David Dewey working on site in Rockland. PHOTO: COURTESY OF ARTIST

Working Waterfront

David Dewey’s Rockland

As a painter of light, Dewey explains, watercolor is a natural medium. “It is all about light through the transparent layering of color pigments on white paper,” he writes. SEE MORE

The Waldoboro Custom House, circa 1890s. PHOTO: MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

Former federal buildings are maritime commerce relics

Scattered across the coast of Maine are the remnants of a network of federal buildings that were once the center for documenting maritime commerce. The activities of custom houses included recording the arrivals and clearances of vessels, examining cargoes, collecting duties, and listing passengers and crew. For a large chunk… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How to say goodbye to an island

Reflections is written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. At some point during my final summer of living on Islesboro, the thought of how to say goodbye trickled in.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ocean, land, and temperature change

To grasp how the ocean affects these patterns, we need to explore its key processes: heat distribution, ocean currents, and ocean-atmosphere interactions. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A hidden pond, an imagined friend

When she was a young girl and way longer than might have been advisable had someone known, Sophie imagined a companion. She’d seen Disney’s Peter Pan in 1956 and from that moment on for several years, shared her life with a miniature version of that elf, a little guy, a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

That end of summer feeling

COVID caught up with a lot of people I know during the summer. Some of them for the first time. At the beginning of August, when an abundant summer was hitting its peak, I came down with a sore throat and headache. Two days later I tested positive for the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Summer in a jar

I’ve filled mason jars full; good use for small peaches whose skins slip off easily after being scalded and slide into a jar without argument. A light syrup of two parts water to one of sugar is all that’s needed. I usually leave one pit in the jar to intensify the peach flavor. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Heaven is other people

Another North Haven summer has come, and more or less gone. Most of our friends have departed for points south or west. All but a few boats at the Casino have been stored for the winter. At the time of writing, I am physically, if not emotionally, prepared to begin… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

We asked, you answered

Earlier this year, Island Institute asked our readers for your thoughts and opinions about The Working Waterfront newspaper and the weekly online digest of Working Waterfront stories. As we consider ways to improve and expand our connections to those who share our deep commitment to the people and places that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Public, private don’t always play nicely

Imagine the reaction to a town renting out offices in a public library built through the beneficence of Andrew Carnegie a century ago. Or a John D. Rockefeller-donated carriage trail in Acadia National Park being turned into a for-profit go-cart track. It’s not quite as dramatic as all that, but… SEE MORE