Reconciling with New England

The Fairbanks Athenaeum, in St. Johnsbury, Vt., the center of culture for the Green Mountain State’s “Northeast Kingdom.’’

“New England haunted the minds of Americans, who tried to read its riddle, as if for their soul’s good they must know what it meant….For it meant much to Americans that this old region should fare well, as their palladium of truth, justice, freedom and learning. They could not rest until they were reconciled to it, and until it was reconciled to them.’’

Van Wyck Brooks, in New England Indian Summer (1940)

— Photo by Doug Kerr on what appears to be an Indian Summer day, which in New England is usually taken to mean mild and calm (or perhaps with a soft southwest wind) days after the first freeze.