Work was underway in November to bring broadband-speed internet to Islesford.

Working Waterfront

Change in the air, and in the fiber optic, on the Cranberrys

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” —SocratesIn March of 2016, at the annual meeting for the town of Cranberry Isles, citizens voted overwhelmingly in favor of borrowing up to $1.2 million to “build a broadband… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

November is a time of waiting

As I’m writing this column, October’s been over for two days. I must confess to feeling a little let down. October gave us unseasonable warmth, an unexpected continuing glut of fresh tomatoes, and photos on social media of friends taking late-season dips in various bodies of water. It also went… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A five day return to the 19th century

Oh, sure, the power will probably go out, for a little while anyway, so I suppose it would be a good idea to fill a few empty milk jugs with water for drinking and cooking, and I’ll put some in a spackle bucket for the ducks and chickens. And it’s… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Two new cookbooks tied to our Midcoast

Full Moon Suppers at Salt Water Farm by Annemarie Ahearn (Roost Books, 2017) The Lost Kitchen: Recipes and a Good Life Found in Freedom, Maine by Erin French (Clarkson Potter, 2017) Two new cookbooks from Midcoast chefs—Full Moon Suppers at Salt Water Farm in Lincolnville by Annemarie Ahearn and The… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Caught: the reality behind the first fishermen’s co-op

Caught: time. place. fish. By Glen Libby and Antonia Small; Wrack Line Books, Port Clyde, Maine, 2016; 120 pages, large format paperback, $40. By design, Caught, with text by by Glen Libby and photos by Antonia Small, is a book you can keep on your coffee table both for casual… SEE MORE

Nancy and W.G. Sayre with blueprints for the new childcare center.

Working Waterfront

Castine hopes to remedy ‘town out of balance’

For a century, a stone and mortar, wooden-roofed tank on the outskirts of town provided Castine with a necessary resource—water. Today, the remains of the structure and the site are being repurposed to serve the town in a new way. The municipal water tank is gone and in its place… SEE MORE

The Bar Harbor Inn at center on a cloudy autumn day.

Working Waterfront

Tourism industry wrestles with disruptive influences

Social media and new technology are driving change in the tourism industry at an unprecedented rate. Those changes are driving marketplace innovations, as tourism interests strive to reach new demographic groups on the latter’s own terms. That was the message from Paul Ouimet, managing director of DestinationNEXT, a research and… SEE MORE

Fishermen work on the waterfront on Islesford as November settles in.

Working Waterfront

Considering the elements that sustain community vitality

One of the best metaphors depicting the fragility of island communities I’ve encountered is the idea of the three-legged stool. I attend the quarterly meetings of the Maine Islands Coalition, a group the Institute helped create, which convenes representatives of the 15 unbridged, year-round islands. Occasionally, members refer to the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ross Greene offers new strategy for teaching, raising ‘human beings’

Few would argue that public school classrooms are easier to manage today than they were 50 years ago. Or that children face fewer social pressures. Or that parents have more time. But Ross Greene says the way educators and parents—and children—respond to the challenges of a fast-paced, pressure-filled environment is… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Letters to the editor: Nantucket thoughts

Nantucket native remains islander To the editor: What a delightful surprise to open November’s issue of The Working Waterfront to see a story and pictures of my native Nantucket Island. It was a fine article and so vividly portrays what has happened to it in the past half century. Unfortunately,… SEE MORE