Working Waterfront

Innkeepers report mixed results from just-ended season

By Jacqueline Weaver Hotels, motels, and inns along the Maine coast, many of which have shuttered their windows for the season, have varying reports on how well their businesses fared over the spring, summer, and fall. Some said occupancy rates and stays were higher and longer than ever before and… SEE MORE

A view of the village area on Michigan's Mackinac Island.

Working Waterfront

Great Lakes islanders find common concerns

By Tom Groening Representatives from island communities across the Great Lakes gathered on Mackinac Island in Michigan in late October for an annual summit at which common challenges were explored. The Great Lakes Islands Alliance formed three years ago, with assistance from the Island Institute, publisher of The… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Considering Frenchboro’s always-open library

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. By Natalie Hyde-Petersen I love libraries. The whole idea of making knowledge available for free makes the ideal of equality feel… SEE MORE

Sunset views on the Skyline Trail in Cheticamp at Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Working Waterfront

Our Cape Breton road trip: Music, joie de vivre, and views

By Tina Cohen Cape Breton and its famed scenery and roadway—the Cabot Trail—caught our imagination and became a place we had to see. Not too far from Maine (especially by ferry), we could bring our Chocolate Lab and pull a small camper behind our truck. On arrival at the welcome… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tacking toward the positive

By Barbara Fernald To ease myself through the weird transition that happens to me every year for at least a week on either side of Labor Day, I came up with a small thought pattern to help me fall asleep. With the light off, as I adjust my body to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

When small island nations speak, we should listen

By Kate Tagai Fourteen island states gathered in the Maldives in November 1989 for the Small States Conference on Sea Level Rise. Jack Hopa, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries for the island nation of Vanuatu (in the Coral Sea, east of Australia) asserted: “On the issue of sea level… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Coyotes on Chebeague worry islanders

By Donna Miller Damon It wasn’t interest in the workings of local government that drew nearly a hundred Chebeague islanders to a select board meeting. It was interest in the newest island inhabitant, the non-native Eastern coyote The meeting featured a presentation by Scott Lindsay, regional wildlife biologist for the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Hank Williams and my blue period

By Phil CrossmanWhen I was a teenager, I endured a blue period. Well—truth be known—it was a blue era, several years. And I was reminded, in recent weeks and particularly on the night of Saturday, Oct. 5, of what a companion country music had been during that long and anguished… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Nothing I’d rather be doing

By Courtney Naliboff It was a warm September day, and the horses had congregated in Fiona’s back yard. Not horses of the real, equine variety, but a bunch of women and one little girl, gamely wearing silicon horse and unicorn masks in the service of another Bait Bag music video.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Fabric, fiber, and food

By Sandy Oliver The Sewing Circle cooks. There is a whole lot of sewing, knitting, crocheting, needlework, and weaving going on, but can we ever cook! The food and fiber connection is a strong one, reinforced by an island-wide lack of fast food options despite the small rotisserie chickens one… SEE MORE