titles in the arts and humanities and a fine poetry selection enhanced by frequent readings. The cafe part? After book browsing, enjoy an organic smoothie. bedlambookcafe.com BRATTLE BOOK SHOP, Boston. When you visit this downtown landmark and one of the oldest and best-known used and antiquarian bookstores in the country, you will likely first browse dozens of bargain titles stacked on carts outside. But inside there are first-edition treasures in a special room that may go for thousands of dollars, as well as hours of browsing for both famous and all-but-forgotten treasures on the floors below. brattlebookshop.com FRUGAL BOOKSTORE, Roxbury. Boston’s sole African American–owned bookstore has become the retail star of Nubian Square, business hub of the city’s Roxbury neighborhood. Works by people of color are given special emphasis, though the shelves are stocked with books of all descriptions, from today’s best-sellers to the classics. A strong selection of children’s and youngadult books underscores the owners’ mission to promote reading at all levels. frugalbookstore.net NEWENGLAND.COM

11/20/23 12:31 PM

VERMONT

INN to INN WALKING TOUR

GROLIER POETRY BOOK SHOP, Cambridge.

After nearly a century as a Harvard Square literary mainstay—and as a shop devoted exclusively to poetry since 1976—the Grolier remains unique among bookstores in the Boston area, both for its extensive small-press poetry offerings and its respected series of readings by poets of local and international reputation. grolierpoetrybookshop.org HARVARD BOOK STORE, Cambridge. It’s the … well, it’s the Harvard of bookstores, and the second-most-important establishment on the eponymous Square.

The staff has a sharp eye for important new releases, to the advantage of members of the store’s Signed First Edition and New Voices in Fiction clubs, and a frequent-buyers program offers 20 percent off weekly best-sellers. And it’s the place to buy all things Crimson, from hats to blankets. harvard.com MONTAGUE BOOKMILL, Montague.

Sprawling in and around an 1842 gristmill in the Pioneer Valley, this mammoth emporium of used and publishers’ remainder books stocks academic and general-interest volumes, promising “If we can’t find the book you’re looking for, we’ll find you a better one you didn’t know you wanted.” The bookstore shares its premises with the Sawmill River Arts gallery, Turn It Up! (CDs and vinyl), and two fine eateries. maq.ujw.mybluehost.me ODYSSEY BOOKSHOP, Hadley. What started as a drugstore with a paperback section has evolved over 60 years into a vital part of the Mount Holyoke College community—in fact, the shop sells the books and art supplies for college courses.

Along with its comprehensive fiction and nonfiction inventory, Odyssey is known for its program of more than 125 literary events a year, and for its First Editions Club, with members receiving a signed first edition each month. odysseybks.com

MAP ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL BYERS

WALK FROM INN-TO-INN AND SEE VERMONT AT 10 MILES A DAY Inn Victoria to Golden Stage Inn (13 miles) Chester, VT 802-875-4288 InnVictoria.com

Golden Stage Inn to The Governor’s Inn (10.7 miles) Proctorsville, VT 802-226-7744 GoldenStageInn.com

The Governor’s Inn to The Colonial House Inn & Motel • (6.7 miles) Ludlow, VT 802-228-8830 TheGovernorsInn.com

The Colonial House Inn & Motel to Inn Victoria (10.8 miles) Weston, VT 802-824-6286 CoHoInn.com

www.VermontInntoInnWalking.com • 833-Inn-2-Inn (833-466-2466)

NEW HAMPSHIRE GIBSON’S BOOKSTORE, Concord. Having

just celebrated its 125th year in business, Gibson’s is not only the capital’s oldest bookseller, it’s the city’s oldest retailer.

Along with the extensive selection of fiction and general interest titles, there’s an in-store book club and a children’s department enhanced by the incorporation of indie toy store Imagination Village.

A new café serves breakfast and lunch, so there’s no reason to stop browsing till dinner. gibsonsbookstore.com PORTSMOUTH BOOK & BAR, Portsmouth.

There are restaurants with books as decor, and bookstores that shout “No Food and Drink.” At this downtown bookshop and eatery, the books are for browsing, and patrons can peruse with a cocktail in JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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hand. Over 10,000 used volumes in just about every category line the shelves, the menu has a Latin/Asian flair, and there’s a lively schedule of events running from standup to music to poetry readings. bookandbar.com RIVERRUN BOOKSTORE, Portsmouth. The name honors the opening line of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, and the shop honors the way writers used to write: Books share the shelves with vintage typewriters. What’s more, writers who still work that way can bring their machines here for repairs. But books— new and used—are the main focus, and RiverRun even offers a publishing plan for anyone who wants to put their freshly oiled keys to work. riverrunbookstore.com SHEAFE STREET BOOKS, Portsmouth. Just a few blocks from Strawbery Banke, Ken Kozick curates a shop with all the charm and quirks of a comfortable old house filled with books. Amid shelves filled with current best-sellers, literary classics, well-chosen cookbooks, and vintage paperbacks, look for the shop’s signature collection: books by and about the literary lights of the Beat Generation. And be sure to say hello to Petunia the cat. bookshop.org/shop/sheafestreet TOADSTOOL BOOKSHOPS, Peterborough and Keene. Family-run since its founding in 1972, and changing hands just this year to a young local man who grew up bringing home books from the store, Toadstool’s two Monadnock Region shops maintain their half-century tradition of carefully selected inventory and a staff chosen for knowledgeability and literary passion. Both locations continue to present a busy series of readings by local and nationally known authors. toadbooks.com WHITE BIRCH BOOKS, North Conway.

