Search Results for: matinicus

News

Building a lifelong connection to service and Maine

4/16/2021 - At the Island Institute, we have seen firsthand the tremendous impact Island Fellows have when partnered with an island or coastal community. The Maine Fellows Service is an exciting opportunity to connect the next generation of Mainers who are eager to serve to the places they’re needed most. SEE MORE
group of young adults in early 2000s clothing

Island Journal

Two Decades of Fellows Changes Communities

It’s a beautiful coincidence that 2020 is the 20th year of the Island Fellows program at the Island Institute. Twenty years ago, the designers of this program may not have known the level of reach it would have. Fellows came from states thousands of miles away, their projects have touched every layer of an island… Read more » SEE MORE

Solution Example

Work with an incumbent provider

Rural communities in Maine often have very small populations and sometimes have a hard time getting attention from incumbent service providers. The communities of Frenchboro, Matinicus, Isle Au Haut, and Swan’s Island came together as a group with the Island Institute to coordinate shared goals and meet with their incumbent service provider, TDS Telecom. With… Read more » SEE MORE
ferry photographed from behind

Island Journal

How We Get Here: A History of the Ferry Service

The allure of living on an island includes isolation from the rest of the world. The downside of living on an island includes isolation from the rest of the world. Especially when you need something on the mainland. That’s what ferries are for. “We are the roads to the islands. We want to get everyone… Read more » SEE MORE

Solution Example

Outer Islands Teaching & Learning Collaborative

Isolated schools are vital, innovative, collaborative centers of teaching and learning that prepare students to thrive in the 21st century. The Outer Islands Teaching & Learning Collaborative, or TLC, is a 12-year-old, teacher-created and teacher-led group that provides a virtual community for the smallest island schools where students and teachers can access a rich and… Read more » SEE MORE
Swan's Island fire department and residents

Island Journal

Responding First, Fifteen Miles Out

Eva Murray moved to Matinicus in 1987 to take a position as the school teacher. Matinicus then was similar to Matinicus now: a small island fishing town, 15 miles out to sea, resplendent in natural beauty and with a powerful sense of community, yet lacking many basic services. Medical care was nonexistent. When Murray arrived, there was “no one to go to if you got hurt, or got a burn – no one had any training and certainly no one had any obligation” to help. SEE MORE
Newfoundland landscape with water and mountains

Island Journal

The Collector of Islands

To get to the Lofoten Islands in Norway, you must take the ferry. But to get to the ferry you must journey by train. The train from Oslo takes 20 hours, traveling through Trondheim and the mountains to the tiny coastal settlement of Bodo. In Bodo I board the Hurtegruten, a coastal ferry that travels… Read more » SEE MORE
N.C. Wyeth painting of Black Rock, Monhegan Island, Maine

Island Journal

Maine Islands: Paintings From the Farnsworth Collection

The Farnsworth Art Museum’s collection of approximately 15,000 works focuses on American art from the 18th century to the present, with a special emphasis on artists who have lived or worked in Maine.  Since the mid-nineteenth century, the state has been both host and inspiration to many of America’s most noted painters. Drawn here by… Read more » SEE MORE
US coast guard woman working controls

Island Journal

‘Halfway to Where Somebody’s in Trouble’

It is practically a cliché to call Matinicus Island isolated, but it is. The closest mainland city (and U.S. Coast Guard station) is in Rockland at about 23 miles distant. In the heart of winter, the state ferry may make one trip from Rockland to the island each month. Bad weather here has a more serious definition than it does in the rest of the state. Islanders use cell phones, but no one relies on them. “Here on the island, if you’re not standing in just the right spot or facing the right direction,” says Clayton Philbrook, “you can usually text in a lot of places, but as far as having a voice conversation, it doesn’t work.” SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Strained relations with the ferry service

On a late spring morning in 1920, the steamboat Governor Bodwell was docked at Tillson’s Wharf in Rockland and preparing to depart for Vinalhaven. Shoveling coal below decks was my grandfather, Edwin Maddox. His eleventh great grandparents, William and Mary Brewster, had arrived on the Mayflower 300 years earlier. Unbeknownst to him, he was close to meeting the… Read more » SEE MORE