Working Waterfront

An apology and an explanation

I wrote a column for this, the April issue of The Working Waterfront, a column about the absence of meaningful political discourse, particularly among elected representatives, the people we expect will indulge in such deliberation on our behalf. The column contained this: “I was expected to cultivate and sustain a… SEE MORE

A view of North Haven's landing. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

North Haven to offer ‘offshore year’

Islanders sometimes wryly refer to the mainland as America. If that were true, a mainland student attending an island school would be like studying abroad. North Haven Community School is not pitching its revamped magnet program that way, but it is highlighting the surrounded-by-water nature of the experience. The school… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Stonington hosts ‘Jane’s Walk’ on Saturday, May 7

Stonington and community collaborators will host on "Jane’s Walk: Pier to Pier, a Walk Through Time, Fishing, Quarrying and Culture" on Saturday, May 7. The event gathers friends, neighbors, and visitors for a free, short, 90-minute guided walk which begins at 11:30 a.m. on Stonington’s Commercial Fish Pier and ends… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Native stories keep heritage alive

Stories Our Grandmothers Told Us Edited by Wayne Newell and Robert M. Leavitt Resolute Bear Press Review by Carl Little In his introduction to Kuhkomossonuk Akonutomuwinokot: Stories Our Grandmothers Told Us, Wayne Newell notes that the traditional Passamaquoddy stories he and Robert Leavitt collected “create a bridge between the knowledge… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

WoodenBoat founder turns over the helm

In the early 1970s, Jon Wilson realized he wasn’t as good a boatbuilder as others whose works he admired. But he was a pretty good thinker about boatbuilding. “At that time, wooden boats had been going out of fashion and fiberglass boats were coming in, big time,” he recalled. “I… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A new energy future in Eastport

As a child in Eastport, I often heard stories about the Quoddy Project, then not 20 years in the past. The project was going to generate electricity from tides using dams and impoundment pools. A workforce village and a causeway to the island on which Eastport is located were built,… SEE MORE

The Casco Bay Lines Maquoit II, seen here in file photo, will be replaced by a new vessel paid for in part by a federal grant.

Working Waterfront

Casco Bay ferry gets $3.6 million for new boat

The Casco Bay Island Transit District—known to most as the Casco Bay Lines that operates ferry service between Portland and a half-dozen islands in Casco Bay—has won a $3.6 million federal grant to help build a replacement for the aged Maquoit II which carries passengers and freight to the five… SEE MORE

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

Working Waterfront

Finding Maine

Editor’s note: In our last edition, a letter writer suggested that islanders other than the four who write regular columns for us might contribute to our coverage of life in places surrounded by water. Challenge accepted here! I arrived here in Maine three years ago on May 1. More accurately,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

When Islesboro was ‘invaded’ by the automobile

The following was published under the “Neighborhood Notes” heading in the Friday, Aug. 2, 1912 edition of the Camden Herald, and is reprinted by permission. The peaceful calm of Dark Harbor has been stirred by the arrival of an automobile and dissension has broken out which will end nobody knows… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

It’s time to fix the Indian land claim act

Legislation aimed at modernizing and fixing what is broken in the 1980 Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act is working its way through the Maine Legislature. LD 1626 came through the work of a bipartisan task force that also included tribal chiefs and leaders as well as representatives from the… SEE MORE