Working Waterfront

A city’s eternal force through the years as seen in paint

“Casco Bay Ferry Reflection,” by Sarah Knock Paintings of Portland by Carl Little and David Little DownEast Books, Lanham, Md., 2018; 140 pages, hardcover, $29.95. "Portland gets its hooks in people," Jim Smethurst said to me one sunlit afternoon in 1978, “and won't let them leave." We were standing on Middle… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A trust in land and sea: Ben Emory’s commitment to the Maine coast

Sailor for the Wild: On Maine, Conservation and Boats By Ben Emory; Seapoint Books, 2017 When Ben Emory completed Navy active duty in 1969—he had served on the destroyer USS New, providing gunfire support along the coast of Vietnam—he took stock of his life. A graduate of Harvard where he majored… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The Monhegan Museum at 50

Five years ago Monhegan marked the 400th anniversary—the quatercentenary—of English explorer Captain John Smith’s visit to the island. This year the island celebrates another milestone, one of shorter duration but no less worthy of commemoration: the Monhegan Museum of Art and History’s half-century mark. The star of anniversary events is the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘We Belong Here’ a gift to North Haven

WILLIAM TREVASKIS Charlie Pingree Twenty-three year old Leta Hallowell has been a North Havener since birth. She graduated from North Haven Community School in 2012, studied at Duke University, and taught English in France before returning to her island home. “It’s given me so much, my education, so much of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Vulnerability is both scary and empowering

Reflections is written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront By Tarah Waters Picture this: nine girls age 11 to 14, three adult leaders in their 20s, and tents pitched… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Andrew Wyeth’s Rockland: Boats, planes and trains

When Edward Hopper (1882-1967) visited Rockland in 1926, he referred to it as “a very fine old place with lots of good-looking houses but not much shipping.” His watercolors from that stay represent a sampling from his repertoire, including a sea captain’s residence, a haunted house, and some waterfront studies of… SEE MORE

Fisherman George Curtis and retired fisherman William Leaman talk fishing (of course) outside of Leaman’s fish house in Owls Head in 1957.

Working Waterfront

Penobscot Marine Museum brings Kosti home

COURTESY PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM In the summer of 1951, Ruohomaa received a call from his friend Andrew Wyeth inviting him to join in fetching an antique hearse from Loud’s Island. Ruohomaa documented the infamous trip from start to finish. In this view, sawmill operator, Ralph Cline, ro “Kosti Comes Home,”… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Two views of what Europeans did to Native New England

Reviewed By Tom Walsh Engraved in granite near the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance to The National Archives in Washington D.C. is this enduring insight: What is Past is Prologue. It’s a thought first penned by William Shakespeare in The Tempest. Written in 1611, it remains a phrase that reminds us that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Anthology asks: Who are we, and where are we?

3 Nations 3 Nations Anthology: Native, Canadian & New England Writers Valerie Lawson, ed. Resolute Bear Press, Robbinston, Maine, 2017; 176 pages, paperback, $19.95. One phrase to describe what underlies the harrowing political and social divisions in the U.S. these days is “identity crisis.” If I remember right, this term… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Monhegan Museum wins $1 million Wyeth Foundation grant

The Monhegan Museum of Art & History has received a $1 million challenge grant from the Wyeth Foundation. The museum has up to three years to match this gift, the largest in the museum’s history. The grant will support the museum’s campaign to raise $4 million toward an endowment,… SEE MORE