Blog - Page 13 of 13 - South Coast Almanac

October 28, 2015

Destruction Brook Woods. Why does such a peaceful place have such a, well, destructive name?

Just peace and quiet

One of the goals in making this magazine is to showcase the many magical places on the South Coast and to encourage us all to wander off our own beaten paths. You know, those favorite places where we always go. The idea is to shake things up. Go a couple of towns over from your own and find something new. Be a local tourist.

It’s been fun asking all sorts of people, what do you like to do? We’ve been gathering the answers and creating a list so that one of the Almanac’rs can explore the answers and report back if there’s something we should highlight.

Again and again, Destruction Brook Woods came up when we talked to people.

Something about the name kind of put me off, evoking unpleasant flashbacks to 1980s horror movies. I finally went — October seemed the proper time to go to a place with destruction and woods in its name. Of course, it’s not creepy at all. It’s tranquil and lovely.

With over 280 acres, there are plenty of paths to explore, both marked and unmarked (with a very helpful map provided by the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust). I got lost somewhere after Alice’s Spillway. It didn’t matter. It’s a pleasure to get a little lost among the glades, the ferns, the rocky outcroppings, and the wide bridle paths soft with fallen pine needles. And there’s so much more to see. I want to go back and find the abandoned farmstead and the old cemetery. I want to witness the abundance of pink lady’s slipper flowers in one of the glades in May.

I’m considering trying mountain biking after chatting with a couple of friendly bikers on the trail. According to the New England Mountain Bike Association website, “if you are looking for very technical and challenging trails, then this is not the place for you, but if you are looking for a fun, easy to moderate ride with nice scenery, then this is the place to come.”

Fun? Easy? Scenery? Yes. Look how fun it looks – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvuFX0casV0

Mountain biking in Destruction Brook Woods…that’s going on the Almanac’s To Do list.

The woods lived up to its reputation. I understand why so many love it. But it did not live up to its name. Because it turns out that Destructive Brook Woods is not scary at all.

For more information on Destruction Brook Woods, including location and parking, see http://dnrt.org/destruction-brook-woods/

October 22, 2015

Best burgers in the region. Probably in the world.

We’re serious. At dNB Burgers, it’s all about the burger. Everything is made from scratch. They grind the meat in house, they cure their bacon on site and they make all their pickles and sauces from scratch, right down to the ketchup. If you go in right now, you’ll find house-made bacon pastrami and carrot sauerkraut garnishing some of the burgers.

Amelia and Josh launched dNB Burgers because Amelia wanted to be her own boss and Josh is a chef. They tried to figure out what New Bedford needed and decided the city needed a marriage between the slow food movement and hamburgers.

Devin, my server told me that the most popular burger is the Best Bacon. But she was hard-pressed to tell me what the best burger was. Because they’re all delicious.

We had a staff meeting at lunch yesterday and I brought dNB burgers, fully intending to get a great picture that could accompany this blog entry. The paper bag filled with burgers, hand cut fries and house made chips smelled so good and we were so hungry that we forgot to take a picture. And the empty paper bag didn’t photograph well. Hey, Amelia, do you have a good photo you can lend us?!

dNB’s one year anniversary is coming up on November 17^th. Get in before then so that you can say you knew them when they were in their infancy. Because we think they’ll be around a long time.

dNB Burgers, 22 Elm Street, New Bedford

October 13, 2015

Behind the Scenes…

Welcome to our website! It’s hard to believe but for almost a year now, we’ve been hard at work, creating a publication from scratch – one to make the South Coast proud.

What are we envisioning?

We see pages and pages of beautiful photos and engaging stories and ideas about the South Coast. It’ll have many of the features you’d expect in a regional magazine, but more of them. That’s the beauty of an annual magazine; it’s bigger and (we think!) better.

If you live on the South Coast, you’ll be glad to see its best side shining through. If you visit the South Coast, you’ll be happy to find hidden spots and gems that you didn’t know existed before. And you’ll want to visit more often.

We’ve got about seven months to go until our launch party at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in May. In the meantime, feel free to let us know what you’re thinking by emailing the magazine at [email protected] or by contacting us on facebook and instagram.

All the best,
Marlissa (and the Almanac team)