Working Waterfront

Island life spiced up by dining opportunities

April’s issue of the North Haven News, our monthly island newspaper, came with a delightful surprise announcement: Cooper’s Landing would be re-opening for the season on April 17. The Landing has been an on-and-off North Haven institution. The slate blue building just across the street from the ferry terminal has… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Eating garbage as the responsible, frugal thing to do

Danish chef Mads Refslund has just written a book called Scraps, Wilt, and Weeds: Turning Wasted Food into Plenty. This is just the most recent evidence of a recent phenomenon of people trying to figure out what to do with food that normally is dumped into the garbage can. Old… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘A world of singers’ is siren for Islesford poet

At Bunker Cove. Poems by Ralph Stevens. Westbrook, Maine: Moonpie Press, 2017. 58 pp. Softbound, $14 Born during World War II to a father who was in the Navy, Ralph Stevens moved at least ten times before graduating from Lincoln Academy in Newcastle. He dropped out of college and did… SEE MORE

Andrea Shane poses with one of her patients at the Antigua Exotic rescue center in Antigua

Working Waterfront

Fox islanders go from high school to the world

Mainers commonly travel during the winter and early spring, and Andrea Shane and Skyler Sanborn, both of Vinalhaven, are no different. But Shane and Sanborn are not snowbirds. The girls, both 2016 graduates of Vinalhaven High School, are spending time in Guatemala as part of a gap year before college.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Nostaglic for one island, learning the life of another

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. I’ve been taking lots of walks. Without a vehicle, this is inevitable, but it’s also been a… SEE MORE

Jim Harkins among his store of nautical gear.

Working Waterfront

Captain Jim’s in Portland is maritime world’s back storeroom

It’s hard to get a fix on just what Jim Harkins has going in his Portland warehouse. Is it a nautical-themed flea market? A maritime museum? A high-end nautical antique store? A kind of Goodwill store for boat owners? Well, it’s all of the above. Harkins, 57, is a character… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Growing up on the coast: ‘Adventures remembered enthusiastically’

The Stone From Halfway Rock: A Boy’s Adventures on the Coast of Maine By Peter Macdonald Blachly (published by Polar Bear & Company, 2016) The pages of The Stone From Halfway Rock should practically reek of salt air and ocean spray, so vividly does author Peter Macdonald Blachly, a writer… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine is choice location for Fresh Air Fund

Every summer for the last five years, Amy Goodwin’s son and daughter fight over the same thing: a treasured summer visitor from the Bronx named Simone. “They each wanted to do something different and they each wanted her to do something with them,” said Goodwin, a 38-year-old education technician who… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Washington Academy a Downeast success story

When Washington Academy first opened its doors in 1792, its namesake—yes, the father of our country, George Washington—was still president. The private high school in East Machias that serves students from 27 Washington County towns and a couple of dozen countries marks its 225th anniversary this year. In a region… SEE MORE

Students hold a “blade” of kelp they’ve grown.

Working Waterfront

This teacher treats his students like research assistants

In his classroom at the Edna Drinkwater School in Northport, John Van Dis asks questions before he knows their answers. It’s an unusual approach for a teacher to take, but for a science teacher, it makes sense. Van Dis believes his grade 6 and 7 students should learn the way… SEE MORE