“Small, quaint, and independent,” say the proprietors about their shop—true on all counts, although the Mount Washington Valley’s premier bookseller isn’t too small and quaint to stock a fine collection of standbys and new releases. Visitors also love the snug children’s nook and the used and bargain section. Open to all are a monthly Thursday Night Book Club and a twice-monthly Mystery Book Group. whitebirchbooks.com

RHODE ISLAND ALLISON B. GOODSELL RARE BOOKS,

Kingston. Located at the Kingston Hill Book Store, this past Yankee Editors’ Pick is a rich trove of antiquarian and secondhand books dealing with New England and Rhode Island history, maritime subjects, and much more. The shop also specializes in antiquarian prints, especially those with botanical and natural history themes, and stocks NEWENGLAND.COM

11/21/23 1:43 PM

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an ample collection of antique and modern postcards. abgbooks.com COMMONWEALTH BOOKS, Newport.

Behind the handsome Georgian facade of Washington Square’s 1750 BuliodPerry House, once owned by naval hero Oliver Hazard Perry, is an antiquarian browser’s treasury of books, prints, and maps spanning five centuries of literature, fine and applied arts, naval and military history, and humbler modern paperbacks.

An ever-changing inventory reflects Commonwealth’s policy of welcoming sellers of single volumes, sets, and entire collections. cwbnewport.blackwidowpress.com ISLAND BOUND, New Shoreham. Begun nearly 30 years ago as a tiny shop in one of Block Island’s Victorian hotels, Island Bound has long since graduated to its own premises and a position as New Shoreham’s sole bookseller. It’s the place to shop for anything in print related to Block Island, but it also carries a full range of the current and the classic, and even offers summer art classes. islandboundbookstore.com PAPER NAUTILUS, Providence. The shelves at this East Side shop are a reminder that its neighbors include Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design.

New and used titles run heavily to fine and applied arts, along with the humanities in general and local history. Since this is his hometown, horror aficionados can expect a generous stock of books by one Mr. Howard Phillips Lovecraft. papernautilusbooks.com TWENTY STORIES, Providence. In 1917, Christopher Morley published Parnassus on Wheels, about a horse-drawn mobile bookstore. That’s the idea behind the bookmobile (no horse) based out of this Fox Point shop. Spring through fall, it visits a different city location each weekend, selling books from a carefully curated inventory.

The shop name? Every month, the owners choose 20 titles to add to their offerings. twentystoriesla.com

VERMONT THE ELOQUENT PAGE, St. Albans. This

handsome shop opposite the Rail City’s Taylor Park keeps a 35,000-volume inventory of new, used, and rare books, with a special emphasis on Vermont history— including original and reproduction maps and postcards—as well as considerable offerings in science fiction, military history, mysteries, children’s literature, and fashion and costume history. Local authors frequently appear for readings and book signings. theeloquentpage.com EVERYONE’S BOOKS, Brattleboro. “Raising Hell Since 1984” might not be the usual bookstore motto, but this is Brattleboro, where Vermont’s relatively genteel brand of hell-raising has long been part of the local brand. Books with a progressive bent by no JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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means dominate the inventory—after all, this is everyone’s shop—but the shelves do reflect the proprietors’ deep commitment to peace, climate, and social activism. everyonesbks.com GREEN MOUNTAIN BOOKS, Lyndonville.

Even the smallest of college towns deserves a good bookstore, and the Lyndonville campus of Vermont State University scores with this modest-size but amply stocked shop. Launched more than 40 years ago as a secondhand bookstore, it now features an eclectic new and used inventory, with excellent coverage of Northeast Kingdom history and Vermont authors (spanning writers as diverse as Bernie Sanders and Howard Frank Mosher), many of whom have given readings here. greenmtnbooks.com MONROE STREET BOOKS, Middlebury. It’s a low-slung, unassuming building on the outside, but inside is a warren of aisles to get lost in. Vermont’s biggest emporium of used, rare, and out-of-print books houses 100,000 volumes, with half again as many available online. Subject by subject, the ever-changing inventory is superbly organized, making a visit to Monroe Street like getting lost … with a map. monroestreetbooks.com NORTHSHIRE BOOKSTORE, Manchester.

The Green Mountain State’s largest independent bookstore features 300,000 new and used titles in all categories of fiction and nonfiction, including a 5,000-volume treasury of rare, signed, and/ or first editions. An anchor of Manchester’s retail center (there’s also a branch in Saratoga Springs, New York), Northshire has expanded its inventory to include new vinyl record releases, children’s games, housewares, and gifts crafted by local artists and artisans. northshire.com NORWICH BOOKSTORE, Norwich. A white-frame structure opposite a classic village green features two floors of intelligently stocked inventory reflecting the sophisticated tastes of the Dartmouth College community that calls Norwich home. The children’s section runs broad and deep, as if stocked for tots with professor parents. There’s a lively schedule of events, often featuring pairs of writers in conversation on topics of mutual interest. norwichbookstore.com THE VERMONT BOOK SHOP, Middlebury.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of this classic college-town bookstore, which continues to offer the personal service that attracted its most famous customer, Ripton summer resident Robert Frost.

Frost’s works are, of course, among the wide selection of regional authors that the shop is known for, joining works by writers such as Julia Alvarez, Chris Bohjalian, and Bill McKibben—all of whom have given readings here. vermontbookshop.com

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B E YO N D TH E LO B BY

Your companion trip planner for “Winter by the Sea,” p. 56–69

CAPE NEDDICK, ME (CLIFF HOUSE) B R E A K FA S T S P O T: Among the highlights at Ogunquit’s Greenery Café, a locally owned, from-scratch eatery: the perfectly done “Bennys” (offered in original, Irish, lobster, crab cake, smoked salmon, and Florentine variations), the classic breakfast sandwiches, and the pastry case full of just-baked scones, muffins, cupcakes, and more. Ogunquit; Facebook N AT U R E O U T I N G : The Marginal Way is iconic for good reason: Extending a mileplus along the rocky seaside cliffs from just below downtown Ogunquit to Perkins Cove, it rises, falls, and curves enough that the views are ever-changing, and there are benches installed at key vista points for those who want to contemplate the same view that inspired artists from Edward Hopper to Walt Kuhn. Ogunquit; marginalwayfund.org R E TA I L T H E R A P Y: You could easily while away an hour amid the fine art and crafts at Abacus Gallery, best known for the Maine-themed calendars created by owner Dana Heacock. Her art prints, framed and unframed, are also on offer, as well as entrancing eggshell dioramas made by J. Brooke Patterson and other unexpected treasures. Ogunquit; abacusgallery.com D I N I N G P I C K : The married team behind

