Illustration · The Modern Yankee
The Cover Story Cape Cod · Summer 2026
Off-Season Cape Cod, when the lobster shacks are quiet and the locals come back.
Cape Cod after Columbus Day: half the price, twice the room at the counter, and the lobster shacks that actually stay open. A case for the off-season weekend.
- 12 Towns
- 4 Days
- 168 Miles
Travel Guides · Field-tested
Six states. One almanac.
Slow itineraries, walked twice.
Cape Ann Lighthouses: A One-Day Driving Tour
Read guide
Lubec, Maine: The Easternmost Town in the United States
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Acadia's Park Loop Road: A Mile-by-Mile Driving Guide
Read guide
Where to Stay in Bar Harbor: Inn, Cottage, B&B, and Camping
Read guide
Where The Holdovers Was Filmed: A New England Locations Guide
Read guide
Latest from the Almanac
More recent entries.
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food
The Wild Blueberry Picking Map: Maine Barrens and Where the Public Can Pick
Where the public can pick wild Maine blueberries during the August harvest. The barrens, the public-access lands, and where to buy a real wood-handled rake.
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food
The Vermont Cheese Trail Map: 25 Cheesemakers and the Drive That Connects Them
Twenty-five Vermont cheesemakers worth visiting, organized into a three-day driving tour with the cheeses that anchor each stop. Jasper Hill, Cabot, Shelburne.
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travel
Sand Beach to Otter Cliff in Half a Day: The Most Photographed Mile of Acadia
The most-photographed half-mile of Acadia. Pink-sand beach, sea-cave thunder, granite cliff face, and how to time the half-day to do it well.
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outdoors
The New England Surf Spot Field Guide: Beaches, Swells, and the Tide-and-Wind Window
Eight named New England beach breaks plus the rare point breaks, with how to read swell, wind, and tide for whether they're working today.
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food
The New England Sugarhouse Open House Master Directory: Every Public Sugarhouse, Every State
Every New England sugarhouse with a public open-house event. Vermont's fourth weekend of March, Maine Maple Sunday, the calendar by state.
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outdoors
The New England Ski Resort Comparison Matrix: 30 Resorts Ranked by Trip Type
Thirty New England ski resorts ranked by trip type — destination, regional, local hill — with vertical, season, pass coverage, and Saturday-line reality.
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travel
The New England Working Lighthouse Tour Schedule: When 30 Lighthouses Open Their Doors
When 30 New England lighthouses open their doors to the public. Portland Head, Pemaquid, Boston Light, the seasonal tour schedule by state.
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food
New England Heritage Apple Orchards: 10 Historic Orchards Still Operating
Ten verified New England orchards that specialize in heritage apple varieties — Tower Hill, Scott Farm, Gould Hill — and what to ask for at each.
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outdoors
The New England Spring Peepers Calendar: When and Where to Hear the First Frogs
When New England's spring peepers start calling, where to hear them, and the nine-day shift in the chorus window scientists have measured since 1971.
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heritage
The New England General Store Working List: 50 Survivors, by State
Fifty surviving New England general stores — built before 1965, post office, lunch counter, community function. The detailed working list.
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food
The New England Farmer's Market Calendar: 80 Markets and Their Opening Dates
Eighty New England farmers' markets and their opening dates. Year-round options, seasonal markets, and which days each operates.
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food
Shirred Eggs: The Forgotten New England Breakfast
Eggs baked in a ramekin with cream and butter — the Boston hotel breakfast every grand inn served from 1890 to 1960 and almost nobody makes at home anymore.
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heritage
The New England Drive-In Theater Survivors Map: 12 Still Lit, Where to Sit, What to Watch
Twelve drive-in theaters still operating in New England, all family-owned, mostly converted to digital projection. Where to sit and what's playing.
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outdoors
Sea Smoke: When the Maine Coast Steams in January
When the air drops to zero and the ocean is still 38, the coast steams. Six places where January sea smoke is most reliable, with photography notes and safety reality.
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outdoors
Dog-Friendly New England Beaches: A Seasonal Field Guide to Where Dogs Are Welcome
When and where dogs are welcome on New England beaches. The off-season rule, the year-round exceptions, and the towns that fine for violations.
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heritage
Ribbon Candy: The Heritage Christmas Candy and Where It's Still Hand-Pulled
The pleated, hand-pulled Christmas candy that used to sit in every New England grandmother's cut-glass dish — and the Brockton factory still making it the old way.
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heritage
The New England Covered Bridge Atlas: 200 Bridges, Five States, the Engineering and the Drive
200 historic covered bridges across five states, organized by the engineering: Town lattice, Howe truss, Burr arch. The day-drives that hit multiple.
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outdoors
New England Birding Hotspots by Migration Window: 20 IBAs and When to Be There
Twenty IBAs across New England with their migration windows. Mount Auburn for warblers, Wachusett for hawk watch, Plum Island for waterfowl.
From the Editor
“I started this almanac because I got tired of people pretending New England was only what you see on postcards. It's a place of weather and our stubborn opinions, and the best is found in the people who know to bring a second sweater and that clam chowder is white.”
Bill Raymond
As featured in The Wall Street Journal, 2020 Independent since 2015
The Almanac Shop · In the works
Goods we'd actually own.
Print volumes of the almanac, hand-thrown stoneware, paper goods, and a small line of New England-made apparel — made in small runs. Readers of The Saturday Letter get first access.
Join the listThe Almanac · Destinations
Six states.
One coast.
From the granite of Down East Maine to the dunes of Truro — every destination here has been visited at least twice, and usually in the worst possible weather.