Page 137 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

INTRODUCING NE W ENGLAND  135

The New England shoreline, great for sailing

recognition and acclaim. The literary Revolution. They have left a lasting impact
tradition still lives on in New England, on the region’s social life and politics,
led by such outstanding contemporary many of them ascending to the top of
talents as Anita Shreve, John Irving, and New England’s social hierarchy – a fact
Stephen King, who are all residents of this that became evident to the country with
region. The beauty and majesty of the the election of the Boston-born Democrat
landscape, which inspired some of John F. Kennedy (1917–63) in 1960 as the
America’s best-known creative spirits, very first Roman Catholic president of the
such as the poet Robert Frost and the US. Nevertheless, even today there is a
painters Winslow Homer and Grandma special cachet in New England’s society
Moses, still continues to exert its charm on for people known as “Boston Brahmins”
contemporary artists, such as Sabra Field popularly called WASPs (White Anglo-
and photographer Abelardo Morell. Saxon Protestants) – descendants of the
In 1636, Harvard College was founded earliest British settlers.
in Cambridge, making it the birthplace of While industrialization and urbanization
higher education in America. Today, the have left their stamp on the region, New
region’s concentration of educational England’s stunning physical beauty still
institutions, including famous Ivy remains. The craggy coastline of Maine,
League universities such as Yale and the beautiful beaches located in Cape
Brown, is a magnet for some of Cod, the picturesque Vermont villages,
America’s best and brightest. the magnificent mountains and
By the mid-19th century, New forests of New Hampshire, and the
England’s population, which had places of historic interest found across
earlier been quite homogenous, the region attract thousands of
changed dramatically as waves of Irish visitors. In recent years, the growth
immigrants arrived, driven from their of hi-tech industries in the area has
homeland by the potato famines brought a new dynamism and
in the 1840s. Immigrants from prosperity to New England.
Italy, Portugal, and Eastern This seems fitting, since it was
Europe also arrived, flocking to the area’s natural beauty
the textile mills which had that convinced the early
boomed in New England National Monument of Forefathers, settlers of New England’s
just after the Industrial Plymouth viable future.

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