Walkers Maine, Justin and Danielle Walker, has been elevating southern Maine’s dining scene for two decades now. Wood-fired cooking is at the heart of the menu, and the kitchen’s large hearth will warm your soul. Wood-roasted haddock with warm potato salad sings, as does the pork chop with Meyer lemon–onion mostarda. Save room for dessert: Pastry chef Matt Jauk is a star in his own right. Cape Neddick; walkersmaine.com D I N I N G P I C K ( B O N U S ) : Water views are stunning in every direction at local favorite MC Perkins Cove, and the peninsula on which it stands—packed to the gills in summer—is perfectly peaceful in the offseason. Start with the Bangs Island mussels and fried artichokes, then finish with the terrific burger or duck confit. Ogunquit; mcperkinscove.com C U LT U R E H I T: For live music with

(or without) drinks and dinner, head to Jonathan’s, an Ogunquit institution that has welcomed national acts such as Judy

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Collins, Paula Poundstone, and Tom Rush— plus a long list of Maine artists—to its stage for nearly 50 years. The vibe is as cozy and friendly as the town itself. Ogunquit; jonathansogunquit.com D O N ’ T- M I S S S T O P : Walking into Harbor Candy Shop is the olfactory equivalent of slipping into a bath of warm chocolate.

Since the 1950s, the Sotiropoulos family has produced a deep catalog of bonbons, truffles, fudge, bark, cordials, turtles, caramels, and toffees. All the chocolate is made in-house, and the Victorian mercantile decor makes this one of the prettiest candy shops in New England.

Ogunquit; harborcandy.com

NEW CASTLE, NH (WENT WORTH BY THE SEA) B R E A K FA S T S P O T: If the candy-colored

blooms at the café/flower shop Wild Valentine don’t cheer you, a cardamomrose latte paired with a savory oat bowl surely will (try the chicken and mushroom with cashew butter, black sesame, and Parmesan—yum). Browse the shelves stocked with pottery and organic baby onesies, and take a little sunshine to go.

Portsmouth; wildvalentine.co N AT U R E O U T I N G : Have a Gatsby moment at the 330-acre Odiorne Point State Park as you glimpse Wentworth by the Sea from a whole different angle across the Piscataqua River. Dotted with graffiti-spangled bunkers and crumbling foundations from its past lives as a fort and a summer resort, Odiorne Point beckons to explorers on foot or snowshoes—bring your own or rent them from EMS in nearby Portsmouth. Rye; nhstateparks.org R E TA I L T H E R A PY: The beautifully curated housewares boutique Nahcotta is brimming with things you didn’t know you needed, like hand-carved wood puzzles, neon pillar candles from Germany, and crystal-infused bath salts. It doubles as a gallery, too—one where you can buy the original paintings right off the wall, fulfilling the store’s mission to “make art accessible to anyone and everyone.” Portsmouth; nahcotta.com D I N I N G P I C K : There’s no better place to

be on a midwinter weekend morning than at The Wilder’s wraparound bar, tucking into a maple-pork-belly-studded poutine or a sizzling shakshuka. Or stop by later in the day for a Sneerwell (chai bourbon,

sweet vermouth, black cardamom syrup, and whiskey-barrel aged bitters) to get a taste of how this homey gastropub is single-handedly upping Portsmouth’s craft-cocktail game. Portsmouth; wilderportsmouth.com C U LT U R E H I T: The historic Music Hall may

be the cultural hub of Portsmouth, but for a cozier, more intimate night out, take in a rising comedian or a string quartet at the 116-seat Music Hall Lounge on Congress Street (a reimagining of the Music Hall’s former Loft, it opened in July 2022). It’s like seeing a concert in your living room … if your living room had a bartender and a fireplace and served small plates.

Portsmouth; themusichall.org D O N ’ T- M I S S S T O P : Shake off the cold

and immerse yourself in the large-scale installations at the Museum of New Art (MONA), an ambitious art gallery that opened in Portsmouth’s c. 1905 YMCA building two years ago. It welcomes artists from around the world—including German painter Markus Linnenbrink, who painted an entire room at MONA in dizzying rainbow stripes—and hosts fun events such as dance parties and “drink and draws” (exactly what they sound like). Portsmouth; monaportsmouth.org

GLOUCESTER, MA (BEAUPORT HOTEL) B R E A K FA S T S P O T: Regulars chat in

Italian while sipping espresso out of tiny cups at Caffè Sicilia, a no-frills bakery where dozens of Italian-inspired sweets are made in-house daily (try the lobster tail, a crisp, flaky pastry that’s so long it hangs off the plate and which is filled with a special blend of whipped cream and mascarpone cheese). Gloucester; Instagram N AT U R E O U T I N G : Bundle up to walk the granite cliffs atop an abandoned quarry in Halibut Point State Park, where the windswept views can stretch all the way to Mount Agamenticus in Maine. Wintering birds, like brilliantly colored harlequin ducks feeding near the shoreline and loons hunting for fish, are the focus of free programs the third Sunday of every month.

Rockport; mass.gov/state-parks R E TA I L T H E R A P Y: Just steps from Beauport Hotel, on Gloucester’s Main Street between Pleasant and Washington, you’ll find unique independent retailers such as Bananas (978-283-8806), a

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vintage shop packed to the rafters with flapper dresses, rhinestone jewelry, and outrageous hats. Down the street, Dog Town Books (dogtownbooks.com) sells everything from collectible tomes on New England history to pulp fiction.

