Working Waterfront

Lora Whelan’s travel lift

“If you like industrial equipment, and I certainly do,” Whelan writes, “a travel lift is hard to resist.” She calls it “the lifeblood” of a boatyard, moving vessels from the water onto land. “I had never given it a good look-see to understand how it worked,” she relates... SEE MORE

At the Boothbay Opera House in 2023. PHOTO: ROBERT MITCHELL

Working Waterfront

Taking the Ellington, Strayhorn train

Combined, Ellington and Strayhorn produced more than 3,000 compositions. SEE MORE

Bait bins on a pier in Cutler. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Working waterfront tax law is improved

It’s the letter no one wants to open—the dreaded perforated envelope from your municipality that comes once a year. Yep, you guessed it, your property tax bill. Taxes only seem to change in one direction, up, and if you live in coastal Maine, perhaps the slope of this curve is… SEE MORE

Volunteers with the Waldo County Woodshed work on cutting and stacking wood. PHOTO: COURTESY BOB MacGREGOR

Working Waterfront

Warming up Waldo County

The Woodshed, Barry Feero says, is a reflection of the community. “It’s like a big family,” he says. “The people who use it also help out when it’s needed.” SEE MORE

Megan Robinson, front, and Jessica Lindsay weigh fish at a Machias Bay salmon farm owned and operated by Cooke Inc. The New Brunswick-based company has been operating in Maine for 20 years. PHOTO: COURTESY COOKE INC.

Working Waterfront

Downeast salmon business marks 20 years

The pens are scattered across a region that extends from Cobscook Bay in the east, through Jonesport-Beals, to near Swan’s Island in the west. The fish spend about 18-24 months in the pens, reaching a weight of about 12 pounds, at which time they are ready to be sold. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Climate plan: What you need to know

Ultimately, the "Maine Won’t Wait" plan is essential because it guides the state’s approach to critical issues like climate change, economic resilience, and community well-being. SEE MORE

An aerial view of the Callahan Mine taken in the 1970s. The mine property is now a pond.

Working Waterfront

Closing the book on Hancock County Superfund site

The zinc and copper deposits in Harborside were discovered in the early 1880s. The Harborside Copper Mine, as it became known, produced around 10,000 tons of ore from three underground shafts between 1881 and 1883. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Being a messenger is risky business

I’ve been thinking about a play I saw on public TV many years ago, and believe it or not, my thoughts had nothing to do with the election. An Enemy of the People, written in 1882 by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, had been adapted by Arthur Miller, best known… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

This ‘God-forsaken rock’

When the deadline is looming for the next edition of The Working Waterfront, I reflect on what I’ve seen, heard, and shared in communities along the coast. Without fail, Tom Groening, our talented editor who has taken the pulse of the coastline for years, has said, “Write about your own… SEE MORE

C. Ronald Bechtle in his Maine studio, ca. 2002. PHOTO: COURTESY REID BECHTLE

Working Waterfront

A modernist visits Hinckley boatyard

Bechtle offered an intriguing assortment of symbols and shapes to represent the marine setting, including bright red pennants, a black cross, circles, and squares. SEE MORE