Island Journal

Betsy James Wyeth

The publication you are reading was inspired by Betsy Wyeth. When Betsy, whom I first met when I was eight years old, bought 450-acre Allen Island, six miles off Port Clyde, she asked me to help her figure out what to do with it; within a month or so Philip… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Islands of the Dawnland

When Gluscabe was young, he watched his grandmother Woodchuck fish to feed the two of them, and saw she had a hard time catching fish. He decided to help her. Gluscabe built a large fish weir across the entire mouth of the river, with a single opening in the middle.… SEE MORE

group of young adults in early 2000s clothing

Island Journal

Two Decades of Fellows Changes Communities

It’s a beautiful coincidence that 2020 is the 20th year of the Island Fellows program at the Island Institute. Twenty years ago, the designers of this program may not have known the level of reach it would have. Fellows came from states thousands of miles away, their projects have touched… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Fishing, Fowling, and Navigation

In this part of the world, the tide comes in and the tide goes out twice a day. Each time the tide goes out, it exposes cobbles, mudflats, tidepools, rockweed, and cool wet sand. Who owns this intertidal zone depends on the law of the land on which the tide… SEE MORE

Island Journal

How We Get Here: A History of the Ferry Service

The allure of living on an island includes isolation from the rest of the world. The downside of living on an island includes isolation from the rest of the world. Especially when you need something on the mainland. That’s what ferries are for. “We are the roads to the islands.… SEE MORE

History

Old foundations from earlier centuries on Damariscove Island

Island Journal

Islands Were First Footholds for European Settlers

At one time, 300 of Maine’s nearly 5,000 islands had year-round communities. Today that number has dwindled to 15 islands that are occupied through all four seasons. “When Europeans got to the coast of Maine, they set themselves up on islands first, because they were uninhabited and they were, or… SEE MORE

History

Island Journal

Maine Triumphs Through Coastal Law

In September 1816, William King, a politician and businessman in the District of Maine (and at one time, the wealthiest ship owner in the region), was certain that finally, after 30 years of trying to leave Massachusetts, Maine would succeed in getting the votes to become its own state. Voters… SEE MORE

History

old marble headstones, white house in distance

Island Journal

The Secret Soul of an Island Shoe

PHotos By Peter Ralston Its sole gouged with holes, the leather top cracked and ripped, the shoe, a woman’s, had been hidden in the west wall of an upstairs bedroom in our Gotts Island house. Nestled behind the plaster, it had endured Maine winters when the winds howled out of… SEE MORE

aerial view of Schoodic Peninsula, Maine

Island Journal

The Schoodic Story

Schoodic Point and its acres of pristine shoreline and deep woodlands dodged a bullet more than a century ago when plans by John Godfrey Moore to develop the pristine property were derailed by his premature death. Moore, the son of a Steuben sea captain, made his fortune in the telegraph… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Taking Stock of a Downeast River

Five degrees above zero and the wind peels northwest. Sky and river both black dark. Headlights shine in the small parking lot. The wind howls, rocks the truck. Out there in the headlight shine lies a slick mud bank and a river of churning brown water. Bobby Beal’s at the… SEE MORE