Working Waterfront

Building the definitive island snowman

Last month a perfect snow fell. It wasn't dry as dust but neither was it slush. It had just enough togetherness to respond perfectly to an effort by three youngsters to roll it into a big ball, a ball so big that Dad had to help move the eventual globe,… SEE MORE

The fishing vessel Westward being towed off a ledge by Fuller Marine Services in Boothbay Harbor on Jan. 9.

Working Waterfront

The Wrack Line

Compiled by Tom Groening In baseball, the hitter gets three strikes. But when it comes to a 136-foot fishing boat wandering off it's mooring, there is no third strike. The Boothbay Register has been following the saga of the Westward, a steel-hulled, Dutch-built vessel that has been moored in Boothbay… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Navigating my way through designing a class

Ian Watkins is an Island Fellow, a participant in a two-year service program operated by AmeriCorps and the Island Institute, doing community development work on islands and remote coastal communities. Watkins works on Deer Isle and the Downeast coast with high school students. The three-ring binder is one of the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Wood heat welcome as an old friend

It's nearly impossible to disagree about anything of consequence when settled comfortably near a companionable wood fire. We live in a big three-story house right in the village. It was built around 1850 as a Greek Revival—but without the pilasters. Not long after, a two-story kitchen wing was added on… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The stories that Bertha’s spoon can tell

When Bertha was a mere teenager, she started working with Dr. North's family in Montclair, N.J., mostly to help take care of the Norths' five children. She stayed for the rest of her working life, taking on the work of cooking and serving. Married to Chester Turpin, she came to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A dead whale washes ashore on an island: what to do?

Christmas Day in the Cranberry Isles arrived with winds high enough to cause ferry cancelations, though the air temperature was unseasonably mild. Fortunately for us, our family had arrived two days earlier. In a rare event that might occur once in five years, both of our sons came home to… SEE MORE