Working Waterfront

Why is there a grain silo on Rockland Harbor?

Drive through the smallest no-stoplight town in the Midwest and you’ll encounter a hulking grain elevator. The ubiquitous structures define the landscape in the country’s grain-producing midsection. But what is one doing on the harbor in Rockland? The answer, it turns out, involves mid-20th century competition between rail freight and… SEE MORE

Essay

A rocky Maine shoreline speaks to large forces at work. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK

Working Waterfront

Maine’s fractal coast

Day in and day out, summer after summer when I was a kid, I flew back and forth over Casco Bay with my father in his Piper Cub seaplane. From the air I saw thousands of spooked seagulls, smooth steel-colored sea rollers in identical ranks, wind-beaten chop, whales, porpoises, schools… SEE MORE

Cod drying on a Newfoundland shore. ADOBE STOCK

Working Waterfront

How Newfoundland fishermen protected their own

It was into this environment that the Fishermen's Protective Union was initiated by Newfoundland businessman William Ford Coaker. He recognized that the system meant fishermen had no direct access to markets or control over prices. SEE MORE

The cottage on Long Island in Casco Bay. PHOTO: CANDICE DALE

Working Waterfront

Ode to an island cottage

On Long Island in Casco Bay, a summer cottage sits back from the road across from the conservation area and white sands of Fowler’s Beach. The full branches of pines and maples hide much of Hussey Sound from view off the high porch in the summer months. As autumn arrives,… SEE MORE

The inside cover includes Bertie’s hand-written name.

Working Waterfront

Dear diary: 140-year-old journal returns home

Bertie married Fred Hatch and moved to East Boston, where she had three children: Grace, Robert, and Seth Parker. Fred passed away around 1895 due to “phthisis pulmonalis,” known today as tuberculosis. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Creativity thrives in salty, island environments

The sun is sinking and fills the kitchen with an orange glow, signaling the end of a long week. Lobster traps hauled and stacked, gear shifted from one spot in the ocean to another. Lunches made in the dark and fishing boots brought in to dry. Nights of nodding off… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Evidence of insanity: Black swans and B-O-A-T

I’ve been a boat owner for well over 50 years. So I should know something about the rocks and shoals that lie in wait for someone like me, right? The costs? The heartbreak? The disasters that lurk out there on, in or under the water? I thought I did—all of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

When teens can say ‘I know Maine’

In 7th grade Gavin Bradstreet looked like a choir-boy angel with a moon-shaped face and round glasses, but looks were deceptive and the school found him “a handful.” Now he is on his way to college, with greater aspirations than he or his family could have imagined seven years ago.… SEE MORE

A fishing boat hauls traps with Stonington in the background. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

A curated coast—stories preserved and amplified

If you visit 44 North Coffee’s Stonington location through mid-October, you’ll notice something different about the beloved cafe. This year, 44 North is hosting an exhibit of photographs, audio stories, and a soundwalk by The First Coast, a collective of storytellers and documentarians that I helped curate. Founded in 2016… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The wonders of Maine life

In August 1973, our family arrived in Maine for a one-week vacation on Pemaquid Pond outside Damariscotta. The following year we arrived for two weeks, and then steadily we accumulated more weeks and years until something about Maine felt like home. I was 13 the bicentennial summer in 1976 and… SEE MORE