Joy Sprague in the golf cart she uses to pick up mail. PHOTO: COURTESY BARBARA FERNALD

Working Waterfront

Sprague doesn’t mail in the ‘Joy’ of her job

Her given name is Florence, but having arrived in the world five days before Christmas, her parents had the seasonal spirit when they gave her the middle name Joy. [caption id="attachment_32079" align="alignleft" width="500"] Joy Sprague in front of the Islesford Post Office. PHOTO: COURTESY BARBARA FERNALD[/caption] In a phone conversation,… SEE MORE

“Studio Still Life Tremont Avenue Bronx, NY” (1962) 35 x 48 inches, gift of the Ashley Bryan Center.

Working Waterfront

Ashley Bryan’s ‘Beauty in Return’ at Farnsworth

[caption id="attachment_32028" align="alignleft" width="400"] “Family Gathering, Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY” (1962) 48-inches by 48-inches, gift of the Ashley Bryan Center.[/caption] The exhibition “Ashley Bryan: Beauty in Return” is now on display in the Farnsworth Art Museum’s Rothschild Gallery in Rockland through Dec. 31. The show recognizes the work… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A dog life remembered

I was born ready, ready to love without condition. So simple were my needs that to be adopted 13 years ago by a human family represented complete fulfillment. Over the years I found a real home on this island. This is a real Dog Town. From the beginning I went… SEE MORE

Eben Salvatore, left, and Jeff Young, who are introducing the electric vehicles to Acadia and Bar Harbor. PHOTO: LAURIE SCHREIBER

Working Waterfront

Electric vehicles an option for Acadia visitors

A new rental fleet of small electric vehicles is winding its way around the streets of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park—and it’s an option being pitched as having great advantages over gas-guzzler cars and taxis. “Instead of driving their Suburban from their hotel to the park, they can drive… SEE MORE

James Fitzgerald, “Saltin' Mackerel ca. 1960, oil on canvas, 30 by 40 inches. Monhegan Museum of Art and History, promised gift of Stephen S. Fuller and Susan D. Bateson

Working Waterfront

James Fitzgerald paints Fish Beach

During his life as a painter, James Fitzgerald (1899-1971) knew firsthand a number of working waterfronts. After completing his art studies in his home city of Boston, he took to the sea, shipping out of Gloucester, ostensibly to sketch and paint. On later trips to the Grand Banks aboard the… SEE MORE

Some of the cars featured at the Seal Cove Auto Museum would have been seen on the roads of Mount Desert Island in the early 20th century, much to the consternation of some residents. From left: 1912 Ford Model T, 1904 Knox, 1915 FRP, and 1910 Pierce Arrow. PHOTO: COURTESY SEAL COVE AUTO MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

Wiz chariots and sunken Broncos

“It's nothing but a big picnic ground for 'Elks,' and 'Spiritualists,' and 'Holy Ghosters.' The whole island is full of campers from Skowhegan, Bucksport, Rockland, and Ellsworth, that don't do nothin' but sit in front of their tents, eat bananas and read the Sunday papers.” —Arthur Train Mount Desert Island… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The finer points of protecting working waterfront

Most Mainers understand and appreciate the need to protect the working waterfront, those access points and infrastructure necessary to make a living on the water. But how, exactly, does it get threatened and how does it disappear? Imagine you’re a clam harvester who has an agreement with a local person… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Looking for balm in wake of violence

Oh how I wish our country would do what New Zealand did after its last mass shooting, in Christchurch, in 2019. What if our government would reinstate its ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons and install an immediate program to buy them back? Funds that are already earmarked to buy weapons… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Prepping like it’s 1885

Remember 1999 and the big worry about the Y2K bug? Everything civilization rested on would collapse in a heap when the clocks all ticked over to 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, 2000. The world’s computers would all crash and we’d be enveloped in darkness as the grid went down and mayhem… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Caught by COVID, help in escaping

After two years, two months, and some number of days that I’m too tired to count, I finally caught COVID. Or maybe it caught me. Either way, I’m writing this from bed. I had identified a ten-day window in my schedule where it would be somewhat less inconvenient to be… SEE MORE