Category: Observer

It began with my younger brother stumbling across a photograph of a beautifully decorated Christmas tree—stunning in fact. It was taken in 1954 but was entirely typical of the many nearly identical and similarly breath-taking trees I’d enjoyed by then for ten Christmases and he for eight and our still… SEE MORE

Historic Downstreet, a registered nonprofit on Vinalhaven, began in 2011 when a dozen concerned citizens embarked on an effort to save an archaeological historic Main Street structure on Vinalhaven from being lost at auction. The former Knights of Pythius Hall at 30 Main Street had been foreclosed upon by a… SEE MORE

Not long ago—well, I guess that just because I remember it doesn't mean it wasn't long ago—Vinalhaven’s downtown was an architectural wonderland, lorded over by three Second Empire Victorian structures, each three stories, and a fourth building, marginally more magnificent, but lacking the Victorian’s mansard. This fourth edifice was the… SEE MORE

The Fourth of July reminds me each year of a memorable Independence Day Celebration in 1984, when my grandfather, Edwin (Ted) Maddox, a highly regarded islander, selectman, and staunch Republican state legislator representing Vinalhaven and North Haven and the rest of Knox County, was leading the Vinalhaven parade, as he… SEE MORE

Delly—whose full name was Dallas Levi Anthony—was a pianist, a wonderful baritone, a terrific cook and baker, precipitously mischievous, and a help to all. A friend recalls that Delly let him and his brother, nine- and ten-year-olds, tag along up into the bell tower of the Union Church to take… SEE MORE

I keep misjudging people. Last month an elderly woman, four years my junior, put in an appearance at the Vinalhaven Library to sing songs and tell stories. The event had been scheduled weeks before and announced repeatedly in our island newsletter, so as the day approached and it became increasingly… SEE MORE