Working Waterfront

The rewards of coaching and being coached

Kelsey Byrd 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. When I first moved to Vinalhaven a year and half ago, I was excited to help coach the high school… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Stranded by choice

When lobster scientist Diane Cowan heard that friends planned to airlift a box of goodies to her on Friendship Long Island, where she's been stranded since Jan. 30 due to extreme ice conditions, she broke into laughter. "I thought it was hilarious," said Cowan in a cellphone interview from the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Going to see the snow in SoCal

Just about every other year my husband and I travel to Southern California to visit his family for Christmas. We leave the island, which is often covered in snow, or if we're less lucky rain, ice or slush, and take the boat to the mainland and drive to Boston and… SEE MORE

Students who are part of the Outer-Islands Teaching and Learning Collaborative play outside during an inter-island field trip.

Working Waterfront

Small island schools get creative for phys ed

OK, now squats with our arms up! Let's count down… 20…19...18...17… Straight arms! Pretend like you're sitting in a chair. Early on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in a few island schools along the coast, the video conference meeting ring comes through, lights flicker on, and faces showing varying degrees of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

No need for selfies: Photographer captures islanders in ‘We Are Swan’s Island’ project

SWAN'S ISLAND — Whether it's a wedding, reunion or holiday celebration, photographers often struggle to get all the key family members in their shots. Imagine how hard it was for Miranda Battiste to capture the family that is the island's year-round population. By most measures, Batiste succeeded. Not only are… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering Chandler “Blackie” Blackington

My relationship with Chandler "Blackie" Blackington began about a decade ago when I traveled to Vinalhaven to visit the community's medical center and eldercare home, exploring the possibilities for Swan's Island. Blackie was my tour guide. He picked me up at the ferry terminal on Vinalhaven and showed me around… 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

Marketing lobster, restoring old ships and the winter of 1914

Waterfronts and those coastal towns that bustle with visitors in the summer tend to go quiet after the new year dawns. But that doesn't mean decisions affecting those waterfronts and towns aren't being made. In banks, in local and state government meeting rooms, and around conference tables at nonprofits, things… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island life seeps into Judy Weber’s poems

MONHEGAN PLANTATION — It's a cliché fantasy we've all heard, maybe even indulged in ourselves—move to an island year-round, soak up the rhythm of the seasons, the quiet, the isolation, and write the great American novel. Judy Weber—who writes under the name Judith Ponturo, her maiden name—moved to Monhegan year-round… SEE MORE