Category: Communities

woman in a classroom smiling

Island Journal

Making It Here: The Island Educator

The first time Monhegan Island’s teacher, Mandy  Metrano, laid eyes on the island she now calls home, she was not impressed. In 1995, as an 18-year-old high school student on a visit to see her boyfriend, a summer resident, she saw Monhegan as “all ocean and dirt roads and nothing happening. The only evidence of nightlife was a bunch of kids playing Hacky Sack under the island’s only street light,” she remembers. A year later, her boyfriend had lined up a summer job waiting tables at Monhegan House, but Metrano had planned to spend her own summer break traveling to India with a friend. When the trip fell through, her boyfriend, Jon, suggested she work with him on Monhegan instead. This time, the island stole her heart the day she arrived. “We took the early boat and even when we got close, we couldn’t see the island because it was so foggy. We could hear the foghorn, though, and as we approached the dock in the fog I heard bagpipes. It was magical.” SEE MORE
people in a classroom

Island Journal

Vinalhaven’s Investment

For an island community that’s a 75-minute ferry ride away from the mainland, Vinalhaven has been fortunate to have had two very successful long-term town managers, says Emily Lane, a current member of the island town’s board of selectmen. Sue Lessard served from 1993 to 2000, and then Marjorie Stratton… SEE MORE
musicians performing on a sidewalk with young kids playing in the background

Island Journal

Trading Sardines For Lupines

The sardine—a generic name for several types of herring—is the icon of Eastport, which likes to call itself “the easternmost city in the USA.” Eastport encompasses five islands, the largest being Moose Island. With a population of only about 1,300 people, Eastport still remembers its heritage every New Year’s Eve… SEE MORE
two lobster boats

Island Journal

Race day in Casco Bay

I’m squatting in the small cockpit of an outboard-powered sailboat racing across Casco Bay. Lightning bolts are striking the mainland and islands to our west. I look up at the aluminum mast, then at the woman at the wheel. She’s wearing a wide grin and a purple feather boa. Everything… SEE MORE
exterior of assisted living facility

Island Journal

Not Aging, But Thriving In Place

Victoria Smith was born on Chebeague Island on January 6, 1925, surrounded by her family in the neat frame home now occupied by her son and his wife. When she married an islander, they moved next door. Today, Smith’s granddaughter, grandson-in-law, and two great-grandsons have a home nearby. Three years… SEE MORE
mothers with small children

Island Journal

Babies on Board

I recently attended a three-year-old boy’s birthday party on North Haven, where I live. His family’s sloping lawn was overgrown with kids. One-year-olds rolled on the grass while toddlers bounced on trampolines. Slightly more sure-footed preschoolers bombed downhill on tiny bikes or climbed the tepee poles. For those concerned about… SEE MORE
person walking trail along rocky coastline

Island Journal

Acadia’s Offshore Island

For generations, Kendra Chubbuck’s family has called the dark spruce forests, cobble beaches, and rocky cliffs of Isle au Haut home. Chubbuck, who moved to the offshore island full-time about four years ago, used to live in a little red house on the shore that was built in the 1930s… SEE MORE
crowd standing in front of building at community center opening ceremony

Island Journal

MBNA and the Midcoast Miracle

MBNA. Four letters that actually stood for nothing, yet oh-so-much, in the mid-1990s through 2005. The Delaware-based credit-card lender, spun off from Maryland Bank, National Association—hence the name—dominated the Midcoast landscape for those years. From 50 jobs in Camden in 1993 to 4,500 statewide by the early 2000s, its growth… SEE MORE
woman standing in front of house during winter

Island Journal

Counting Empty Houses Come Winter

Counting Empty Houses Come Winter Affordable housing finds a foothold on Maine’s islands. BY ANNIE MURPHY Tiffany Tate knows the frustration of looking for affordable housing on an island where all real estate is expensive and rentals are hard to come by. She was raised in Washington County, but Tate’s… SEE MORE