D I N I N G P I C K : Named for the Italian word for tuna, Tonno Cucina e Cantina happens to be one of the few places that T.J. Ott, a captain on the Gloucester-based reality TV show Wicked Tuna, will eat the prized fish. Beyond pristine local seafood, look for Italian favorites like handmade pasta with Sunday sauce and pork chops with vinegar peppers. Gloucester; tonnorestaurant.com C U LT U R E H I T: Step through the doors of Shalin Liu Performance Center’s unassuming storefront to find a breathtaking 330-seat theater with rock-lined walls, exposed wood beams, and a grand two-story window overlooking Sandy Bay. The center hosts a diverse array of classical, jazz, folk, world, and pop music concerts, as well as HD broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera and England’s National Theatre.

Beauport guests enjoy complimentary transportation to and from events.

Rockport; rockportmusic.org D O N ’ T- M I S S S T O P : Situated on a peninsula jutting into Gloucester Harbor, the Rocky Neck Cultural District has been attracting artists since the 1800s; everyone from Edward Hopper to Mark Rothko has drawn inspiration from the unique quality of the light and the rocky geography.

While many of the galleries and studios are seasonal, the Salted Cod Arthouse is open daily year-round, selling local art along with excellent coffee, wine, and snacks.

Gloucester; saltedcodarthouse.com

NEWPORT, RI (THE CHANLER AT CLIFF WALK) B R E A K FA S T S P O T: Russell Morin

Catering’s cuisine is the talk of Newport’s most exclusive parties. Not invited? Be wowed by the flavors—and affordable prices—at the company’s casual eatery, Cru Café, where breakfast is served all day and the menus are brightened by local ingredients. Don’t miss the Bellevueblend coffee from Rhode Island’s Custom House Coffee artisanal roasters. Newport; crucafenewport.com N AT U R E O U T I N G : New England’s most

celebrated seaside pathway, the Newport Cliff Walk, is a 3½-mile trail that threads between Gilded Age mansions and the tumbling Atlantic. Much of the path is

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moderate; some is even easy. (Certain stretches do require basic caution, though, since erosion has taken a toll, and wet rocks in spots will require careful navigation.) The walk comes with gifts bestowed equally to all: waves scudding off rocks, boats skimming the water, and a camaraderie with fellow walkers who, like you, feel lucky to be there. Newport; cliffwalk.com R E TA I L T H E R A P Y: From glassware etched with compass roses at the Newport Mansions Store to modern preppy clothing and accessories at Kiel James Patrick, you’ll be filling your bags with postholiday presents for friends and family (and, OK, yourself) at the enticing shops clustered on Newport’s Bowen’s Wharf (bowenswharf.com) and nearby Bannister’s Wharf (bannistersnewport.com).

D I N I N G P I C K : What makes the classic New England–style chowder at The Mooring a standout? It’s perfectly creamy, spattered with paprika, and so loaded with potato cubes and tender, buttery bites of clam that your spoon faces a veritable obstacle course—in a word, perfection.

But a dilemma awaits: Herby-sweet corn chowder swimming with scallops is also on offer, and it has just the right hint of lemon for dunking salty fritters embedded with lobster and shrimp. Newport; mooringrestaurant.com C U LT U R E H I T: Book and library lovers will want to stop by the Redwood Library & Athenaeum, which is considered to be the oldest continuously running lending library in the country, founded in 1747. The architecture is so impressive that Thomas Jefferson himself is said to have used the library as a model for public buildings elsewhere in the young country. Newport; redwoodlibrary.org D O N ’ T- M I S S S T O P : Lose yourself in bygone luxury with a tour of one or more of the Newport Mansions, which include The Breakers and Marble House (both former residences of the Vanderbilt family), Rosecliff (based on the fabled French Grand Trianon at Versailles), and The Elms (a copy of a lavish French estate called Château d’Asnières). Newport; newportmansions.org

WESTBROOK, CT (WATER’S EDGE RESORT & SPA) B R E A K FA S T S P O T: Family-owned

Mirsina’s is known for its homemade baklava and Greek rice pudding. So make it a two-course morning, and chase a twoegg sandwich or a banana-topped Belgian waffle with a breakfast dessert. You’ll still

get away for under $15. Old Saybrook; mirsinasrestaurant.com N AT U R E O U T I N G : A refuge for native animals in need of TLC and an excellent place to learn about coastal habitats, Meigs Point Nature Center at Hammonasset Beach State Park will enfold you in warmth after a windblown walk on the beach. Check the whiteboard for recent wildlife sightings, and you may want to tighten your scarf and head right back out to try spying a seal, bald eagle, redthroated loon, or clown-faced surf scoter.

Madison; meigspointnaturecenter.org R E TA I L T H E R A P Y: January is a time of reckoning for retailers, and that makes the year’s dawn the best time to score factory-outlet deals. Just two exits west on I-95, you’ll find 70 or so of these closeout emporiums clustered in a village-like setting at Clinton Premium Outlets.

Get yourself some Timberland boots, a Vineyard Vines sweatshirt, and a Yankee Candle: You’re an instant New Englander, even if you’ve traveled from away. Clinton; premiumoutlets.com D I N I N G P I C K : As you proceed slowly down the drive at Chamard Vineyards Bistro, whisper for karma to deliver you a table by the fieldstone fireplace. Or make a reservation—that’s maybe better.

