Working Waterfront

Maine—our next big moves

I have a sharp memory of Angus King’s inauguration as governor in January of 1995. I was editor of the Republican Journal weekly newspaper in Belfast then, and we had endorsed him for the office. As an independent candidate, I found his thinking on the issues of the day refreshing,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

On the record with… Cliff Island’s Bonnie Rideout

Bonnie Rideout’s house on Cliff Island is on a small bluff jutting to the south, ringed by steep shale cliffs descending into the ocean. The house was used in the filming of The Whales of August in 1987. Rideout gave me a quick tour of the old house, showing me… SEE MORE

John Wissemann’s “Friendship Harbor 2013,” mixed media on paper, 22 by 30 inches PHOTO: JEFF FULLER

Working Waterfront

John Wissemann stencils Friendship

In a scene in Jeffrey Mathias’s 2014 video “John Wissemann: Stencils & Pencils & Working Harbors of Maine,” the artist visits Friendship Harbor with fellow painter Sam Cady who lives in the neighborhood. As they admire the configurations of sheds, docks, and boats, Cady notes that Friendship has made “a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Goodbye ‘Pandalus borealis’

Many years ago, my family and I began to spend summers on Vinalhaven. Over the years, first we were summer people, then longer term visitors, and now fortunately homeowners; much has changed. Not the island so much, although it has. But the oceanic world surrounding us. First to go were… SEE MORE

Three young women pose for a photograph at the steamship wharf at Sandy Point in Stockton Springs. PHOTO: COURTESY PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

Steamboat days in Stockton Springs

Three young women pose nervously for the camera in our image this month. They are dressed for an outing and are holding parcels, maybe containing their lunch. Their chaperon, a spinsterly-looking character, is clearly not amused at the spectacle they are causing on the busy steamboat wharf at Sandy Point… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Regional work challenges idea of community

This type of regional collaboration provides a vehicle for improving social and economic opportunity... SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A card for you

Among our many interesting island traditions is one that’s wonderfully functional. Before one of our favorite institutions, The Paper Store, closed, whenever an islander died, or someone with an island connection—a seasonal resident for example or even the mainland relative of one or the other—a little basket appeared on the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Take a break, or it takes you

As I bustled down the school hallway between dropping students off at their elementary classroom and eating a quick lunch before recess duty, something unusual caught my eye. A sea urchin, a resident of the ocean tank outside the kindergarten room, had pinned a piece of rockweed between the aquarium… SEE MORE

“We aim to create a true community newspaper, delivering news about our schools, businesses, local government…”

Working Waterfront

Peaks Island launches newspaper

The goal, according to the website PeaksIslandNews.org, is to provide “objective reporting, focusing on the issues that matter most to our community.” SEE MORE

Shaun Haskins, left, and Kara McCrimmon serve as co-directors of the Cobscook Institute. PHOTO: LESLIE BOWMAN

Working Waterfront

Place-based collaborations buoy Downeast communities

Cobscook Institute and The Community Caring Collaborative are two Washington County nonprofits that center their work on social connection and collaboration. SEE MORE