Working Waterfront

Islands and the zombie apocalypse

I once read a book that began with the author flying over the Amazon for the first time. While he hadn’t yet set foot in this part of the world, he had been there many times by reading, looking at maps and absorbing magazine photographs. In fact, the Amazon rain… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Financial hacks for fishermen

A version of this column first appeared in Landings, the newsletter of the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance and is reprinted here with permission. Thinking about a new boat? Knowing how to pay for it is important. To help fishermen better understand financial management, the Vinalhaven Coop brought some experts from… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Guests find motel romantic, fisherman- and mink-friendly

I customarily do an end of year wrap up of the summer’s high points at the Tidewater, the motel on Vinalhaven I own and operate. It’s a great business to be in. Almost without exception, every visitor is delighted to be here, happy to be on vacation, relieved to be… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Art of Acadia—The Little brothers on Mount Desert Island

By Edgar Allen Beem The natural beauty of Mount Desert Island has inspired artists for centuries. In the 19th century, some of those artists’ romantic visions inspired tourists and rusticators to plant the summer colonies that flourish on the island to this day. The art history of Maine’s most renowned… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Recipes made immortal in vintage cookbook

Sometime in the 1930s, the members of the Islesboro Women’s Club spent hours typing out recipes they collected from their membership and neighbors and assembled it into a cookbook that they covered with canvas. Embroidered on the front were the words “Cook Book” and a figure of what appears to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Making a living from a changing sea

By Heather Deese, Ph. D. This summer I had dozens of conversations about the changing Gulf of Maine and how these changes play out in our local fisheries. Many conversations took place in community halls and theaters during evening “A Climate of Change” events featuring four short films produced by the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Sometimes, the gulf left by loss must remain

Much has been written about the way loss resonates in small communities. The way grief echoes in the empty space where a friend once was. How not one person is unaffected by the lack of balance. North Haven experienced such a loss at the end of the summer. Greg Quinn,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The bittersweet season is upon me

When I look back on what I’ve written for this column in Septembers past, the theme is regularly similar and the ache familiar, year after year. Do other people experience a September transition like I do in the Cranberry Isles? I’ve wished for something, gotten it and am not quite ready… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The problem is ours to fix, so ‘Open your mouth!’

By Laurie Sproul “So, open your mouth lad! For every voice counts!” Dr. Seuss’ logic, expressed in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, prods us to vote. However, in our complex world it’s difficult sorting through the issues. Take climate change. Sea level rise threatening sewer plants; salt… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island lessons carry through teaching job

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. Maggie Small is a former Island Fellow who served on Peaks Island The dictionary definition of community… SEE MORE