Working Waterfront

Islesboro’s Annika Rogers a two-sport standout

Annika Rogers has spent most of her life working hard to excel, both in school and in sport, competing locally in sailing and internationally in snowshoeing. The Islesboro Central School senior has been rewarded for her efforts with a $5,000 scholarship from the Maine Sports Hall of Fame. Rogers, 18,… SEE MORE

Volunteers work at burning fields on Swan's Island.

Working Waterfront

Swan’s Island fights ticks with fire

By Jennifer Helman There is no shortage of information about the trouble ticks bring into our lives. They lay thousands of eggs at a time, live parasitically off animals, spread Lyme and other diseases, and are yucky little critters. Various methods have been employed to reduce the number of ticks… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering the ‘improbable’ Harbor Gawker

On Oct. 1 of last year, a man with no legs and just a few fingers put together one of several final meals at one of coastal Maine’s iconic—and most improbable—seafood restaurants. It was a haddock and havarti sandwich, which I enjoyed and with a gusto that I’d reserved over the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Digging into history, learning from the children

Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. It was most certainly the highest, most nausea-inducing point on the entire island. I closed my eyes.… SEE MORE

Passengers disembark from the Islesboro ferry in Lincolnville Beach.

Working Waterfront

Ferry service is part of our civic infrastructure

Sometimes it’s important to begin by stating the obvious. Ferry service is not optional for island communities—they live or die by it. The allocation of resources across the islands served by the Maine State Ferry Service tends to divide, rather than unite communities. Islesboro is the clear loser in the… SEE MORE

The ferry departs Lincolnville for Islesboro.

Working Waterfront

Ferry service chooses rate increase plan, Islesboro hit hardest

A new Maine State Ferry Service rate plan will be implemented beginning May 21. The new fare structure eliminates the on-island discount in favor of a price consistent at both mainland and island terminals, and also is consistent among the six islands the state ferries serve: Frenchboro, Swan’s Island, Islesboro,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An unexpected loss reminds us how we should live

In May I usually write about how crazy busy it is, and how fast the month goes, and what a relief it is to finally see signs of spring, like blooming daffodils, buds on the trees, and returning songbirds. Carpenters, caretakers, fishermen, boat builders, painters, gardeners, artists, and craftspeople all… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Letters to the editor

Emergency ferry runs more complicated I am writing in response to the article, “Ferry Service impacted with rising emergency trips,” in the April edition of The Working Waterfront. As a resident of Swan’s Island, diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer in 2016 and living with an ongoing issue of small bowel… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

My love affair with hot water

We go back a long way, hot water and I. It has been passionately hot, torrid in fact, water up to my belly button, floating bubbles in the tub, splashing all around my fists and caressing my wrists in a dishpan, gushing from the faucet when I turn it on.… SEE MORE

A summer scene on Great Cranberry Island.

Working Waterfront

April’s hope supplants March’s misery

Year-round residents of the Cranberry Isles have just made it through a rough end of winter to face the fickle brown month of April. In February, the ice-rain-ice weather had yards looking like skating rinks. March had its own kind of nastiness with endless wet snow and high winds causing… SEE MORE