Island Journal

Keeping the Lights On

There’s a joke on Monhegan that the name of the island can be loosely translated as “island of many waitresses.” Like the hundreds of 20-something women that have preceded me, I showed up on this rock to wait tables after finishing college. In between polishing glassware and reciting the daily… SEE MORE

Communities

Island Journal

It All Changes in a Heartbeat

Doesn’t matter which island you’re from or headed to, it’s always The Island. My island was and is and always will be Gotts Island. The one Ruth Moore was remembering when she talked about the place you were homesick for even when you were there. I’d been back and forth… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Islands Are Character Magnets

As a kid, I wanted to be normal. Anything that kept me away from this ideal—namely, my parents—was a threat. Middle school can be rough, and the closer I was to everybody else, the easier life would be. It took me a while to appreciate “characters,” which as far as… SEE MORE

Chellie Pingree talks with North Haven boatyard owner Foy Brown, 1996.

Island Journal

What I Take With Me

When I moved to North Haven, I thought I was moving away from politics. In 1971, I was just out of high school, a veteran of protest marches in a country divided by disputes over the war in Vietnam. That summer, I went to visit a young man on a… SEE MORE

Island Journal

Islesford’s Creative Economy

The Cranberry Isles consist of five islands that, in the words of the historian Ted Spurling, “fit into the Great Harbor of Mount Desert Island, nestling nicely under its shorter arm.” They are, from largest to smallest, Great Cranberry, Little Cranberry (also called Islesford), Sutton, Baker and Bear. The islands… SEE MORE