Working Waterfront

Maine’s internet stuck in slow lane, but local innovation helps

Nearly 20 years ago, the phrase “information superhighway” was used—and probably over-used—to explain the internet and what it offered. In 2016, the analogy remains in use, though it has become more nuanced. Representatives from internet providers and island and remote coastal communities speaking at the Oct. 26 Island Broadband Conference… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How to understand Maine’s ‘High North’ opportunities

By Dan Bookham Since 2013 when the Icelandic steamship line Eimskip established operations in Portland, there has been growing buzz around Maine’s ocean-driven connections to our north. Ship calls to Portland’s International Marine Terminal have steadily increased, more and more Maine officials, economic developers and business people have made the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

In politics, it’s location, location, location

It’s a day in early May, and the TV weatherman on the midday report is practically giddy about the bright sun and unseasonably warm temperatures. But you’ve just ascended the Tableland on Mt. Katahdin, and Portland’s 70 degrees and light winds are irrelevant for you and your hiking party, as… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Marine trades sector thriving by blending tradition, innovation

This is the first in a three-part series about the role boatbuilders and boatyards play in Maine’s coastal and island economy. In the early 1990s, Ed Gray was walking across the beach at Spurling Cove on Great Cranberry Island, and came across Jarvis Newman trying to jack up an old… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Adventures in eating out

A new restaurant that opened up a while back had itself a maitre d’ and its own bartender and everything. They had a lot of live music and as a result the place was quite a draw some nights. They tapped the locals as waitresses and waiters and these folks,… SEE MORE

A view of Camden Harbor as seen from the shore near Laite Park.

Working Waterfront

Coastal access: ‘Interests in tension’

Maine’s 5,400-mile coastline is one of its most valuable assets. It creates a living for fishermen, a powerful draw for tourists and a quality of life that is possible in few other places. Over the past two decades, public access to the coast has been challenged in court across the… SEE MORE

Artisan vegetables: Sparkplug Farm at the Vinalhaven Farmers Market.

Working Waterfront

Vinalhaven’s Sparkplug Farm seeks new operator

A bright October sun had me squinting at the landscape—almost a mirage with its fields of flourishing vegetation. Like summer, I was thinking. But to farmers John Wright and Sara Hodges, joining me in a long row of arugula, it was perfect weather for harvesting greens at Sparkplug Farm, situated… SEE MORE

Fallen leaves pile up between two cottages in Bayside

Working Waterfront

It’s time to share our little secret

Ask Mainers about their favorite season, and most would probably say it’s autumn. One of the reasons for that choice, some might say, is that most of the tourists have gone home and so traveling along Route 1 is easier, as is stepping out for a meal or a beer.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Bar Harbor ponders second cruise ship terminal

People in Bar Harbor are in the grip of a fundamental tension. The downtown and waterfront are swarmed by visitors arriving by land and cruise ship every year. Crowds spill into Acadia National Park, where visitation was up 17 percent year-to-date by the end of August, making for the third… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Telecommuting lets transplants be ‘Eastported’

Coleman Brice, an information technology consultant in New Jersey, visited a friend in Eastport a dozen or so years ago. “I was blown away by the intellectual climate, the creative arts culture, the working waterfront, and the beauty and natural ruggedness,” he remembers. Five years ago, Brice and his wife… SEE MORE