First published in 1984, Island Journal, Island Institute’s annual print and digital publication, tells stories of life in Maine’s island and coastal communities, the character and livelihoods of the people who call the state of Maine their home, the history of how we got here, and the interactions between humans and nature.

  • 2023

What We Saw Touring the Gulf of Maine Shore

Revealing kayak journey along 1,500-mile coast remembered 21 years later
In 2002, Natalie Springuel and Richard MacDonald, among others, embarked on a paddling expedition along the shores of the Gulf of Maine. What they learned reveals how dynamic and threatened is this “semi-enclosed sea.” The Gulf of Maine Expedition was a sea kayaking journey organized to raise awareness and caring about the ecological and cultural legacy of this vast international watershed and to promote low-impact coastal recreational practices, safety, and stewardship principles.
BY Natalie Springuel and Rich MacDonald
  • 2023

The Ebb and Flows of Maine’s Three-Port Strategy

Maine has a long and celebrated history of shipping by sea. It’s ingrained in our history, culture, and economy. Through the centuries, ships have transported granite, lumber, ice, shoes, canned sardines, and numerous other products from Maine to markets in the U.S. and around the globe. They’ve brought cargo to Maine as diverse as coal, cotton for our mills, guano for fertilizer, and even molasses for rum distilleries.
BY Clarke Canfield
  • 2023

The Legacy of Islesboro’s Charles Dana Gibson

Abe Goodale follows in the footsteps of his great-great-grandfather
Around the turn of the 20th century, Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) was among the most famous illustrators in the world. His idealized modern woman, who came to be called the Gibson girl, brought him tremendous fame and fortune. Off the southern end of Islesboro lies an island, spruce-clad and sprawling—not precisely 700 acres as its name would have you believe, but close enough.
BY Carl Little
  • 2023

Island Enlightenment in a Glass

In which the writer seeks, deceives, and ‘At Last’ enjoys a libation
On a chilly evening last year, Elaine and I were invited next door to the Chambers’ to enjoy their company and that of a dozen or so others of our broadly interesting neighbors and island visitors, all gathered around an outdoor woodfire. After a while our host, David, offered me a martini, a “Killer Botanist Gin Martini,” to be precise.
BY Phil Crossman
  • 2023

Doing Door-to-Door Advocacy for Water

Noela Altvater, 20, helped bring clean water to the Passamaquoddy
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.
BY Casey Groening
  • 2023

Island Institute at 40 — Community Authenticity Remains Our Focus

The details have changed, but supporting community is the common thread
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.
BY Tom Groening
  • 2023

Upcycling, Island Style

Vinalhaven’s Swap Shop is a ‘sweet spot’
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.
BY Tina Cohen
  • 2022

The Working Waterfront Wars

Condos on a Portland pier was the shot heard along the coast
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…
BY Tom Groening
  • 2022

The Long Journey from Boat to Plate

A complex supply chain, heavy on infrastructure, delivers lobster
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…
BY Laurie Shreiber
  • 2022

Fifty Years of Cleaner Water

Thanks to a Maine senator, federal law protects our bays, rivers, and lakes
The site of the Continental Mill in Lewiston on the Androscoggin River as seen from Auburn, the western bank. Textile mills like the ones in Lewiston as well as paper…
BY Frances Mize

About Island Journal

Life in Maine’s Island and Coastal Communities

Island Journal was first published in 1984 by Island Institute founder Philip Conkling, a writer, and co-founder Peter Ralston, a photojournalist. An early and key supporter, the late Betsy Wyeth, urged the two to produce a publication that stood out from the field of nonprofit reports and newsletters. More than 40 years later, Island Journal continues to meet that standard, gathering stories, photographs, and art that illuminate the rich culture of life on Maine islands and in its coastal communities.

The annual publication features the stories of those who live and work on the coast and islands, and reflects our history, the lessons learned, and continually looks toward our shared future. Today, many Mainers and Island Institute supporters keep a bookshelf in their home for their Island Journal archives, which collectively, contain the larger story of the beautiful, rugged, independent, and precious way of life in our island and coastal communities.

“It is, at the very least, bad manners to care about any aspect of an island and its phenomena, without caring also about its people—past, present, and future.” – George Putz, editor Island Journal (1984-1991)

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Browse each digital issue of Island Journal, dating back to the first issue published in 1984.

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More Stories from Island Institute

Explore our collection of stories, including The Working Waterfront newspaper and Climate of Change film series

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