Island Journal

Way Downeast, These Towns Face Waves of Change

People who live in Jonesport and on Beals Island love to talk about their towns’ histories, not unusual for those residents who can trace their roots to 18th century settlers. They speak about how each town came into its own. Everyone remembers the history-making high school basketball team. And one wall of the Heritage Center in Beals is devoted to “Tall Barney,” a resident believed to have been seven-feet tall when most locals were generally diminutive. But the steady state of affairs that has governed these two remote towns for over a century is in turmoil today. SEE MORE

Island Journal

Sears Island’s Long Industrial Courtship

It’s 3:58 p.m. on Dec. 21, and the sun is about to set over Sears Island, the forested, causeway-connected spot in upper Penobscot Bay where we’ve come to observe the Winter Solstice. It’s cold out there—20-something degrees and windy—and we’re parked with others along the road leading to the island, watching the sun dip over Mack Point to the west. The event we’re here for isn’t really the sunset but something called “Solstice by the Sea,” imagined and engineered by Friends of Sears Island, a conservation-minded group dedicated to protecting Sears Island in its current undeveloped state. SEE MORE

Island Journal

Doing Door-to-Door Advocacy for Water

Think of how many daily interactions you have with water—morning coffee or tea, washing hands, flushing a toilet, preparing food, watering plants or animals, showering. Now imagine each of those interactions being dangerous and tainted with harmful chemicals and toxins; instead of a simple turn of the tap, each of these interactions requiring bottled water or water sourced from as far as a 30-minute drive away paying 35 cents a gallon. SEE MORE

Island Journal

Island Institute at 40 — Community Authenticity Remains Our Focus

You’ve probably heard the term “elevator pitch,” right? It’s mostly used in business circles, capturing the idea that an entrepreneur needs to be able to explain a business concept in a timeframe equal to the average elevator ride. That journey provides the ultimate captive audience, and so a clever pitch in that short time might land an investor. Well, here at Island Institute, we sometimes crave an elevator trip up Burj Khalifa in Dubai, with its 163 floors, to give us time to explain where the organization has been and where it is going. SEE MORE

Island Journal

Upcycling, Island Style

Outside, there is still the gritty facade of what was most recently Vinalhaven’s public works garage; preceding that, it was the net factory, with much older roots. Now the building houses the island’s Swap Shop, an intown facility relocated from the dump. Especially for those familiar with the old one, the surprise is inside—an interior resembling a department store, various sections stocked with the different categories of goods—but no price tags on anything because all of it has been donated and is free. SEE MORE

Communities

Island Journal

The Working Waterfront Wars

Karen Sanford on the shore in South Portland, looking westerly at Portland’s waterfront. Sanford was a leader in the effort to preserve working waterfront access after condominiums were built on a pier. PHOTO: TOM GROENING Karen Sanford had a quiet life planned when she arrived in Portland in the mid-1980s.… SEE MORE

Island Journal

The Long Journey from Boat to Plate

Photos by Jack Sullivan It’s 2:30 in the morning and the wharf staff at Fifield Lobster Company in Stonington is preparing for the arrival of about 40 commercial fishing boats in the next few hours, with the vessels landing just long enough to load up on bait and fuel. The… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Objectively Caring for Her Community

Photos by Barry Fitzsimmons A career in journalism means being an observer, not a player. It means not taking sides, even when it comes to an endeavor as worthy as eldercare for a small island community. Susan Stranahan says that when she left daily journalism and moved to Chebeague Island… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Monhegan’s Tara Hire: Be Creative, Work Hard

Tara Hire of Monhegan Island is one of those people for whom island life seems like an appropriate match. She’s not afraid to step into the important roles that keep an island functioning, such as serving on the town’s board of assessors (similar to a select board), and she’s figured… SEE MORE

Island Journal

An Old Salt, An Old Way of Life

Illustrations by Leslie Bowman Five degrees above zero and the diesel motor chugged. My fingers were wet and numb and my hands couldn’t work the clasp on the chain-link bag of mussels that hung dripping salt water and mud onto my hood, shoulders, and face. My blue vinyl gloves had… SEE MORE