An evil business that benefited a whole country Slaving was a maritime trade in the 18th and early 19th centuries, a block in the very foundation of the United States. Anyone, particularly a white New Englander who likes to think he or she didn’t benefit from slaving because it was a Southern phenomenon, is sadly
With tough winter ahead, islanders plan heating help
The extraordinarily high cost of heating oil will affect everyone in Maine this winter, and islanders are no exception. Their costs, in fact, generally prove to be higher since island oil companies must pay additional transportation costs to deliver the product by ferry. On islands along the coast, various groups are already preparing to help
Parallel 44
The past two months have been quiet ones at Portland’s International Marine Terminal, the state’s only container port. Operations at the city-owned facility were suspended June 29, shortly after the paper mill in Old Town shut down pending bankruptcy negotiations. The suspension, which forced the port’s other clients to seek alternate shipping routes, demonstrated a
Venturing
In Maine, I’m afraid, it’s too easy to forget that working waterfronts exist all over the world, in all sorts of places that don’t have lobsters, big tides or even salt water. Take Duluth, Minnesota, at the western end of Lake Superior. Duluth got its start as a port in the 1850s (a false start,
Cranberry Report
In the Cranberry Isles, August and September are great months for harvesting things that grow in the wild. Mushrooms and berries reach maturity and people are eager to pick. Chanterelle mushrooms, with their slightly smoky apricot flavor, grow in a number of places on the islands. Not everyone is adventurous enough to gather wild mushrooms,
Sewing group knits community together
Islesboro’s Baptist Sewing Circle has been “Keeping Islesboro in Stitches Since 1858”-at least that’s what the banner they carried in the Fourth of July parade trumpeted. The circle is undoubtedly one of the nation’s oldest continuously active sewing circles, according to President Suzanne Babbidge. To celebrate, they entered a quilt bedecked float in the parade
George Washington’s Secret Navy:
Fighting the Revolution at sea Following the battles of Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill in the spring of 1775, the American Revolution devolved into a stalemate. The British army withdrew to Boston where they remained for the next year surrounded by a ragtag American army led by George Washington. To keep the British from receiving
Unfair dismissal of a new idea
To the editor: Roger F. Duncan, my eleventh-grade English teacher forty-six years ago, taught us to write plain and pointed stories in the tradition of E.B. White, and “Banker on Vacation” (Working Waterfront, August 2008) shows that his own knack for that is undiminished. But he also taught us to be logical and fair, and
Swift Boat’ defined incorrectly
To the editor: In his otherwise fine article on “Jack” Elliot (“Jack Elliot: Remembering a ‘Swift Boater from Thomaston, Maine, WWF August 2008) Harry Gratwick notes that LCDR Elliot served on PBRs but he errs in calling them Swift Boats. That term-which Senator John Kerry, a former Swift Boat officer, unwittingly helped to popularize-was applied,
Artists’ collective helps reinvigorate Machias
A group of young artists, armed only with their ideals and their artwork, have succeeded in resurrecting an important part of downtown Machias. The Beehive Collective is a coalition of Machias-based graphic artists who create panoramic visual art to shed light on issues of social justice and sustainability. Beehive artists believe visual artwork can deliver