The 1956 sinking of the Andrea Doria off Nantucket was the most shocking maritime disaster since the Titanic. It happened in peacetime on a calm summer day. The Andrea Doria was equipped with radar, the latest technology. So was the ...

The wild Maine blueberry was an underappreciated fruit for centuries until the Civil War put it on the national map. "We do not realize how rich our country is in berries," noted Henry David Thoreau in his lost manuscript Wild ...

As summer begins hinting at fall, fairs and festivals will begin preparing for that oddest of contests: Who can grow the biggest pumpkin? The tradition can trace its roots back to 1857 and Henry David Thoreau. The eccentric naturalist, author, ...

In 1809, a man named William Jarvis sent a flock of Spanish sheep to America and altered the landscape and the economy of Vermont. The prized merino sheep from Spain turned Vermont’s subsistence farmers into wealthy ranchers, fed the new ...

The summer season inspires far fewer sayings in New England than spring, fall or winter, probably because it’s so short and so cool. After all, three straight days of 90 degrees is considered a heat wave in New England. The ...

Sometime around 1630, John Endecott planted a pear tree with the hope it would live for generations. He got his wish with the Endicott Pear Tree, believed to be the oldest living cultivated fruit tree in North America. The tree survived harsh winters, ...

When First Lady Jackie Kennedy visited England in 1961, society photographer Cecil Beaton met her at a dinner party. In his journal he commented she had a ‘Negroid’ appearance. Beaton detected what some claimed is Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis’s African ...

It’s not exactly clear when the first horse officially called a Narragansett Pacer appeared in Rhode Island, though it was likely in the late 1600s and its emergence marked the first true American breed of horse. In 1672, John Hull ...

During the 19th century, deaf Vineyarders made up a disproportionate number of people born on the island in southeastern Massachusetts. One in every 155 people on Martha’s Vineyard was born deaf.  Elsewhere in the United States, it was close to ...

In 1810, Zareh Colburn took Vermont – and the world – by storm with his uncanny mathematical ability. Born in 1804 in Cabot, Vermont, Zareh’s parents were simple farmers. His family was poor and he was the youngest of six ...