To What Extent does Yankee Culture still exist in New England (Boston: school, live)

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by missionhill

The Indian pudding at Durgin-Park was terrific although many years since I’ve beein in.

The Wayside Inn had a good one too.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by oihamad

As important as the issue of finding real Maple Syrup is, it would be great to see more posts on the general subject of Yankee Culture and where it exists in New England, unless that subject has been thoroughly exhausted. I am sure there are others with insights to share though!

Yankees disappearing is kind of the same as restaurants in New England no long serving pancakes with real maple syrup. Yankees exist but they’re now uncommon. Same for getting maple syrup instead of imitation maple flavored HFCS.

The lack of economic opportunity in rural New England has made the traditional Yankee increasingly rare. Their grandchildren all live in urban and suburban places. New England is a geographically small place. Other than northern Maine, you can get anywhere rural to a major job center in a few hours.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yankees disappearing is kind of the same as restaurants in New England no long serving pancakes with real maple syrup. Yankees exist but they’re now uncommon. Same for getting maple syrup instead of imitation maple flavored HFCS.

The lack of economic opportunity in rural New England has made the traditional Yankee increasingly rare. Their grandchildren all live in urban and suburban places. New England is a geographically small place. Other than northern Maine, you can get anywhere rural to a major job center in a few hours.

As with anything, the old ways gradually disappear. Old yankees...yesterday I was with some old friends and of course, we started talking about genealogy, a shared interest. He showed me a picture of his grandfather and I blurted out, "He looks like an old time yankee!" The friend said, yes he was. There he sat, outdoors in a chair, a bottle of Moxie in one hand, a cigar hanging out of his mouth, some sort of hat on his heat, ruddy cheeks, deadpan expression on his face. I think he said the guy had lived on vast acreage out in the hill towns of WMass. He was either the one who was a grandson of Pres. Rutherford B Hayes or he was related to William Cullen Bryant, the writer. Just a plain, humble farmer type, old yankee stock.

They could be found living out in the hill towns of WMass a generation ago. Now those towns seem to have gentrified a bit, probably due to the Northampton influence, and I don't think you'd find that type living there now.

This same friend with the "old yankee" grandfather had people on the other side of his family who lived around East Haddam, CT. He said they were real old yankees too. Quiet and unassuming, humble and hard working. But that area isn't the same anymore either.

The wife's family comes from rural Harvard MA. Her family goes back to the Mayflower. If you've never been to the town of Harvard, there's practically nothing there! I think there's a general store and not much else. I think you would see the old people sitting out on their front porches of their unpretentious homes. Simple life. That family has money but you'd never know it. Not rich, just middle class, but never strove to be anything that they weren't. They'd probably get along well with people in northern Vermont or Maine--same yankee stock and same shared values. The men would probably sit around the pot bellied stove in winter and tell tall tales or talk about the weather.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

The wife's family comes from rural Harvard MA. Her family goes back to the Mayflower. If you've never been to the town of Harvard, there's practically nothing there! I think there's a general store and not much else. I think you would see the old people sitting out on their front porches of their unpretentious homes. Simple life. That family has money but you'd never know it. Not rich, just middle class, but never strove to be anything that they weren't. They'd probably get along well with people in northern Vermont or Maine--same yankee stock and same shared values. The men would probably sit around the pot bellied stove in winter and tell tall tales or talk about the weather.

Harvard? The town has a median-family income of $153k - higher than Brookline, Acton, Hingham, Cohasset, Manch-Sea, etc. If Harvard is a humble middle class farm town, then I must be living in a favela.

Harvard has been a desirable bucolic bedroom community for Boston and Worcester intellectuals/elite for nearly a century and it's people and housing stock reflect this. I love the town and, for the most part, the educated and capable people within ... but lets not delude ourselves into thinking it's Dummerston, VT. Most in town living 'humble lives' are doing so by choice, not necessity.

[The_General]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

Harvard? The town has a median-family income of $153k - higher than Brookline, Acton, Hingham, Cohasset, Manch-Sea, etc. If Harvard is a humble middle class farm town, then I must be living in a favela.

Harvard has been a desirable bucolic bedroom community for Boston and Worcester intellectuals/elite for nearly a century and it's people and housing stock reflect this. I love the town and, for the most part, the educated and capable people within ... but lets not delude ourselves into thinking it's Dummerston, VT. Most in town living 'humble lives' are doing so by choice, not necessity.

I would still guess Harvard is at best 15-20 percent of English decent. Probably more Irish or French

[CaseyB]

Harvard = wealthy, rural, excellent schools.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

Harvard? The town has a median-family income of $153k - higher than Brookline, Acton, Hingham, Cohasset, Manch-Sea, etc. If Harvard is a humble middle class farm town, then I must be living in a favela.

Harvard has been a desirable bucolic bedroom community for Boston and Worcester intellectuals/elite for nearly a century and it's people and housing stock reflect this. I love the town and, for the most part, the educated and capable people within ... but lets not delude ourselves into thinking it's Dummerston, VT. Most in town living 'humble lives' are doing so by choice, not necessity.

I was referring to my friend who comes from there, not about how wealthy the town is. And her ancestors came over on the Mayflower, making them the original yankee stock. That's all. And it is a traditional yankee trait to live a plain, humble life whether out of choice or necessity. With her family it is by choice. They see no need to show off. People with old time New England values will often drive an old beater and are not ostentatious. They are not comfortable with outward displays of wealth.

Her extended family lives in an ordinary house and they are so down to earth that they probably would get along fine with people of less wealthy yankee stock from the backwoods of Vermont. Rich or poor, it's all the same old yankee stock. (I don't know about the rest of the town, just my friend and her family. Maybe her family goes back for generations in that town but I don't know that.)

[LilyMae521]

I've been following this interesting thread.

I think that some Yankee culture does still exist to a great deal in New England. But Yankee "culture" -by definition- is quite often the type of "culture" that generally goes unnoticed. (as per some of the posts here, with which I agree- "reserved", "frugal", "modest", "lack of ostentation"... ) So, it's kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack.

My people (I write these two words with a sense of unease bc the original Yankees were not always nice guys, imo) came over "with the Winthrop party in 1630". I guess this makes me a Yankee. As I age, I recognize more and more how much of the way I have lived my life followed in my father's footsteps and is indeed a small pocket of Yankee culture. In addition to being learned behaviors from my upbringing, it sometimes also feels just. plain. genetic. And, I'm in CT, so there's that.

But if you're looking for Yankee culture, here's my tip, which I type only partially in jest-

When in conversation with a possible Yankee, one sure fire way to make a definitive diagnosis is to look closely for a cocked eyebrow that implies skepticism. If you see it, then you got yourself a live one.


As an aside, I just came back up from down south, where I was talking with some new acquaintances. I said, in what I thought was a nice way, that I was not fond of the South in general and the response was, Oh. So, you're a Yankee." I didn't understand how what I said lead to that conclusion and wish I had asked, but that's another thread.

[tysmith95]

I think maybe in the south they refer a Yankee as someone who is generally from the north, and not nessicarly the old cluture or bloodline.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by LilyMae521

As an aside, I just came back up from down south, where I was talking with some new acquaintances. I said, in what I thought was a nice way, that I was not fond of the South in general and the response was, Oh. So, you're a Yankee." I didn't understand how what I said lead to that conclusion and wish I had asked, but that's another thread.

To many people in the South, everybody from up North is a Yankee.