Near the old Portland Public Library on Congress Street.

Working Waterfront

Home: Portland in the 1960s

Note: This is the first in a three-part series recollecting the look and feel of Portland in the 1960s, '70s and '80s by a Maine writer who spent his youth there. About 5 a.m. around the first of December 1977, I was standing in streetlight shadows on the corner of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Millennial generation key to Maine’s future

They’re the young generation and they’ve got something to say. And if Maine policy makers are smart, they’ll listen. After decades of dominating the economy, politics and culture, the baby boom generation has been eclipsed by millennials, those born in the 1980 to 1998 period. Since 2006, millennials outnumber boomers,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Saving community underpinnings means recognizing them

A friend of mine once wrote that fishing villages came in to existence once they began to disappear. Once seaside villages were lost to other forms of development, nostalgia over their loss emerged, giving rise to the term “fishing villages” in the early 19th century. Most of the time, it… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Topsham: A history from the Abenakis to I-295

Topsham: From the River to the Highlands By Robert C. Williams Just Write Books, Topsham, Maine, 2015 Long before Thomas Purchase in 1628 set up a little trading post in the area known as Pejepscot near the outlet of the Androscoggin River, Abenaki Indians probably ran a village there. Archaeological… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Feasting with the summer folk an island tradition

Just beneath the surface in most men there lurks a real grub. My wife offered this wry observation after I described to her the behavior of the men in attendance at the annual stag lobster feed, hosted for over 50 years now by the Vinalhaven Lions Club. Long referred to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

May’s mayhem includes jewelry making, study and travel

Last November and December I made plans to be away from Little Cranberry Island during the first two weekends in May. It all sounded so great at the time, and actually, it still is, but right now I am mired in all I have left to do before I leave.… SEE MORE

Grindle Point Lighthouse with the Camden Hills to the west.

Working Waterfront

When Chebeague came to Islesboro

We all started out in our respective island kitchens on the morning of May 2, assembling lunches—sandwiches, salads, goodies to go—eight women from Chebeague and about a dozen on Islesboro, when the Chebeague Methodist Church Ladies Aid came for a visit to Islesboro’s Sewing Circle. Initiated by Jane Frizzel, leader… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Walk this way: Bath’s river walk gets green light

A project that has been talked about in Bath for at least a decade is getting closer to becoming a reality. Early this spring, the Bath City Council gave the green light to city planners to finalize the design of and start the permitting process for a public park and… SEE MORE

High school graduation on North Haven in 2014. The grads wore the colors that corresponded to the colors of their lobster buoys.

Working Waterfront

Reversing island ‘brain drain’ falls to locals

As a high school teacher, I spend some time each year talking with students about their next steps. At North Haven Community School, we have a healthy mix in each graduating class of students attending four-year colleges, community colleges or trade schools, entering military service, or choosing to stay on… SEE MORE

Tracy Ames outside the home at 187 Main Street she and her family will now call home

Working Waterfront

North Haven housing, eldercare groups gearing up

With two houses in the hands of owners, three rental units, an eldercare facility in the works and more projects on the way, North Haven Sustainable Housing is working hard to keep islanders from having to do what’s known on the island as the “housing shuffle.” “There’s an increasing crisis… SEE MORE