Teachers from Maine island schools gathered at the Island Institute's offices. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

It’s time to nurture the teachers

There's never been a more stressful time to be a teacher. I say that as someone who worked in K-12 schools for more than 20 years, first as a teacher and then as a principal. Educators enter the profession out of a passion for teaching and helping kids. But today,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Matinicus visit highlights coastal challenges

If you’ve had the opportunity to fly in a four-seater Cessna from Owls Head to the island of Matinicus on Penobscot Island Air, like I did last month, you’ll know why it’s a trip worth taking. On a clear day, Penobscot Bay stretches out in front of you with its… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Housing innovation gets in gear

Living on one of Maine’s 15 unbridged islands brings challenges which inspired Isle au Haut to create its own try-before-you-buy affordable housing program in the 1990s, and it’s still paying dividends today. Kipp Quinby first came to Isle au Haut as a child through the affordable rental program. “The Isle… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Developer wants ‘mixed use’ at Cushing’s Point

The plan by a California land developer to convert the former shipyard at Cushing’s Point where Liberty ships were built during World War II into a 30-acre “mixed-use neighborhood” including as many as 1,000 residential units is creeping forward in the face of substantial opposition from many in the South… SEE MORE

Fishing off Stonington. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

‘Blue economy’ expert makes bold predictions

Speaking at the state’s top lobster-landing port, Charlie Colgan had a harsh prognosis for the fishery. But he also offered hope for a future for the community in which it might still rely on a thriving blue economy. Colgan, a former state economist and director of research for the Center… SEE MORE

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

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