A customer the other day told me about melons her father would grow north of Saratoga, NY, about 3 hours away. Now nostalgia definitely plays a part, but she swears they were absolutely delicious. She said "I don't know what the variety is, just that we called it a hand melon." I Googled it and found this place:
http://handmelonfarm.com/melons/, which is apparently famous for them and has great reviews. Unfortunately when I went to the order form they said they're not shipping any more melons for the season because the rain has done a number on the crop. I would've liked to have tried them and saved some seeds