Category: People

Nate Wildes poses at Flight Deck

Working Waterfront

The dream marriage in Maine: ‘Live+Work’ here

By Tom Groening Nate Wildes has the hardest job in Maine. Or maybe it’s the easiest. Or maybe it’s both. Wildes, 28, is tasked with the oh-so-important job of helping reverse two of Maine’s biggest demographic challenges—its stagnant population growth, and its oldest-in-the-nation population status. Both impact the state’s ability… SEE MORE
Josh Spearing looks at different kinds of PFDs

Working Waterfront

To PFD or not to PFD…

By Tom Groening//Photos by Kelli Park A quick, random survey of a half-dozen fishermen on their use of personal flotation devices, or PFDs, at the annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport on March 1 led to a telling moment. Philip Donovan, 48, who lobsters out of Bass Harbor, acknowledged that… SEE MORE
An island family helps a boat land at Frenchboro's ferry landing.

Working Waterfront

Ferry watching on Frenchboro

Reflections is 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. By Natalie Hyde-Peterson The first time I visited Frenchboro, I got off the passenger ferry onto the town dock where… SEE MORE
Housing in Portland’s Munjoy Hill neighborhood has increased in value dramatically in recent years.

Working Waterfront

Home brokers try to tap Maine millennials

By William Hall Across the country, the millennial generation—roughly speaking, people born in the 1980s and 1990s—now dominates home-buying decisions that shape the future of many communities. In Maine, where residents are older on average than those of any other U.S. state, millennial buyers play an especially pivotal role. That… SEE MORE
Kevin Schneider is Acadia National Park’s superintendent.

Working Waterfront

On the record with… Acadia National Park’s Kevin Schneider

By Laurie Schreiber Due to its popularity and accessibility to large population centers, Acadia National Park visitation continues to grow (although more slowly—1 percent in 2018, compared with 7 percent in 2017). Park officials are grappling with challenges that include summertime congestion and workforce housing, plus the federal government’s partial… SEE MORE