Happy New Year!
We are experiencing a colder than usual winter in New England this year.
I find it interesting that the calendar new year, the astronomical start of winter, and the meteorological start of winter do not match up.
Sun Dec 21, was the winter solstice. It was the longest night of the year at around 15 hours of darkness and consequently the shortest day of the year with about 9 hours of sunlight.
This was a more significant factor in people's lives in the past at a time when most people were involved in farming with less daylight to work.
However as you can see in this painting, winter did provide snow covered roads with less friction to move logs for firewood.
Here is another artwork showing an empty sled and a pile of logs to the right.
Here is a detail:
On the left you can see a good example of marcescence. For more on that topic see our previous blog here.
Some firewood enthusiasts enjoy creating a wide variety of artistic firewood piles. Here are some round ones.
Winter was also a time for bringing livestock to market.
Here is a detail with the teamsters, cattle, sheep and a dog.
You still had to do you laundry even if it froze on the line while drying.
On the left is another good example of marcescence.
Of course, there are also more to work during the season. There are seasonally specific joys such as ice skating.
For more on this artwork follow the link here
For even more White Mountain winter scenes follow this link here.
If you want to experience some real winter fun yourself and learn about historic New England winters you should come to the Chocorua Winterfest on Saturday February 7, 2026.
It starts at 10 am with cold-water dip in the lake followed by a sauna, then sledding, snowshoeing, storytelling, a winter camping expo. a display of historical winter items such as handmade snowshoes, dog sleds and trapping gear, winter tree id, bonfires, treats and hot drinks ending with a dinner and barn dance.
For more info follow this link here.