Because you don’t want to miss pairing the kind of full-bodied red blends that vanquish winter’s chill with hearty Frenchinspired creations like handmade gnocchi tossed in a brown-butter sauce with shiitakes, roasted butternut squash, and Brussels sprouts. Clinton; chamard.com C U LT U R E H I T: “The Kate,” as the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center is affectionately known, honors Connecticut’s brightest star with a museum devoted to the late screen legend and Old Saybrook resident, plus a busy stage visited by thespians and musicians, storytellers and comedians. Winter’s hottest ticket is the annual Oscar Night Party, complete with a red carpet and photo ops with a real statue (Hepburn won four). Old Saybrook; thekate.org D O N ’ T- M I S S S T O P : For nearly four decades, Janet and Jerry Connolly’s The Audubon Shop has been as much about building community as selling birding books and binoculars. Even if you’ve never contemplated birds with any seriousness, consider gearing up here: Hammonasset is one of the best bird-watching sites on the Eastern Seaboard. Better yet, sign up for one of the shop’s guided group outings. Madison; theaudubonshop.com

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Tipping Point (Continued from p. 96) At the time, Martha’s Vineyard was approaching a critical turning point. Gone were the days when Durkee’s father had to explain to his New York friends where the Vineyard even was. Then, in late August 1993, President Clinton and his family visited the island for the first of several summer vacations there, with idyllic photos of their getaway appearing on the front pages of newspapers around the world.

Other A-listers and an unending real estate boom soon followed.

Today, the Vineyard’s year-round population of 23,000 residents swells to 10 times that size in summer. Many of those arrivals are by ferry to Vineyard Haven, which is where Durkee met me to begin our tour. It was a mild April day, and the island resonated with the soundtrack of a community readying for another busy season.

From the ferry terminal we made the short walk to Five Corners, a tangle of a traffic intersection that’s largely defined by uncertain drivers, the Black Dog Tavern, and an elevation barely above sea level.

“It’s a mess,” Durkee said. “You’ve got stormwater coming down [from areas above the intersection], and you’ve got the harbor on the other side.

It’s always f looding when we have storms, but it’s also the only way to get to the ferry terminal.”

It’s also one of the major routes to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, a little more than a mile away. If the Vineyard has been lucky when it comes to big storms, that’s due to its position largely outside the paths of hurricanes that roll up the East Coast. Its last bout with a Category 4 storm was Hurricane Carol in 1954. And while Carol took a significant toll on the island, the damage that a similar weather event could inflict today, Durkee said, would dwarf that of 70 years ago.

Durkee took us on a slow spin around the hospital. “It’s surrounded by a flood zone on three sides, and the fourth access point would be blocked during a hurricane. It’s a huge pubJANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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“At some point [East Chop Drive] will breach, and the town will need to decide what to do.... What do you give up to save the rest of it?” lic safety issue,” she said, shaking her head. “It was rebuilt only two decades ago and there was talk about moving it, but they decided against it. They rebuilt it a little higher, so maybe the building will be safe—but how are you going to get to it? These are the things that can keep a person up at night.”

We then went to East Chop Drive in Oak Bluffs, a scenic route lined mainly with summer homes where a quarter-mile stretch of road has been closed since 2018 on account of erosion. Even with $13 million in state and federal grants that Durkee had helped secure, the town still needed to come up with nearly $11 million to rebuild the bluff and stabilize the road.

Would this be a permanent f ix?

Durkee doesn’t think so. “It’s not just for the people who have homes on the road—this is a drive that draws people,” she said. “But it’s buying time. At some point the road will breach, and the town will need to decide what to do. Is this an area it wants to keep up, or that it wants to retreat from? What do you give up to save the rest of it?”

From there, we paid a visit to the fishing pier in Menemsha, one of the country’s few remaining public docks where commercial f ishermen have free access to the water. Plans to raise the aging structure—forecasted to be underwater as much as twice a week by 2050 due to rising sea levels—have recently begun. At nearby Squibnocket Beach in Chilmark, we saw where erosion forced the relocation of

the public parking lot. In downtown Edgartown, Durkee pointed out the Edgartown Yacht Club, which in 2019 raised its building by two feet, and Memorial Wharf, which has started doing the same.

One of our f inal stops came on the outskirts of West Tisbury, where we followed a narrow dirt road that abruptly ended with a roped-off section and a “Keep Out” sign that blocked a public parking area—or what was left of it. As we stepped out of the car, a woman emerged from a nearby house and marched toward us.

“You can’t go down there,” Rae Ann Mandell called out. “It’s closed for a reason. It’s very dangerous. The land is unstable. People come out here to rubberneck, and one of these days it’s just going to go.”

After Durkee identified herself, Mandell ’s tone softened, and she offered to lead us on a careful tour of the compromised area. It looked like a war zone: cliff faces sheared off, the wreckage of a wooden staircase on the beach, twisted and turned on its side.

“We used to spend a couple thousand dollars a year to fix things here and there, but in the 2010s we started getting major damage.” She took a long breath. “And now we’re here.”

Mandell invited us into her home, a rambling shingled house she and her husband, Sam, built two decades before to replace a smaller dwelling that had sat closer to the bluff. She opened photo albums and narrated a brief history of the property. Early pictures of the old house. Her and Sam’s wedding in 1966. Their three kids. A backyard that once extended farther than it does today.

The Mandells’ house seemed safe for now—but were they worried?

Sam waved off the question. “There’s been a lot of erosion, but it comes in fits and starts,” he said. “I’d say there’s another 100 years before there’s a real problem. I have no concerns.”

After all, he added, “We’ll be dead.” n a curious way, though, the cliIVineyard mate crisis has presented Martha’s with another inf lection

point. How the coming years are | 115

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managed may once again remake the island’s identity.

With a median home price now sitting at $1.45 million, the Vineyard’s soaring real estate values have put a squeeze on housing availability.

There’s been no shortage of development, but much of that has centered on second homes and short-term rentals. The building boom has simultaneously raised the stakes for local conservation efforts on the Vineyard, where for every acre of land conserved, another three get developed.

As a consequence, islanders have been spurred to take action. Aquinnah voters last year gave the green light to banning fossil-fuel systems in new construction, and in 2021 voters in West Tisbury overwhelmingly approved restricting of the size of future houses.

