cropped long exposure photograph by photographer Jim Nickelson

Island Journal

Alchemy of the Night Sky

The moon’s an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun —Timon of Athens, William Shakespeare I was the shadow of the waxwing slain By the false azure in the window pane; I was the smudge of ashen fluff — and I Lived on, flew on, in… 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

silhouette of man leaning on railing overlooking ocean

Island Journal

John Marin’s Islands

In his poem “Sea-Change,” the late Philip Booth of Castine pays tribute to John Marin. First published in The New Yorker in 1956, the poem, written in Booth’s pared-down style, opens with the artist’s name then proceeds to accentuate his visceral connection to the Maine landscape: Marin saw how it… 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

The Strange Nature of Horseshoe Crabs

Ages ago in the sea-green clear water of Chandler’s Cove on Chebeague Island, strange dark shapes were scuttling around the bottom. My seven-year-old face peeked out over the edge of the wharf, watching them. I remember my hands gripping the splintery planks. Horseshoe crabs, the big people called them. Gliding… 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

Newfoundland landscape with water and mountains

Island Journal

The Collector of Islands

The Collector of Islands Their magical allure has carried through a lifetime By Melissa Waterman To get to the Lofoten Islands in Norway, you must take the ferry. But to get to the ferry you must journey by train. The train from Oslo takes 20 hours, travelling through Trondheim… SEE MORE

Workshop participants inspect a shell midden in the Damariscotta area

Island Journal

More Than a Pile of Shells

More Than a Pile of Shells A new understanding of Maine’s shell middens BY CATHERINE SCHMITT “These oyster beds were so productive that it gave a supply to all that wished for the period of many times 70 years, so that the shells of this food fish was piled… SEE MORE

Island Journal

The Sound of Island Silence

The Sound of Island Silence What does it mean to listen closely in a noisy world? By Scott Sell There was a night on Frenchboro, a decade ago now, when I heard silence for the first time. It was during a February vacation for the school and most families… SEE MORE

Nature

Island Journal

Arctic Observations

Arctic Observations By Peter Ralston Last summer, photographer and Island Institute co-founder Peter Ralston boarded a friend’s yacht just above the Arctic Circle on the west coast of Greenland to explore that area, as well as the heart of the high Canadian Arctic archipelago. It was the trip of a… SEE MORE