If you’ve picked up the most recent issue of
Yankee magazine, you may notice a
familiar scene: the fields of The Rocks Estate! The Rocks is thrilled to be
featured in New England’s favorite magazine, and the experience of working with
the
Yankee staff to bring The Rocks’
story to the page was wonderful.
“I’d been asking Yankee
to do a story on The Rocks for probably 12 years,” said longtime Rock Estate
manager Nigel Manley. Last spring he finally got the call he’d been waiting
for, from Yankee editor Mel
Allen, who was interested in featuring The Rocks in its holiday issue.
 |
| Photographer Matt Kalinowski takes a shot of Manley and dog Keswick. |
“It’s the magazine’s 80th anniversary year, and
they were looking for New England places that have been around for a long time.
The Rocks fit that bill,” Manley said. “The editors were really great about
scheduling, both for photographs and interviews, making sure the weather was
right and no one felt rushed. I’m really impressed with how much effort they
put into it to make sure the end result was really good.”
Allen and contributing editor Annie Graves spent an entire
day with Manley at the farm last spring, talking with him about his nearly 30
years at The Rocks, the process of growing Christmas trees, the estate’s long
and storied history, and the enduring spirit of the holidays that permeates The Rocks year-round.
Once the snow fell in December, art director Lori Pedrick
and photographer Matt Kalinowski spent another day at the farm, traipsing
through freshly fallen snow and weaving through neat rows of Christmas trees. They
took countless photographs – of Manley in the fields, the Rocks’ wreath-makers
hard at work, the volunteers on the horse-drawn wagon rides, staff members in
the shop, and customers at the farm.
“I’ve always loved to read Yankee, and my family gets our Christmas tree at The Rocks every
year, so it wasn’t really much of a stretch to spend a morning wandering the
fields, playing in the snow, and checking out the trees,” said Meghan McPhaul
of Franconia, whose family was recruited for the photo shoot. “We’d already
picked out our tree the weekend before, but it was great to have a bonus day at
The Rocks – and we got to visit the horses and take one more wagon ride, which
the kids always love.”
The story, titled “A Tree Grows in Bethlehem,” is featured
in Yankee’s “Finding Christmas in New
England” issue, published this month.
As the countdown to Christmas continues, The Rocks Estate
would like to wish you all a very happy holiday season! We are thankful, as
always, to have seen so many of you – whether new customers or old friends –
during this season of busy activity and merriment at The Rocks, or to have sent some
holiday cheer to you through our online shop.