The MVC is now collaborating with the Army Corps of Engineers on the island’s most comprehensive study to date of its resource and infrastructure demands, the results of which could motivate communities to consider other environmentally driven regulations.

But it’s not just about drawing up new rules. In Vineyard Haven, the nonprof it Island Grown Initiative (IGI) has turned a 42-acre farm into a robust agricultural lab of no-till farming, hydroponics, and futuristic LED pods that can grow greens year-round.

IGI reaches into the community, too, helping establish gardens at Vineyard schools and regularly hosting tours and learning sessions at its farm.

As Durkee described it, “This is a chance to see different opportunities—to make things better and create more local jobs as we try to green the economy.”

An even bigger example of that was on display at a groundbreaking by the water last May in downtown Vineyard Haven. The push to get the Vineyard completely off fossil fuels in the next 16 years may sound idealistic, but it’s had traction. Solar now accounts for 9 percent of the island’s energy use; in the past three years alone, nearly 1,200 arrays have been installed across the Vineyard. The real difference-maker, however, may be found in the waters of Nantucket Sound.

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The dream of tapping into the power of ocean wind is not new. The much-ballyhooed Cape Wind Project—which would have been the nation’s f irst-ever offshore w ind fa r m—made he ad l i ne s when it launched in 2001 … and then made many more as it stumbled to its demise more than a decade later under a crush of local opposition. In its wake, wind developers turned their focus to a more remote stretch of federal waters; last fall, Vineyard Wind installed the first of its 62 turbines, each of which will rise more than 800 feet above the water in an area 15 miles south of the island. As the first commercial offshore wind farm in the country, it’s a linchpin in the Biden administration’s pledge to build 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind over the next decade.

At full strength, it will produce as much as 800 megawatts of energy on its own, or enough power to light up some 400,000 Massachusetts homes and businesses.

Vineyard Wind’s $4 billion price tag was covered by federal subsidies, tax credits, and international backing (the project is a joint effort between Avangrid Renewables, a U.S. subsidiary of a Spanish utility, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a Danish investment firm). But the project owes its existence in no small part to Vineyard Power, a local energy cooperative that has spent more than a decade laying the groundwork for the development of large-scale renewable energy projects. And that, according to Vineyard Power president Richard Andre, means wind.

“That’s what we have here,” he told me. “In other parts of the country, like Arizona, it’s solar, but in the Northeast, the way we can get off all fossil fuels and into renewables is through offshore wind.”

The groundbreaking in Vineyard Haven last May was for a new marine terminal. By the end of the year, docks would extend from the lot, anchoring the daily commute of turbine techs and supplies to the wind farm. Against a backdrop of construction pylons, a massive crane, and the harbor gleamed the promise of the future: an artist’s

rendering of the new terminal and its transport vessels. Photographers angled for shots, while politicians and Vineyard Wind officials received rounds of applause.

Beyond all the “greening the grid” and “trailblazing” talk, however, was the project’s other point of celebration: its boost to the local economy. It’s expected that Vineyard Wind will create 90 new positions, from turbine techs to administrative staff to ship crews, many with salaries north of $80,000 a year. Stable jobs outside the tourist economy, the argument went, are also important in the Vineyard’s ability to contend with climate change.

“One of the things we need to do is create a 21st-century economy,” Andre said. “Having an economy that is so touristy and so seasonal puts stress on other parts of life here.

It stresses housing, it puts a stress on people who need to make most of their money for the year in 10 weeks. Good jobs go away, and locals get pushed out. So this isn’t just about addressing climate change. We’re also addressing economic resiliency so that people can still move here, buy a house, start a family.”

In its deal with Vineyard Wind, Andre’s cooperative also subsidized other tools to contend with climate change on the island—most notably, new battery and solar backups at critical facilities such as schools and municipal buildings.

“We can be a model for other communities,” Andre said. “There can be an ecotourism part of this, where people can come and see how we’re doing things. There’s a real hunger for this.

It’s obvious. Loads of communities want to do this kind of thing, but they just don’t know how. Maybe we can show them.” very April, the Wampanoag Tribe E of Gay Head hosts a planting day at Lobsterville Beach on Aquin-

nah’s north shore. Stretching some two miles along Vineyard Sound with direct views of Menemsha across the channel, Lobsterville carries an importance for the native community that spans most of the estimated NEWENGLAND.COM

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10,000 years the tribe has called the island home. Its waters have long run with striped bass and bonito, while the lands behind it are home to one of the last remaining stretches of naturally occurring cranberry bog in the state.

In the words of former tribal chairman Tobias Vanderhoop, the concept of land ownership was very different for his Wampanoag ancestors. “We call these the common lands because they were particular areas [that] were held in common and the resources were available to anyone who needed to avail themselves of those resources.”

The planting day on Lobsterville Beach is no mere symbolic event. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy ravaged the dunes and parts of the paved road that runs alongside the water, leaving a diminished, rocky beachscape in its wake. For the recovery effort, 65,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from Menemsha Harbor were pumped onto the shoreline. Then the work began to stabilize the new beach. In 2016, Aquinnah hosted its first planting volunteers.

Since then, the vitality of the beach has grown alongside the popularity of the event. Last year 75 volunteers turned out to plant more than 20,000 strands of American beach grass into the sand. The group was a crosssection of the island: parents with young children, a few early summer residents, retirees, and tribal elders and their younger counterparts. There was a social quality to it (the free coffee and doughnuts didn’t hurt), and for some the morning also served as a catching-up time after the long winter.

Before the planting began, the tribe’s historic preservation officer, Bettina Washington, asked the volunteers to form a large group and hold hands with their neighbors. Then she led them in prayer and gave thanks for the day. There was a certain solemnness in the air as Washington spoke.

Kids stood still. A nearby woman teared up.

When it was time to work, volunteers paired off and grabbed their bundles of grass. “I’m out here fly fishing a lot,” Dave, an older man from Edgartown, told me. “I had an amazing year last year, and this is my way of giving JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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yet another in a long line of existential “You look around threats they’ve had to navigate.

