Deer Isle is the place to be in summer for young people interested in the arts. Not that it isn’t year-round without its arts programs, but in 1988, two couples with small children — Holley Mead and her husband, Bruce Bulger, and Fran Eastman and George Lyons — formed Seamark Community Arts to offer arts
Zydeco Concert will benefit Vinalhaven School
American roots music legends Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas will perform at Smith Hokanson Memorial Hall of the Vinalhaven School Tuesday, Aug. 1, in a concert to benefit Partners in Island Education. This is the third in what organizers hope to be an annual celebration of music from far and wide that help support
Phippsburg’s cemeteries yield their secrets
Last year, a Phippsburg Elementary School student announced to his teacher, Merry Chapin, “I just thought Phippsburg was this boring old town. I didn’t know it was so interesting.” The admirable change of heart had been kindled by work on the Phippsburg Cemetery Project, an effort to reclaim long neglected family cemeteries scattered throughout the
Varied recyclers promise new life for old sails
Made of Kevlar, Mylar or some other synthetic fabric, worn out sails once faced limited choices — an ignominious afterlife as a painter’s dropcloth or a one-way trip to one of Maine’s overflowing landfills or a lonely corner of the attic. No longer. Up and down the coast of Maine, sail makers, fashion-minded entrepreneurs and
Friends in High Places
We don’t venture very far into religion in this newspaper, surely for good reason. But coastal and island residents can take heart from one church-connected development this past month: the election of an oceanographer as presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church. Katharine Jefferts Schor has a PhD. in oceanography; she left the seas for
Parallel 44: The Search for Maine’s Oldest Home
I’d always heard that the oldest house in Maine was that place on the Smuttynose Beer labels, the Samuel Haley House on the Isle of Shoals. Turns out it was built about 1800, not good enough to be the oldest house in Ohio. So that got me wondering: what is the oldest house in the
Peaks takes first steps toward secession
Peaks Island has become the second Casco Bay island in eight months to vote for secession. On June 13 Peaks Island residents voted in favor of secession, 393 votes to 290. The advisory referendum question asked whether residents favored secession from Portland. As a percentage of votes cast, 58 percent were in favor and 42
Cranberry Report: Electronically and otherwise, we gear up for summer
An island graduation is a very special occasion, as it was on June 9 when twin sisters Frances and Gretchen Blank graduated from the Islesford School. The Neighborhood House was packed with family and friends who shared a pot luck supper and the graduation ceremony. The program began with a slide show followed by individual
FREYA is launched, capping two years’ work
May 20th was windy and clear. A great day for a boat launching, and an even better day for the culmination of over two years of work for Mark Jackson and his Vinalhaven High School marine technology students. The boat in question is FREYA, the 30-foot steel sloop the VHS marine technology classes rebuilt, and
Islesboro show to open July 7
The Islesboro Historical Society is hosting “A Mélange of Arts” art show, July 7 through July 12. An opening reception, to which the public is invited, will be held at the Historical Society’s building on July 7, from 5 to 7 p.m. On exhibit will be work by Frederic Kellogg of Thomaston, Jamie Macmillan of