An aerial view of the light. PHOTO: COURTESY SUSAN GRACE

Working Waterfront

Swan’s Island light celebrates restoration anniversary

[caption id="attachment_32902" align="alignleft" width="500"] The tower shrouded with the required scaffolding.[/caption] In January 1857, Benjamin Stinson and 83 citizens of Swan’s Island and Deer Island petitioned Congress for an appropriation for a lighthouse. Some of the family names in that petition—Joyce, Staples, Sprague, Stockbridge—are still found on Swan’s Island… SEE MORE

View of Portland from the observatory. PHOTO: MICHELE STAPLETON

Working Waterfront

Portland goes ‘referendum crazy’

Portland voters will cast ballots this fall on a slew of referendum questions that include proposals to reduce the number of short-term rentals, prohibit large cruise ships from coming to port, and increase the city’s minimum wage. These are some of the very same issues that many coastal and island… SEE MORE

Phil Crossman sits at the piano at Waterman's Community Center on North Haven as Gov. Janet Mills, vacationing on the island, sings.

Working Waterfront

My singing partner, Janet Mills

Gov. Janet Mills can sing. I don’t mean to imply that simply because she can sing, she should be re-elected and neither do I mean to suggest that the ability to carry a tune be a prerequisite for holding office. However, she can sing, does so enthusiastically and I have… SEE MORE

A photograph composed and made by Carroll Thayer Berry shows a soon-to-vanish method of herring harvesting. PHOTO: PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

Harvesting the ‘fish that feeds all’

In this month’s image, Harlan Hurd sits in his dory wearing a ball cap and a heavy flannel jacket which is covered in fish scales. His son, Karl, stands at the other end of the dory wearing a jeff cap and an apron over his own flannel coat. They watch… SEE MORE

Eastport celebrates the Fourth of July in 2018.

Working Waterfront

Eastport, Lubec banking on the arts

At the end of June, I was lucky enough to visit Eastport and Lubec. I’ve been meaning to return since my first visit in 1996. Remembering hidden artist studios, downtown galleries, and a dynamic working waterfront drew me to plan a trip. As director of Archipelago, the Island Institute’s Rockland… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Sorting out the meaning of summer

It’s the middle of summer on Islesford and while COVID is not yet off our radar, the month of July has been bursting with activity. This hectic pace throws me off balance but there is something reassuring about how normal the discomfort feels. The islands are once again full of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A sense of place

For the second half of July, I, a 41-year-old woman, mother, and teacher, went on tour with my band. Bait Bag, which I've written about before, is comprised of me (bass and vocals), Fiona Robins (guitar and vocals), and Claire Donnelly, formerly of the Island Institute (drums and shouting). We've… SEE MORE

Rebekah Hodgson poses at the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland. PHOTO: COURTESY HODGSON FAMILY

Working Waterfront

Mrs. Maine is the real deal

In Rebekah Hodgson’s earliest memory of lobstering, she’s on her father’s boat and they’ve just anchored off of Jonesboro’s Looks Point to visit her great uncle Scott, who gave her a banana. “I must have been about four years old,” recalls Hodgson, now 32. “I remember getting back on the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

In praise of tree-lined streets

There is no shortage of appropriate responses to climate change and global pollution—walking instead of driving, insulating your house, trading your leaf blower in for a rake. You can doubtless think of many more yourself. But planting a shade tree along your street, preferably in your own front yard or,… SEE MORE

The view from Little Deer Isle. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Recognizing an island’s landmarks

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. As an Iowa native, I didn’t know there were islands off the coast of Maine before applying to be an… SEE MORE