“You look around and you see how and you see how much has already changed,” tribal elder Kristina Hook told me. “There are much has already areas I can’t go to anymore, like I did changed. There are when I was growing up. There’s water I can’t drink. I look at some of these houses that go up, and I just don’t get areas I can’t go to it. If what you want to do is look over anymore like I did Menemsha Pond with a fire going, do you really need six bedrooms? when I was growing “It might sound like sour grapes but it isn’t. We know this land has got its up. There’s water limits and we aren’t acknowledging that. And climate change is just makI can’t drink.” ing it go faster.”

back.” He walked about 100 feet onto the beach and started planting. Soon, he paused to look around. “Makes you appreciate what we have a little more when you do this.”

The plants themselves didn’t look like much: pale brown and dainty, even fragile. But their slight appearance belied their power, according to Andrew Jacobs, manager of the Wampanoag Environmental Laboratory. “[Beach grass] is doing a couple of different important things,” he said.

“The stem comes up and stops the sand from being windswept through.

Below, it starts to grow sideways and in every other direction to create this incredible matrix with the neighboring plants.” He pointed to a nearby dune that stood a good six feet high.

“That’s a direct result of the fruits of our labor. That dune built up because of the planting we did there a few years ago.”

But there will be more storms— some likely even worse than Sandy— putting at risk not just Aquinnah’s low-lying areas like Lobsterville, but also food crops, important Wampanoag archeological sites, and cultural resources. Continued development, meanwhile, has already fractured the area’s open spaces and leached nitrogen into its freshwater ponds. For the Wampanoag, a community so closely aligned with tradition and a relationship to the land, climate change poses

riting about her adopted home W in her 1973 book No Island Is an Island, the author and environmen-

talist Ann W. Simon foresaw many of the looming challenges that Martha’s Vineyard now faces. Change was embedded in the island’s earliest sand deposits, she noted, but the pace and turbulence of the next period of change was up to us. And as the Vineyard went, so would the rest of the country.

“An intelligent solution to the Vi ne y a rd ’s ac ute problems w i l l hearten the nation, its extinction as an entity will lose us a chance that will not come again,” she wrote. “Martha’s Vineyard is not just another place, ripe for ravaging, but a unique national treasure…. It is, in fact, the only place in all of New England where the ceaseless interaction between the land and sea can be demonstrated for the past one hundred million years.

The island has been a lush primeval forest, a submerged ocean f loor, rising from the sea in some ancient eras to support the dinosaurs of the time, or to become a great plain where small camels wandered, then covered again by waters. Each period leaves its mark in the material of the Vineyard’s clay beds.”

In the more than half a century since, however, it’s become more complicated than even Simon could have imagined. Maybe the Vineyard does set an example. Maybe solar arrays, offshore wind, and electric cars proliferate. Maybe there is a managed | 117

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Kate Warner, a solar power advocate and the regional energy planner for the MVC, at home in West Tisbury with her grid-connected backyard solar array.

eventually led to the development of Vineyard Power. Under her direction, high-profile solar installations went in at sites including the Aquinnah cliffs, the Chilmark Community Center, and the West Tisbury School.

For 10 years, Warner poured every part of herself into the work. Until she couldn’t.

“I realized it was the greatest environmental challenge before us,” she said. “And I thought people were going to join me because here we are, this low-lying community, the seas are going to rise around us, people will understand the concern. But I remember this guy came up to me in Vineyard Haven. He said, ‘I was just in Boston and it didn’t look like any seas were rising there.’ What could I

“I’m frightened— climate change is happening a lot faster than we thought it would.

But you have to keep trying.”

say? Eventually I burned out and I had to step away.”

That was in 2008. Then, a decade later, on what she describes as a whim, Warner attended a climate-change meeting in her hometown. That first meeting led to another, and another.

She rejoined the West Tisbury Energy Committee, then became its chair. A little became a lot again.

Now a member of the island ’s Climate Action Task Force, she was tapped in late 2022 by the MVC to fill a new position: regional energy planner. Today she’s on the front lines of the island’s most ambitious energyrelated pursuits, such as advocating that the Steamship Authority ferry operator convert its vessels from diesel to battery power.

What changed? The time off certainly helped, said Warner, but she also sees an island that is committed to fighting climate change in a way it wasn’t ready for two decades ago.

“There’s more of a community that’s involved in this than before, working on all these different fronts, and that’s encouraging,” she said. “Because it’s hard to stay optimistic about this when you look at where things might be headed. I’m frightened—climate change is happening a lot faster than we thought it would. But you have to keep trying. You need a big group, and I feel like we have that right now.”

SAM MOORE

retreat from its most vulnerable coastal areas. But it’s a big world out there.

There are other communities that can’t—or just f latly refuse to—recognize the urgency that is being felt by the Vineyard. In the end, the island may do everything it needs to do and it could still suffer great harm.

You’ve seen the headlines: In 2022, an ice shelf the size of Los Angeles disintegrated in East Antarctica. Last year, Canadian wildfires burned more than 25 million acres, turning the sky orange, and in late July, our planet hit its highest average temperatures in recorded history. Even the relatively stable region of New England has shown its fragility, with the Gulf of Maine ranking as the fastest-warming waters in the world and Vermont suffering extreme flooding for the second time in 12 years last summer.

But this race aga inst c l imate change doesn’t have a finish line— and may not even follow a straight path. Perhaps no Vineyard resident knows this better than Kate Warner.

A retired architect who has called the island home for nearly four decades, Warner lives in a tidy house she built in West Tisbury with grounds that are adorned with raised garden beds and an ample solar array. In the early 1990s, her house was the first on the Vineyard to incorporate solar electricity, and in 1995 she brought the first electric car to the island.

“I told my [architecture] clients if they wanted to build a house with me, they needed to put in solar,” she told me.

