Working Waterfront

Boats along Maine’s coast inspired painter Janice Moore

One day, painter Janice Moore recalls, she was out driving with her son Joseph Coleman who was scouting locations for his short film Vacationland (2022). Moore relishes these opportunities to explore with her son as she usually goes on solo road trips in search of painting subjects. “He’s very creative,”… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Longtime Waterman’s Community Center director retiring

The board of Waterman’s Community Center has announced that Christie Hallowell will retire from her role of executive director in October 2026, after 21 years of service. A search is now underway for her replacement. Information about the role and the search process will be available on Waterman’s website. Hallowell… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Port of Portland welcomes new harbormaster and vessel

Maine’s busiest and most diverse port has a new harbormaster as well as a new, 25-foot vessel for his office to use. Paul Plummer started as the Port of Portland’s harbormaster in mid-November after eight years in the same role in Harpswell. On the surface, Harpswell and Portland might appear… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

To serve, to strive, and not to yield

Most people clearly remember the first time they met Peter Willauer. I certainly do. An imposing 6-foot-2-inch figure, Willauer looked like he walked out of the movie Captains Courageous. A former Naval ensign and sail training instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy, Willauer was a consummate heavy weather, small boat… SEE MORE

People

Working Waterfront

Phil Crossman, in memoriam

When a giant oak of a man is felled on an island everyone hears it instantly and feels the loss deeply and personally. Phil Crossman, Vinalhaven writer, raconteur, businessman, and activist, among his many other island roles and occupations, crossed the bar shortly before the turn of the New Year… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Daphne Pulsifer’s three-dimensional life on Monhegan

Twelve miles out at sea on Monhegan Island, sculptor Daphne Pulsifer often works in near solitude. In her peaceful, airy studio on Light House Hill Road, she shapes her pieces accompanied by her dog, Emma, and the visitors who occasionally stop in during open hours to peruse her work. Yet… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

On the record with lobster scientist Bob Steneck

Bob Steneck can now add to his already impressive resumé membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The work that led to that honor for the former University of Maine professor came from donning scuba gear and messing around with critters on the sea floor. Steneck suspects it… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering Susan Jones: A guiding light

The Maine fishing industry lost a guiding light when Susan Jones passed away in early September in Stonington at the age of 78. Her leadership shaped the fishermen’s newspaper, Commercial Fisheries News (CFN), for 40 years, from the early 1980s until her retirement in 2014, during which it was the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Saving Marshall Point

One of the Maine coast’s most recognizable, beloved—and accessible—scenes might have had another fate. In 1988, a rumor circulated through St. George—which includes the villages of Port Clyde, Tenants Harbor, and Martinsville—that the Marshall Point Lighthouse would be converted into a hotel and resort property. This is the iconic site… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A season for readying

I think of late October and early November as the “readying season.” We learn to adjust our timing and be flexible with changing arrangements. The mailboat, on its winter schedule, runs three boats a day between Northeast Harbor and the islands. Road construction has picked up on the mainland and… SEE MORE