Since 2000, Bar Harbor has steadily increased as Maine’s most popular cruise ship port of call. “The cruise ship industry has been growing very quickly,” says Chris Fogg, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce. “In 2000, 30 ships visited, but this year 96 cruise liners are scheduled to dock here-and we’re a
Cranberry Report
This time of year brings back so many good memories. The last weeks of June and the first week of July is when my parents, my brother and I had our turn to use the family summer house on Little Cranberry Island. For the rest of the summer it was either occupied by my grandparents,
Library celebrates working waterfront with art
“You have to be in a fast boat with a good driver,” said photographer Sam Murfitt, describing one way to get great action shots of racing boats. Having spent the last five years documenting different aspects of Maine’s working waterfront including lobsterboat races, the races almost synonymous with Jonesport, Murfitt had thousands of choices when
“Catching the Light: The Frenchboro Paintings”
“Catching the Light: The Frenchboro Paintings” by Daud Akhriev at the Island Institute’s Archipelago Fine Arts Gallery in Rockland represents the debut showing of this Russian-born painter’s work in Maine. The exhibition, which runs through Sept. 20, coincides with a feature article on Akhriev written by Scott Sell that appears in the special 25th-anniversary edition
Riley School students honor Civil War soldiers
How often have you heard, “when I went to school I walked five miles in three feet of snow to a one room school house, split the wood for the stove, and drew the drinking water from the well, all before school”? I didn’t have to do all that but I did have to walk
Give islanders a break on ferry rates
With regard to the recent hearings on ferry fares to and from the islands in Penobscot Bay (“State ferry hike passes unanimously,” Working Waterfront, June 2009), it would seem a fair thing if the islands’ residents were given a fare reduction all year. I hope this is something Maine DOT will consider in the future.
The Long View: Local food; local energy
Lately when people ask about the biggest challenges facing Maine islands and working waterfront communities, two questions loom over all others: what will the price of lobsters be and what will energy cost? The prices for lobsters and energy will likely determine whether islands can survive as viable year-round communities and the trends suggest that
I have the right of way… or do I?
Penobscot Bay: People, Ports and Pastimes
The History Press (2009) Paperback, 128 pages, $19.99 Tales of Penobscot Bay In the 1940s, Edith Quinn looked at the window of her kitchen on Eagle Island in Penobscot Bay and saw a submarine. She called to her husband, Jim, and they both ran outside, where Jim took a photo. Was it a German or
New affordable housing bond can help coast, islands
A major affordable housing bond that will have a huge impact on housing in the state also has the flexibility to help island and coastal residents. The bond was part of a larger energy bill designed to reduce statewide heating oil consumption by 20 percent by 2020. The bill was passed as emergency legislation, so