Working Waterfront

‘Winterhill’ dabbles in mad medical science

Winterhill, by Christopher Fahy Limerock Books, Thomaston, Maine, 2018 240 pages, paperback, $15.95 Reviewed by Dana Wilde Jerry Prince seems like a decent enough guy. A little adrift, at the outset of Christopher Fahy’s latest novel, Winterhill, and underemployed as a certified nurse’s aide in a small hospital on Maine’s coast. But… SEE MORE

Arts

Sisters Betsy and Jill Philbrook fish from their boat off Swan's Island. Betsy first fished with her grandmother

Working Waterfront

Swan’s Island honors women who fished

PHOTO COURTESY SWAN'S ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY Betsy Philbrook, in 1988, rigs her first trap. Betsy Philbrook’s grandmother, Melita Staples, was up for anything except cooking and housecleaning. “She used to bait tubs when she was younger,” said Philbrook. “She was much happier driving a dumptruck or working on a dock than staying… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lubec man’s war experiences, philosophy drive memoir

As I approach 60, I’ve adopted a new understanding of memory. As a younger man, I believed memories were accessed by traveling back along a road—to get to those teen years, I had to travel the distance through my 20s. Today, I am convinced that memories are spokes on a… SEE MORE

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