The view from Treat Island in Passamaquoddy Bay

Working Waterfront

‘Keep the Coast Maine’ campaign nearing finish line

By Jacqueline Weaver The nonprofit land conservation organization Maine Coast Heritage Trust is well on its way to raising $125 million in its “Keep the Coast Maine” campaign, aiming to protect and add public access to the shore, while also preparing for threats to the coast from climate change. MCHT… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Adventures on the sea, adventures of the heart

Wayfarer: A Memoirby James S. Rockefeller Jr. (Islandport Press, 2018) Reviewed by Tina Cohen The book cover features snapshots: an airborne glider, a Friendship sloop under sail, a young man in settings connoting adventure and romance. And then there is the author’s prestigious name. But set aside attributes like wealth… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Great Lakes islands launch basketball tournament

Editor’s note: The Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront, has developed informal partnerships with residents of the islands in the Great Lakes, and we like to feature some reporting by those islanders. By Wil Cwikiel On the first weekend in December, Beaver Island Community School welcomed the Put-in-Bay Panthers, the Mackinac… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Displaced people finding a home in Middle East crossroads

ROB SNYDER Sand and sky as seen in the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan. By Rob Snyder I recently spent a week with a Jordanian friend touring his country. I learned that Jordanians have lived at the center of waves of people and commerce, of politics and art, religions, deserts… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cape Cod’s housing crisis informs Maine coast

By Tom Groening For many New Englanders, Cape Cod is a beach-rimmed vacation destination. But it also may be understood as a canary in the coal mine. The Maine coast and Cape Cod differ in many ways, but one thing they share is a housing market pressured by seasonal residency… SEE MORE

Swan's Island Donnie Carlson builds a lobster trap.

Working Waterfront

Donnie Carlson found his niche on Swan’s Island

DALE JOYCE/HARBORVIEW STUDIO Donnie Carlson By Jennifer Helman/Photos By Dale Joyce Many people in the lobster industry see fishing as a birthright. They fish because their father fished, and maybe his father before him. Donnie Carlson started on that familiar path, but took an unexpected turn 30-plus years ago. As… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

And they might make good Christmas presents, too

By Sandy Oliver Whole stores are dedicated to helping cooks do their job. Right after bookstores, and just before yarn shops, kitchen stores are my favorite places to browse, though goodness knows there is not much time for that these days, what with taking fewer mainland trips and many more… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Trip to Southwest inspires visions of natives

By Phil Crossman Our most recent road trip took us out to Utah and Colorado. It was so stunning that when it was time to return, we left the Eurovan in Denver and flew home so we can fly back and explore further without having to drive across the country… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Whale skeleton work brings school, community together

By Courtney Naliboff It could have been a ghoulish scene: hole saws cut into vertebrae, hammers whacking chisels, loosening chunks of marrow. Small children swept bone and sawdust from the floor. Rather than a scene from a horror movie, this was a community work day on North Haven’s minke whale… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Missing islander ripples worry, hope through community

By Barbara Fernald In October, many of us in the Cranberry Isles were badly shaken by the untimely death of Courtney Chaplin, an Islesford community member. When he didn’t show up at home, after a day of work on the island, his wife Kate made some phone calls and a… SEE MORE