Articles
Island Naturalist: The fascinating facts of nature on the Maine coast
Island Naturalist by Kathie Fiveash Penobscot Books, Stonington, Maine, 2014. 226 pages, paperback, $27.95. Kathie Fiveash’s new book, Island Naturalist, collects together about 70 entries from her natural history column in the weekly Island Ad-Vantages newspaper out of Stonington. Fiveash, following a graduate program in environmental studies in New Hampshire a few years ago,
A life history: Robert Chute’s ‘Excuse for Being Here’
BOOK REVIEW First, an anecdote. Bear with me, there is a point to this about the book at hand. A reliable source close to my inner circles related to me the following. Recently, upon a time in a galaxy not far away, some high school students met with a school administrator who wanted to tell
Is Maine a hotbed of UFO activity?
On a mid-December evening, I’m driving on Route 7 in Brooks, headed for Belfast. Up and down those Waldo County hills. Black sky. Suddenly a knot of white light pops into view over the trees to my left. Distant but bright, I register at the speed of thought. A fireball! But there’s no trail. It
Sturge: A Memoir
“Sturge: A Memoir” is a curious item indeed. It’s a compendium of documents and photographs culled from the scattered journalistic remains of Sturgis Haskins, a Down East native who left an unmistakably deep mark on”¦ it’s hard to tell what, exactly. Haskins grew up in Sorrento and lived there most of his life, with sojourns
Boat-building in Maine remains a viable niche
TROY—On Route 9 in this western Waldo County town, which you can miss whether you blink or not, a sign partly obscured by chokecherry bushes and apple trees announces: BOAT CARPENTRY. Up the driveway are a 19th-century Cape-style house, a boat shed, a bright green 1954 Willys pickup truck and a wood-heated workshop. This is
Peas, Beans & Corn
As he boards the bus in Boston for Bangor, Maine, Staff Sgt. Bruce Gilpin is entering a life crisis. On the bus, it only gets worse. He’s returning to his little central Maine hometown, Sovereign, after his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, which is difficult enough. His parents have been taking care of his
The Cranberry Island Series
“The Cranberry Island Series” by Donald Wellman; Dos Madres Press Inc., Loveland, Ohio, 2012; 108 pages, trade paperback, $17. Summering on the coast of Maine is a tradition going back at least into the late 19th century, and the atmospheric memories generated in those week-long, month-long or season-long visits seem to persist lifelong and