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

Island Journal

Cliff Island — A Labor of Love for Cheryl Crowley

Photos by Lorinda Valls Cheryl Crowley offers a vivid metaphor for the challenges and rewards of working to support a small island community. “It’s like painting a house,” she says. “I hate all the scraping. But then, after the final coat is applied, it’s Ahhhh!” Crowley has been scraping away,… SEE MORE

Communities

female firefighter posed in front of fire truck

Island Journal

Keeping the Home Fires… Out

Photos by Jesse Groening The stormy November morning crossing to Islesford (Little Cranberry Island) was rough, even by islander standards. And later, when the weather knocked out power on the island, the vital role Katelyn Damon plays in the community and surrounding islands became clear. “She’s pretty much the reason… SEE MORE

Communities

Island Journal

Kristan Porter Remains Grounded as Fisheries Shift

Photos by Leslie Bowman Anyone who’s been to any confab in the various Maine fisheries over the past couple of decades will likely recognize Kristan Porter—a steadfast presence and an articulate voice in the thorny world of management and policy. That’s true now more than ever, since he took over… SEE MORE

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

‘Creators in Arms’ on Swan’s Island

Photos by Jack Sullivan As I walk off the ferry onto Swan’s Island on a cold February day, I am greeted by the two Garys— Gary Rainford, the poet, whose vanity license plate, POETRY, is a tip-off, and Gary Hoyle, the painter. We head to Atlantic, one of three villages… SEE MORE

Art

Island Journal

Whelmed in Key Largo

In the fall of 2017, Hurricane Irma’s surge advanced toward my home in Key Largo, waves curling across the lawns of properties slightly closer to Largo Sound. After the storm passed, the neighborhood was excavated from beneath branches and trees that no longer provided shade, and piles rose in front… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Nantaska: The ‘Islands’ of Nantucket and Alaska

The tiny northeastern seacoast island of Nantucket, 43 square miles, and the giant, “Upper 49th” state of Alaska, 663,237 square miles, are about as dissimilar as could be. They don’t share the same boarding house at all geographically, demographically, economically, and culturally. Yet the two lands, cherished symbols of pristine… SEE MORE

Islands From Away

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