New England [antikvár]

FOREWORD New England is America's most defined region. There can be lively debate about what constitutes the West or the South or the Mid-West. But there is no doubt about the six historic states—Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont—that make up New England. One can Hve fifty feet across the Vermont line in New York and not be a New Englander, not possess the same independent ways or emotional attachment to the past. Named New England by Captain John Smith as he explored the Massachusetts coast in 1614, the area's first European settlers were guided by a stern religion that encouraged isolation and a deep respect for privacy. Indeed, the romantic notion of New England as a hardscrabble, pastoral haven of feisty individuahsts is truly rooted in reality and has been reinforced by an influx of outsiders—"emotional New Englanders"—who have brought even more zeal than some natives to the fight to retain the region's character. Together, the region's six renowned states possess an arresting collective personality, yet each state retains a character and charm all its own. Massachusetts—where protests against British taxes and tariff would prompt boycotts of British goods, resulting in the "Boston Tea Party" and, ultimately, the American Revolution—is not only home to many of America's most important and exciting cultural landmarks, but is a highly urbanized and industrialized state as well. Connecticut, "The Constitution State," now a weekend and day-trippers' paradise, full of quaint inns, fabulous museums, and plenty of smooth sailing on the Long Island Sound, was settled by squatters, in 1639, on land bordering the Connecticut River. Drafting a document called the "Fundamental Orders," these pioneers established a government that can be viewed as the world's oldest autonomous, self-governing entity. Robert Frost once wrote, "It's restful just to think about New Hampshire." With its modest seashore, spectacular mountains, picturesque villages, covered bridges, old country homes, and small industries. New Hampshire is often voted America's most livable state. In Maine, lobstermen still fish the same backbreaking way their forefathers did. Winters are long; cabin fever runs high; and during spring's "mud season," newly thawed dirt roads are all but impassable. Yet, the state's prized lobster bakes, lighthouse tours, snowmobiling excursions, and moose-watching safaris draw visitors again and again. Vermont, land of rolling dairy farms, world-famous maple syrup, and the glorious Green Mountains, has been discovered by developers, tourists, enthusiastic new residents, and parents seeking summer camps for their children. And, finally, tiny Rhode Island, founded as a haven from religious persecution, boasts an Ivy League college (Brown) and some of the nation's most extravagant mansions, including The Breakers, the magnificent summer "cottage" of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Today, although three-fourths of all New Englanders live in cities, and there are twelve times more white-collar professionals than farmers and fishermen combined, outlanders still come looking for the simple farmhouse, the lobsterman or the white, steepled Congregational church on the manicured green—images planted in the mind forever by artists like Norman Rockwell and Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives. New England, it seems, is a state of mind.