Working Waterfront

Art of Acadia—The Little brothers on Mount Desert Island

By Edgar Allen Beem The natural beauty of Mount Desert Island has inspired artists for centuries. In the 19th century, some of those artists’ romantic visions inspired tourists and rusticators to plant the summer colonies that flourish on the island to this day. The art history of Maine’s most renowned… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Recipes made immortal in vintage cookbook

Sometime in the 1930s, the members of the Islesboro Women’s Club spent hours typing out recipes they collected from their membership and neighbors and assembled it into a cookbook that they covered with canvas. Embroidered on the front were the words “Cook Book” and a figure of what appears to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Sometimes, the gulf left by loss must remain

Much has been written about the way loss resonates in small communities. The way grief echoes in the empty space where a friend once was. How not one person is unaffected by the lack of balance. North Haven experienced such a loss at the end of the summer. Greg Quinn,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The bittersweet season is upon me

When I look back on what I’ve written for this column in Septembers past, the theme is regularly similar and the ache familiar, year after year. Do other people experience a September transition like I do in the Cranberry Isles? I’ve wished for something, gotten it and am not quite ready… SEE MORE

The Toll of the Sea memorial on Chebeague Island.

Working Waterfront

Chebeague dedicates ‘Toll of the Sea’ memorial

Islanders know first-hand the inherent dangers of living and working around the sea. Many have survived close calls on the water, but have also lost family and friends. So it is not surprising that more than 220 people turned out to attend the dedication of Chebeague’s Toll of the Sea… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island lessons carry through teaching job

Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Maggie Small is a former Island Fellow who served on Peaks Island The dictionary definition of community… SEE MORE

Students line up to enter the Longfellow school on Great Cranberry Island. The school reopened on Sept. 1.

Working Waterfront

Community celebrates reopening of island school

If there were any doubt about the role schools play in island life, they were set to rest by the ceremony marking the reopening of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Elementary School on Great Cranberry Island. About 200 people from Great Cranberry and neighboring Islesford (Little Cranberry Island) showed up for… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Summer afternoon’s splendors and labors

Henry James famously wrote “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” Summer afternoon. Out in the garden, the peach trees laden with ripe fruit, about to fall off, or turn into a blob of mold. Yes, you can grow… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The end of an era, the beginning of another

The end of this summer marks the end of an era. After five years, Bill Trevaskis is stepping down from the position of programs director at Waterman’s Community Center. Bill, who also happens to be my husband, moved with me to North Haven when we were callow 24-year-olds. We’d been… SEE MORE

Zach Field wows the crowd as he juggles and rides a unicycle.

Working Waterfront

Swan’s Island marks fifth anniversary of library

PHOTO STORY BY CANDIS JOYCE On July 30, the Swan’s Island Library hosted its Annual Island Bazaar while celebrating the fifh anniversary of the new library building. Artists, crafts people, good food and an auction, along with music by island musicians, created a festive atmosphere. One of the highlights of… SEE MORE