Articles
Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero
Faithful By Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King 403 pages, Scribner $26.00 Two for Fenway Following a season of euphoria in Red Sox Nation, it seems appropriate to examine Ted Williams, a biography by Leigh Montville and Faithful, by Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King. Many consider Williams to be the greatest of all Boston baseball players,
A Rage For Glory: The Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN
“I go where I please” Stephen Decatur was one of the great fighting captains in the first years in the United States Navy. A worthy successor to the legendary John Paul Jones, Decatur sought fame and glory in battle for himself and for his country in battles against the English and French navies as well
Submarines in the Bay!
One summer morning in the 1940s, Edith Quinn was washing dishes in her kitchen on Eagle Island in Penobscot Bay. (Eagle is two miles northeast of North Haven and two miles west of Deer Isle). Edith and her husband, Jim, had been living on Eagle since they were married in 1935. At one point Edith
“Earl on the River” – S. Orrington shipwright models 19th century vessels
He calls himself “Earl on the River” and when you hear his story, you’ll know why. Earl Morrill is a 58-year-old resident of South Orrington who specializes in building scale models of 19th-century Maine sailing vessels. I first met him in the summer of 2003 while I was doing research for an article on the
Words, Recycled – Vinalhaven’s second hand bookstore does a booming business
Second Hand Prose (SHP) is a non-profit, all-volunteer-run bookstore that has grown out of the annual secondhand book sale held for many years in the vestry of Vinalhaven’s Union Church. June MacDonald and Ginny Fitts have been instrumental in organizing and running the store, though they would be the first to emphasize that the success
Baby-Sitting for Johnny Bear
The following is a true story. Only the names have been withheld to protect the innocent. My parents were always good neighbors. This was especially true in the summer of 1956 on Vinalhaven. During that summer, however, even their hospitality reached its limits, as illustrated by the following story. One of our neighbors was a
Alone in the Land of the Red Socks
Warning: This essay is intended for serious baseball fans only. If you cannot identify something odd about the title of this article, do not, I repeat, DO NOT continue reading. Supporters of the Red Sox and Phillies have a lot in common. Both are longtime sufferers who share feelings of helplessness, inadequacy, and, in my
A Trip to Turner
“Faster, Harry, faster!” “Get this crate moving!” These were the more polite words of encouragement that came from the passengers in my 1951 Ford, as we hurdled down the road at 80 mph heading towards Turner in the summer of 1956. I pressed down on the accelerator, but with seven husky ballplayers on board, my