Working Waterfront

No need for selfies: Photographer captures islanders in ‘We Are Swan’s Island’ project

SWAN'S ISLAND — Whether it's a wedding, reunion or holiday celebration, photographers often struggle to get all the key family members in their shots. Imagine how hard it was for Miranda Battiste to capture the family that is the island's year-round population. By most measures, Batiste succeeded. Not only are… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islesboro voters to consider $3 million for broadband

ISLESBORO — Voters will be asked at their May 9 annual town meeting to authorize borrowing $3 million to build a broadband Internet network for the island. In a front-page opinion piece in the January/February edition of the Islesboro Island News, Arch Gillies, chairman of the board of selectmen, argued in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering Chandler “Blackie” Blackington

My relationship with Chandler "Blackie" Blackington began about a decade ago when I traveled to Vinalhaven to visit the community's medical center and eldercare home, exploring the possibilities for Swan's Island. Blackie was my tour guide. He picked me up at the ferry terminal on Vinalhaven and showed me around… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Small-world routine documented for bigger world

Ian Watkins is an Island Fellow, a participant in a two-year service program operated by AmeriCorps and the Island Institute, doing community development work on islands and remote coastal communities. Watkins works on Deer Isle and the Downeast coast with high school students. Living on an island, it can be… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ticks are winning in invasion of Maine

Ticks. Even now, with snow, ice and frigid temperatures holding them in abeyance, the very mention of the little critters can make your skin crawl. But it gets worse, because those critters carry diseases like Lyme, anaplasmosis and babesiosis, illnesses that are debilitating as they are, at times, baffling to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Wood heat welcome as an old friend

It's nearly impossible to disagree about anything of consequence when settled comfortably near a companionable wood fire. We live in a big three-story house right in the village. It was built around 1850 as a Greek Revival—but without the pilasters. Not long after, a two-story kitchen wing was added on… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The stories that Bertha’s spoon can tell

When Bertha was a mere teenager, she started working with Dr. North's family in Montclair, N.J., mostly to help take care of the Norths' five children. She stayed for the rest of her working life, taking on the work of cooking and serving. Married to Chester Turpin, she came to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Beacon and bell, significant to fishermen, to be restored

ISLE AU HAUT — When the town took over ownership of Isle au Haut Light in 1998, the selectmen made a pledge to residents never to use taxpayer money in its upkeep. The town formed a lighthouse committee that raised $62,000 for a restoration of the lighthouse tower that was… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A dead whale washes ashore on an island: what to do?

Christmas Day in the Cranberry Isles arrived with winds high enough to cause ferry cancelations, though the air temperature was unseasonably mild. Fortunately for us, our family had arrived two days earlier. In a rare event that might occur once in five years, both of our sons came home to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

New Vinalhaven town manager on board

Steve Eldridge began work as Vinalhaven's new town manager on Dec. 1. Eldridge had been interim town manager in Bethel in western Maine for the six months prior to being hired on the island. He also has been town manager in Lisbon and Rumford. The island job appealed to him… SEE MORE