Lace up your boots and experience some of the best hiking in New England. Whether you are a day-tripper or long-distance hiker, old hand or novice, you'll find trails suited to every ability and interest. The Connecticut Forest & Park Association (CFPA) maintains over 825 miles of Blue-Blazed Trails in Connecticut, trails that wind through state parks and forests, land trusts, and across private land. The Connecticut Walk Book is a comprehensive guide to these trails, including detailed, full-color maps, mileage/destination tables, and a lay-flat design for ease of use. In this twentieth edition of the Connecticut Walk Book you will find descriptions of the hikes with maps that are clear and easy to read and follow, parking information, and trip-planning essentials that will bring you to every trail. Publication of this book is funded by the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

The area known as Dogtown -- an isolated colonial ruin and surrounding 3,000-acre woodland in storied seaside Gloucester, Massachusetts -- has long exerted a powerful influence over artists, writers, eccentrics, and nature lovers. But its history is also woven through with tales of witches, supernatural sightings, pirates, former slaves, drifters, and the many dogs Revolutionary War widows kept for protection and for which the area was named. In 1984, a brutal murder took place there: a mentally disturbed local outcast crushed the skull of a beloved schoolteacher as she walked in the woods. Dogtown's peculiar atmosphere -- it is strewn with giant boulders and has been compared to Stonehenge -- and eerie past deepened the pall of this horrific event that continues to haunt Gloucester even today. In alternating chapters, Elyssa East interlaces the story of this grisly murder with the strange, dark history of this wilderness ghost town and explores the possibility that certain landscapes wield their own unique power. East knew nothing of Dogtown's bizarre past when she first became interested in the area. As an art student in the early 1990s, she fell in love with the celebrated Modernist painter Marsden Hartley's stark and arresting Dogtown landscapes. She also learned that in the 1930s, Dogtown saved Hartley from a paralyzing depression. Years later, struggling in her own life, East set out to find the mysterious setting that had changed Hartley's life, hoping that she too would find solace and renewal in Dogtown's odd beauty. Instead, she discovered a landscape steeped in intrigue and a community deeply ambivalent about the place: while many residents declare their passion for this profoundly affecting landscape, others avoid it out of a sense of foreboding. Throughout this richly braided first-person narrative, East brings Dogtown's enigmatic past to life. Losses sustained during the American Revolution dealt this once thriving community its final blow. Destitute war widows and former slaves took up shelter in its decaying homes until 1839, when the last inhabitant was taken to the poorhouse. He died seven days later. Dogtown has remained abandoned ever since, but continues to occupy many people's imaginations. In addition to Marsden Hartley, it inspired a Bible-thumping millionaire who carved the region's rocks with words to live by; the innovative and influential postmodernist poet Charles Olson, who based much of his epic Maximus Poems on Dogtown; an idiosyncratic octogenarian who vigilantly patrols the land to this day; and a murderer who claimed that the spirit of the woods called out to him. In luminous, insightful prose, Dogtown takes the reader into an unforgettable place brimming with tragedy, eccentricity, and fascinating lore, and examines the idea that some places can inspire both good and evil, poetry and murder.

An essential resource for every cook In this beautiful book, Martha Stewart—one of America’s best-known cooks, gardeners, and all-around vegetable lovers—provides home cooks with an indispensable resource for selecting, storing, preparing, and cooking from the garden and the market. The 150 recipes, many of which are vegetarian, highlight the flavors and textures of everyday favorites and uncommon varieties alike. The recipes include: • Roasted Carrots and Red Quinoa with Miso Dressing • Swiss Chard Lasagna • Endive and Fennel Salad with Pomegranate Seeds • Asparagus and Watercress Pizza • Smoky Brussels Sprouts Gratin • Spiced Parsnip Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Martha Stewart’s Vegetables makes eating your greens (and reds and yellows and oranges) more delicious than ever. — Los Angeles Times: Best Cookbooks of Fall 2016 — Newsday: Top 10 Cookbooks for 2016