Ask any islander what the Island Institute provides and they might say “Don’t they give kids college scholarships?” It’s true. The Island Institute has been awarding college scholarships for 20 years. The program began in 1990, with a total of $2,000 in scholarship awards. This year the program awarded more than $90,000 in scholarships to
Cliff island store: A pearl in Casco Bay
Over Memorial Day weekend, Pearls Seaside Market and Cafe on Cliff Island opened its doors for the summer. Cliff’s only store-front business is currently in its second season run by owners Steve and Johanna Corman. Two years ago, Johanna Corman was on vacation for a couple of weeks in July on Cliff Island with her
Response to “Drink Up”
To the Editor, I have been a supporter of the Island Institute for a number of years and have enjoyed reading your publications and learning of the issues facing the coastal islands of Maine. I have never felt the need to write a letter to the editor until the publication of the June 2010 “Working
Kathie Fiveash: a guide to Isle au Haut’s flora and fauna
Kathie Fiveash is so passionate about understanding and teaching others about the natural history of Isle au Haut that last year she became “The Island Naturalist.” Fiveash takes groups of up to four people on guided tours of the flora and fauna of the island. I think of nature as the teacher and myself as
Watch out for lines
With the summer boating season underway, lobstermen are dealing with the age-old problem of recreational boaters running over trap lines. Recreational boaters inadvertently sail or motor over trap lines and in so doing, wrap the line around the propeller or rudder. When that happens, despite sincere effort to free it, sometimes cutting the rope becomes
Eighth Annual MAINE BOATS, HOMES & HARBORS SHOW Highlights: August 13-15, Rockland, Maine
Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine will present its annual boat and coastal lifestyle show on the waterfront in Rockland, Maine, August 13-15. This year’s show will continue to examine how “Tradition Shapes Innovation,” which reflects how the traditions and styles of Maine’s past mix with innovations in design and emerging technologies to shape our
Fishermen’s wives run waterfront sewing shop
Kathleen Stanley is a natural. Not a baseball player, or someone who can play piano by ear, but a Mt. Desert Island seamstress who started sewing at age four. “No one taught me,” she said. “My mother didn’t sew. I remember sewing with a treadle when I was five, six, seven years old.” Her grandmother,
Parallel 44: Portland stanches bleeding at cruise ship terminal
For once, I’ve got some positive news to report from Portland’s eastern waterfront. Regular readers are well aware of the cruise ship-related shenanigans here: how city officials used obviously flawed economic assumptions to gain approval for the building of a new $20 million cruise ship terminal, leaving city taxpayers on the hook for a potential
Nobody’s happy with Atlantic crab season
In the book Cod, published in 1997, author Mark Kurlansky wrote that with the collapse of the Atlantic Canada cod fishery, other species moved in. One was arctic cod that eat Atlantic cod eggs and larvae. “The other two,” Kurlansky wrote, “snow crab and shrimp, have been very profitable.” What a difference 13 years make.
Law firm to move into Portland waterfront
Property owners in the central waterfront zone in Portland are generally-and perhaps surprisingly-optimistic about plans to convert the giant Cumberland Cold Storage building on Merrill Wharf into office space for northern New England’s largest law firm. “The ripple effect will be huge,” predicts Charlie Poole, owner of neighboring Union Wharf and a well-regarded spokesman for