The morning ferry ride across Penobscot Bay to North Haven was clear but cold. Skim ice had formed overnight in the ferry pen on the island where the wake from the CAPTAIN NEIL BURGESS spilled out across solid water. Just a few weeks prior, several brave souls had walked across the Fox Island Thorofare to Vinalhaven.
Sandy Thomas, the Institute’s Vice President of Programs, and I were met at the landing by Kim Alexander, Heather Shields and Nancy Hopkins-Davisson. These island women are the heart of the Waterman’s Community Center committee, which has struggled for well over three years to provide a new anchor for the center of town at the head of the landing. During last summer and fall the center’s poured foundation had lain as a silent testament for the indecision of the island about the project’s future. Could the North Haven community afford to raise the remaining funds to complete the building? Could it afford not to? Last fall the one remaining store downtown had succumbed to the difficult economics of island living. The center of town fell into an early darkness as December wore on.
But at year-end, a handful of extremely generous contributions encouraged the Waterman’s group to press forward, even though they didn’t have all the funds in hand. But now we could see that the walls were up, the floor had been laid across the foundation and the roof beams were in place. Raise high the roof beams! Kim, Heather and Nancy proudly led us through the construction work in progress. The meeting room space for community events nicely complements the theater area, at stage left as you enter. Great care has been taken to recreate the architectural integrity of this wonderful island building. The last roofing details connecting the old green barn with the new construction of the main building had been worked out through the delicate intervention of an architect from the summer community and happily accepted by all. The effect is deeply satisfying.
Then on to the school where we met with principal Barney Hallowell, to discuss the work of this year’s Island fellow, Keely Grumbach, who has worked to integrate many North Haven Arts and Enrichment programs into the school’s frenetic schedule. To complicate matters, the island was preparing to vote the next day on whether to initiate another fund raising and building campaign, this time for a new school. (The vote released two days later, 109-109 again perfectly mirrors the deep divisions that have split the island).
We headed off to meet with Dake Collins, the departing town manager, who had overseen and then completed the town’s $2.2 million water filtration plant building project, accomplished largely with federal and state grants. Our last meeting was with Helen Popp, the head of the North Haven Historical Society, who was celebrating a hugely significant grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that will spur on their major new building program. I can’t think of another island community that has three major community building projects underway at the same time.
A week and a half later, David Platt, the Institute’s Publications Di-rector, and I were off for a day and a half of meetings and visits on the Casco Bay Islands of Peaks and Long. We caught a 7:15 p.m. ferry from Portland to attend the semi-monthly meeting of the Peaks Island Neighborhood Association meeting (PINA) at the invitation of its head, Charles Enders. More than 40 people were already at the Community Center building when we arrived at the same time as Tom Fortier, Portland’s island administrator, and Peter O’Donnell, the Portland City Councilor who represents the neighborhoods of Peaks Island and Munjoy Hill. The issue for Portland and Peaks is proposed deep budget cuts including Fortier’s job, along with before- and after-school day care, teen and senior programming at the community center and trash pick up. The Portland School District is facing similar, perhaps even deeper cuts as described by Peaks resident Otis Thompson, Chair of the Portland School Board. The questions from the audience were spirited and engaged as Peter O’Donnell kept reminding islanders to make their voices and opinions known at City Hall. From the assembled group of deeply committed islanders at the meeting, I had no doubt they would, but couldn’t help but wonder whether their limited numbers would be marginalized by the reality of greater numbers of unhappy mainlanders in the electoral politics of the City.
The following day David Platt, Mike Felton, Island Schools coordinator, and I caught the early ‘down-bay’ boat from Portland to Long where we were met by Nancy Jordan for a ride up to the school. Nancy, whom I first met during the Long Island secession fight ten years ago, is one of the driving forces behind the new community center and library building project that is connected to the two-room schoolhouse by a sunny breezeway. Nancy led us through the grand new spaces of the library and community center. As at Waterman’s great care has been taken by the architect, Frank Oliver, to integrate the new construction in with the historic. The effect is similarly breathtaking. They broke ground last fall, and as at Waterman’s, gambled that though they do not have all the funds they need in hand, the momentum of a carefully thought through, if incomplete, building would help convince islanders to keep digging deeper to push across the finish line. And that’s just what has happened so far. Long Island’s school board recently approved $22,000 to re-shingle the old schoolhouse, nicely tying the two buildings together architecturally. And they also came up with a portion of the funding for a new central boiler to heat both spaces. The school is likewise thriving as its space for library, arts, music, gym and other activities will shortly more than double for the 20 young island scholars – a tremendous commitment of this working class island to its kids’ futures.