“These weren’t their primary homes, and I felt they needed to give something back to the planet for the gift of having a second or even a third house.”

She laughed. “That didn’t prove to be too popular.”

So Warner left her architecture career to devote herself full-time to renewable energy development. She started her own business, which used U.S. Department of Energy grants to install the first 100 solar setups on the island. In the early 2000s, Warner founded the Vineyard Energy Project, a nonprofit solar education group that offered workshops to builders, school groups, and others; its work

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Life in the Kingdom (Continued from p. 120) a bit stressful, to be sure, but look at how prepared I am otherwise! Surely I can weather this minor wrinkle. I limp the car to Bryan’s, who runs a small garage one town over. To reach it, you have to cross a one-way bridge and then navigate a narrow, rutted road that doubles as a snowmobile trail in winter. I like using Bryan as a mechanic in part because he’s good and fair, in part because he’s close, and in part because of that bridge and that little stretch of road.

Bryan says, sure, no problem, he’ll have it ready to go in plenty of time for our trip, which is probably all the foreshadowing you need to know that, in fact, my car will not be ready to go in plenty of time for our trip. Again, I take this in stride. The old Ram truck is also a fine touring vehicle—a little thirsty, perhaps, but one adapts to these things, especially when one has no choice.

Except: Two days before we are scheduled to leave, the truck begins throwing fits. First, the check engine light illuminates, and while it’s true that I’ve remedied many a check engine light with the time-tested technique of covering it with electrical tape (there, all better!), that’s not going to work this time. Because pretty soon the light isn’t merely illuminated but actually flashing on and off frenetically, as if to say: Yo, there’s actually something wrong here, dude. Pay attention! Plus, the truck is running in an alarmingly sputtery way that does not bode well for a 600-mile drive into the heart of our nation’s capital. So: time for plan B. Or maybe plan C. Or whichever plan we’re on by now.

I’ll spare you the details of my lastminute scramble to procure a rental car in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (which, as it turns out, actually requires procuring a rental car in New Hampshire), and divulge that we made it to D.C. on time, retrieved Rye from the airport, explored the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History as well as the National Gallery of Art, JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2024

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walked a few dozen miles, achieved the seemingly impossible feat of vanishing every last carrot I’d packed, and had, by all accounts, a whopping good time.

Everywhere we went, I was amazed at the diversity of faces and dress, and I was struck anew by just how big the world truly is, at how much difference it accommodates. And, not unrelated, by just how small I’ve made my own life.

This might sound like self-deprecation, but I don’t intend it that way; a modest life is not inherently wrong. But I think it would be wrong to not acknowledge such smallness, along with the accompanying truth of how varied the human experience truly is.

The concert exceeded our wildest expectations, and thanks to the boys’ insistence that we line up outside the venue five hours early, in the rain, we were front and center from beginning to end, singing along to every word of every song they played. The energy was sufficient to carry me through the following day’s drive home on four hours of sleep, with Fin conked out in the passenger

seat, only my thoughts for company.

Yet for me, the show wasn’t the highlight. Rather, it was that the weekend planted the seed of an understanding of how I’ll continue to connect with my sons, even as they move into the world far beyond this tiny town in a remote corner of this small state. For all these years—nearly 22 of them now—I’ve not had to be so intentional. The path we chose made connection come naturally, without much forethought or planning.

But things have changed, as they were always bound to do, even when such change seemed unimaginable.

Now, there will be planning. Now, there will be tickets to concerts and to airplanes. There will be long drives and coolers full of carrots and cheese. Given my proclivity for end-stage vehicles, there may yet be last-minute scrambles for rental cars. It won’t be as simple as it once was. It won’t be as easy as it once was. But will it be worth it? As any of you with adult children already know, the answer is simple: more than I could possibly imagine.

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Life in the Kingdom | B E N H E W I T T

Best-Laid Plans

Embarking on a family trip can bring unexpected obstacles—and revelations.

ILLUSTR ATION BY TOM HAUGOMAT

n September, with the nights just beginning to cool, my boys and I have plans to travel to Washington, D.C., to see our favorite band, the Turnpike Troubadours. The Troubadours are from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and, if you believe Wikipedia, they are a “country music band,” although I suspect that anyone familiar with their music would find this description wanting. I know I do.

But no matter how you define their style, they have been our favorite band for as long as we’ve known they existed, which now is nearly a decade. Ever since their reunion in 2022 following an extended hiatus, they’ve become popular enough to routinely sell out large stadiums; the D.C. gig is one of only two smallish, general-admission shows they’ll play this year, which is all the excuse we needed to procure tickets way back in April, while there were still tickets to be had.

The idea is for Fin and me to drive 10 hours to D.C., leaving in the wee hours in order to make it to the distant airport in time to pick up Rye, who will fly in from Wyoming, where he’s spent the summer on a ranch, training horses and leading rides into the mountains. I’ve got it all figured out: There’s 120 |

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an Airbnb reservation with our name on it, and I’ve filled a cooler with enough food to (hopefully) last us the weekend.

There is a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of homemade bread plus another of store-bought, a two-pound block of cheese, and more carrots than it seems possible can be consumed in three days. There’s granola and milk, and not one but two quarts of yogurt. I’ve even packed a bag of coffee beans, my little handcrank grinder, and a Moka pot. By my standards, all this demonstrates an impressive degree of forethought and planning (Tickets purchased in April! Airbnb reserved in June!

Rye’s flight booked in July! Food procured an entire week in advance!), and I’m feeling very much pleased with myself.

So pleased, in fact, that it hardly bothers me when, five days before our scheduled departure, I’m driving over the Mountain Road and manage to dislodge a rock that is somehow propelled upward with enough force to puncture a hole in the oil pan of my old Volvo. It’s a mortal wound: The oil runs out in a steady stream, like a ruptured artery. This is (Continued on p. 119) NEWENGLAND.COM

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