Working Waterfront

Sharing a summer house

In September I will have lived on Islesford, as a year round resident, for 47 years, but I have spent part of the summer here for every year of my life. My connection to Little Cranberry Island goes back to two sets of great-grandparents who happened to build summer homes… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Rewriting the storyline of island schools

My father had the honor of cutting the celebratory ribbon for the 150th anniversary of the Chebeague Island District 9 School House last month. At 93, and as the oldest living graduate, he can still remember specifically where he sat in the school room, “middle row, at the very end,”… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island Reader’s offerings reflect passion for place

Every year since 2006 the Maine Seacoast Mission has published The Island Reader, a wide-ranging anthology of poetry, prose, and artwork by residents of Maine’s unbridged islands. And every year the literary/artistic smorgasbord reminds us that islands are special places that people call home. The 2023 edition, no. 17, gets… SEE MORE

Little River Light off Cutler in Washington County.

Working Waterfront

Honoring Maine’s immovable beacons

Lighthouse keeper Willie Corbett knew Velma Johnson was the woman for him when she arrived for a visit in a bosun’s chair strung between a ship’s mast and the island holding Saddleback Ledge Light. “He thought, ‘If she can handle this, she can handle anything,’” laughs his granddaughter, Delia Mae… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Almer Dinsmore honored with ferry name

Living on an unbridged island like Swan’s Island, I knew about the tradition of naming ferries in honor of previous, long-serving captains like our very own Henry Lee and others like Richard Spear and Neal Burgess. When I heard a friend of mine had just been bestowed that honor, I… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The joys and spills of medical care

What a ridiculous garment a hospital johnny is. A few months ago, I was found to have cancer of the liver. I was sent to the Pen Bay Emergency Room to have tests done. At the end of a full day of echocardiograms, MRIs, and so forth, of wandering from… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

On the record with… Cliff Island lobsterman Teddy Reiner

A chance encounter on Cliff Island, six miles off Portland in Casco Bay, led to a conversation that yielded rich history about lobstering in the 1970s. It started while I was scoping out the island trash and treasures that depart in early June as the “large item” pickup. Edward Reiner,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The islands explode into bloom

Everything Everywhere All at Once is the title of an award winning movie I have yet to see. It also is a perfect description of the frenetic time of year in the Cranberry Isles between the middle of May and the middle of June. Our island populations are about to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Pet peeves with food and words

Linguists assure us that language is alive, always evolving. New words and reconfigurations of words emerge, and old familiar words acquire new meanings. I understand these are perfectly natural developments and I’m so annoyed about it. For example, hydrate. I remember a time when if someone got thirsty they helped… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A taste of independence

Not to give any credit to a global pandemic, but one positive result of spending months at home is that at the age of six, Pen learned to ride a bike. She started on one of those little pedal-less balance bikes, couldn’t go seamlessly to riding with no training wheels… SEE MORE