The view looking southward from the bridge in Wiscasset

Working Waterfront

Plans to fix Wiscasset congestion tweak streetscape

The view north on U.S. Route 1 in Wiscasset as interpreted with one of the options for improving traffic flow. Proposals to deal with the perennial summer traffic delays on U.S. Route 1 through Wiscasset have been on the table—then off the table—for more than half a century. In… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Public spaces are good for the economy

Thriving public spaces contribute to the economic vitality of a community. Early New England communities often were built around a public common or public green. Initially, they might have served as grazing land for animals or a place for the exchange of goods. They often helped to organize and showcase… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Vinalhaven to honor World War II vets with new memorial

A local newspaper of the day told the tale: March 19, 1945, Pacific Ocean—Donald C. McLaughlin, Jr. of Vinalhaven is a seaman first class aboard the USS Franklin, also known as “Big Ben.” Operating 60 miles off the coast of Japan, the Franklin sits vulnerable, with many of her planes… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Dear, yet not-so-dear April

Have you fallen off on writing “thank you” notes? I know I have, and I’m not proud of it. I used to enjoy writing long letters to people before I became a mother. Then computers, the Internet, e-mail and Facebook also came along to lure me away from the handwritten word.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Blair Colby is Great Cranberry’s truck guru

Great Cranberry Island’s 40 or so year-round residents know that if roads need to be plowed, trees cut, fields mowed, firewood split, land cleared, wells drilled or anything hauled, they can call Blair Colby. Colby can be relied on to bring to bear his extensive collection of hard-used Franken-trucks, assembled… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lessons learned from bread-making extend to island work

Reflections is a monthly column 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. Jessica Duma works on Great Cranberry Island with the historical society. I may be the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine tourism grew—again—in 2015

Where’s the cliff? That was the question tourism officials raised at the annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism, held March 21-22 at the Sunday River Resort. The question had nothing to do with the snow-covered mountain looming over the resort, or the skiers enjoying the mild spring weather. The “cliff,” which… SEE MORE

A depiction of the new version of The Cat

Working Waterfront

What ‘The Cat’ can do for Portland and Maine

Maine business and government officials are expecting The Cat—the new high-speed catamaran ferry service between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia—will deliver an economic boost when it begins service on June 15. “I expect it to attract a higher level of use than what we experienced with the Nova Star, and… SEE MORE

The former Verso paper mill in Bucksport is being dismantled and scrapped

Working Waterfront

Growing the ‘port’ in Bucksport could bring jobs

Not only did Bucksport lose the paper mill business and jobs that sustained its economy and tax base when Verso closed its operation there, but the mill itself—or at least most of the metal in the structures—will be scrapped and hauled away. Some might see that fate as cruel, adding… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Penobscot Watershed Conference underscores region’s impact

On the map of Maine, Penobscot Bay lies at the midpoint of the coast. It resembles a fulcrum on which the northern and southern halves pivot. On the map of the Penobscot watershed, which was used throughout the venue that hosted Penobscot Watershed Conference on April 9, the image looms… SEE MORE