Maine Maritime Academy students work on deck on the training vessel State of Maine. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Brennan to retire from MMA

William J. Brennan, president of Maine Maritime Academy, has announced his decision to retire after the upcoming school year, capping off 12 years of dedicated service to the institution. “It is an exciting moment for me, but I really do have mixed emotions about the announcement,” Brennan said. “This is… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

We’re stronger when we show up for each other

“Are we doing hugs?” she asked as she approached me with her eyes sparkling. It had been nearly four years since we had seen each other in person and now, here we were, on Rockland’s Main Street, trying to figure out how to greet each other in the new normal.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The magic of dishwashing…

When my summer helper, Brynn, tackles the pile of dirty dishes that a household of four or five people can generate, I don’t think of it as particularly magical. But Brynn says, “There is magic in the mundane,” and there’s probably nothing quite as mundane as dishwashing. For Brynn, plunging… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The richness of found fruit

When I was young, I had the privilege of growing up on 13 acres of secondary-growth forest in central Maine, between Farmington and Augusta. Our land had a stream and frog pond, a field full of wild strawberries, a thicket of blackberries, an apple tree whose fruit was always harder… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

My own hand-made oatcake invention

In early July I was shopping on the mainland at a local health food store when a friend handed me a square orange and yellow cardboard box labeled Effie’s Handmade Oatcakes. “Have you ever had these? They’re really good!” Nope, but I bought a box, stashed it in my cupboard… SEE MORE

Ted Ames on the Stonington waterfront. PHOTO: PAUL MEADOW/MAINE CENTER FOR COASTAL FISHERIES

Working Waterfront

Ted Ames honored by Bowdoin

Lifelong fisherman and scientist Ted Ames was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Sciences by Bowdoin College on Aug. 14 at its delayed 2020 commencement. In presenting the degree, Dr. John Lichter, colleague and friend of Ames at Bowdoin, said that when groundfish stocks collapsed in the mid-1990s, Ames set out… SEE MORE

he Islesboro Central School today. PHOTO: ANNE McKEE

Working Waterfront

Not alone: The haunting of Islesboro

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in The Working Waterfront in 2003. It also is included in a collection of Oldham’s stories, Getting Here from There: Life Stories from a Maine Island Community (2020). Perhaps due to their remoteness and resultant romantic allure, islands possess an air of mystery that’s… SEE MORE

An artist's rendering of what the new Machias dike on Route 1 would look like.

Working Waterfront

Stakeholders find common vision for Machias dike

Revolutionary War-era patriots once captured a British sloop, the H.M.S. Margaretta, in Machias Bay, then sailed the vessel high up the Middle River, hiding it there near the abundant salt grasses which attracted settlers to Machias in the first place. Today, a dike and causeway span the point where the… SEE MORE

Green Moors Inn, between Portsmouth and York. PHOTO: COURTESY MAINE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION

Working Waterfront

Maine’s Route 1: The tourist highway

When then-Gov. Angus King coined the “Maine… The Way Life Should Be” slogan, a friend in Belfast manufactured coffee cups that included the phrase on one side. On the other side, it read: “Belfast… The Way It Is.” If those Jeff Dobbs aerial videos in which stunning footage reveals the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Understanding seasons with island perspective

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. In the dead of winter, Chebeague Island becomes very quiet. Restaurants and organizations reduce their hours or close entirely, and… SEE MORE