Working Waterfront

Islanders and the shame of baggage

By Barbara Fernald It starts at the grocery store on the mainland. I hand my cooler and canvas bags to the cashier, who passes them to the bagger, and I start to unload a full grocery cart. I have an itching need to get the cart unloaded quickly so I… SEE MORE

Historian Renny Stackpole poses with some of the implements used in whaling.

Working Waterfront

The dirty details of whaling’s glory days

By Nancy Griffin Hunting whales, a practice now roundly condemned by most of the world, once was an important part of New England’s economy in many places—especially so on Nantucket Island off Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Whaling also was a romantic notion for many young boys who yearned for the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering my dramatic friend John

By Phil Crossman A few years ago, my friend John called to say he was in distress and having a hard time breathing. I called the ambulance and then went right up to his place, a couple of miles out of town. He was lying on the floor and, gasping,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A young person’s take on keeping communities alive

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 Molly Siegel Shop parties. The term evokes late-night parties in a lobsterman’s trap shop, playing instruments, dancing, and cavorting until… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Swimming to, and for the light

The iconic Isle au Haut lighthouse, operating since 1907, is a treasured landmark. Perched beside the mouth of the Isle au Haut Thorofare, it is a beacon for boats and a much-loved sight for all who pass by. The tower is community owned and is in dire need of a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Champlain, an explorer who doesn’t inspire shame

By Tom Groening It was one of the more absurd exchanges the Jerry and George characters have on the TV show Seinfeld, which is saying something. The topic was explorers. Jerry extols the achievements of Magellan. “Oh yeah, my favorite explorer. Around the world? Come on,” he says. “Why, who do you… SEE MORE

Jeff Gammelin points out the qualities of the granite.

Working Waterfront

Rocking the granite business

By Laurie Schreiber The sprawling shops at Freshwater Stone—22,000 square feet on 20 acres in Orland—are filled with the sound of industrial machinery, including wire saws and multiple-axis bridge saws, cutting into massive blocks of granite weighing tens of thousands of pounds. Digitally operated, the machinery produces slabs and complex… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Seasonable eating is intuitive

By Sandy Oliver The term “seasonable eating” means normal or appropriate to the time of year, as if the weather told us what was good to eat, and not magazines or newspapers, the internet or corporate test kitchens, or especially the produce sections of the grocery stores. At this house… SEE MORE

A scenic view of an island off Scotland.

Working Waterfront

It’s time for a national islands act

By Rob Snyder I couldn’t help but find the timing appropriate. Five years ago, the Island Institute added the banner “Strengthening Communities” to our website. And late last month, I found myself being escorted—by a bagpiper, no less—to a keynote speaking engagement at the second “Strengthening Communities Conference” in the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

COA’s new building will use 80 percent less energy

From left, College of the Atlantic President Darron Collins, New York City architect Susan Rodriguez, Andrew Davis, who is the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund lead advisor, and Timothy Lock, a management partner with Opal, the architecture division of GO Logic in Belfast. PHOTO: LAURIE SCHREIBER By… SEE MORE