A Midcoast seabird education center could serve students, fishermen, tourists and others by building their knowledge of a marine habitat threatened by human development and exploitation. The center is the dream of Dr. Stephen Kress, who in the past 30 years re-colonized Eastern Egg Rock in Muscongus Bay with a population of returning Puffins. The
“Waddy”: Charles E. Wadsworth (1917-2002)
The painter, poet and printmaker Charles Wadsworth (1917-2002) began coming to Great Cranberry Island with his wife, the writer Jean Howard, in the mid-1940s. He was the first artist to take up residence on the island after the war. “Waddy,” as his family and friends affectionately called him, became an island fixture. Nearly every summer,
Dark Harbor: Building House and Home on an Enchanted Island
The spell cast by Islesboro on the author of this book began in 1968 at a party on another island – Manhattan – when a socialite friend, Annette Engelhard Reed (now Mrs. Oscar de la Renta), invited him to visit at her estate there. Mehta calls his first chapter “Enchantress,” a reference to Annette, rich,
The Fish House Opera
The Fish House Opera tells the story of North Carolina’s Outer Banks fishermen. These fishermen struggle to adapt traditional fishery practices to the requirements introduced by new fisheries management… sound familiar? If so, you should read this book. Each chapter comes at you from a different perspective, a different fishery or community, revealing an uplifting
Bait Review: Brownies in the traps?
Along with the shortages of fresh bait for lobstermen in recent years have come some new alternatives. One can currently purchase leather bait that needs a week to start “putrefying” and lasts about 6 weeks. The smell is pretty bad, but the leather bait seems to work well. Now, from Coastal Creations of Oxford, Maine,
The Long View – The Once and Future Island
Verona Island may not look like an island when you cross over the suspension bridge spanning the Penobscot River near Bucksport at the head of Penobscot Bay, but like many other parts of the Maine coast, Verona was once an island. Motorists now get a better look at the island as traffic slows to a
You never know
If there’s one thing for sure in the lobster business, it’s that you never know what’s going to happen next. Every year it’s a different story – no two years are alike. You’d never know it’s the fifth of August, supposedly in the height of lobster season, when there’s hardly a crate line to be
Island Teacher Conference to convene in Belfast
“Connections” is the theme of this year’s Island Teacher Conference, planned for Oct. 2-3 at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast. The conference will open at 7:15 p.m. on Oct. 2 with remarks by state Rep. Hannah Pingree (D-North Haven), Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and John Damien of the Mitchell Institute at
Up, over, and … a little off
The 92-foot schooner HALIE MATTHEW was righted on Sept. 15 on the grounds of the Eastport Boat School. Although she came down a little askew, she was ultimately brought upright. The all-day-into-dusk project was accomplished with a crane owned by Fundy Contractors of St. George, New Brunswick, assisted by two smaller Eastport rigs, and a
Cliff Island’s store changes hands
The end of summer on an island marks many changes. Autumn winds pick up as streets empty and houses close up for winter. Children head back to school as ferry trips become a bit more spacious. This year on Cliff Island, residents can also mark the transition to fall with the sale of the island’s