Bleak future for The Cat Last month, The Cat made her last trips from Maine to Nova Scotia before packing it up for the season. There’s plenty of reason to fear the high-speed catamaran won’t be back next year. Our region’s long-haul ferries had a brutal season. Battered by sky-high fuel prices and a downturn in
Matinicus Post Office finds new home in part of parsonage
Matinicus Island has been without a physical post office since the accidental fire that destroyed the existing historic structure in April 2008. Over the summer, mail has been picked up and delivered by island postal service staff. Since last spring, numerous ideas have been suggested for a post office location, and a couple of island
We can defend you
You caught my attention with the article, “Guns on ferries: balancing safety and rights, Working Waterfront, October 2008). My favorite part of the article was the last sentence: “There were so many guns in the wheelhouse, the captain couldn’t move.” Just before that statement, the article stated that the practice that led to that
The Long View: The Maine lobster business model is broken
The second half of the 20th century ended a little late in calendar terms the first week of October 2008. That was the week that everyone from Iceland’s international depositors to Maine lobstermen and from Wall Street financiers to Russian oligarchs began to recognize that our intricately inter-dependent and globally profligate indebtedness will extract a
Donors, foundations insure future of island fellowships
A named Island Fellows endowment is one that ensures, through the generous support of an individual donor or a foundation, the perpetuity of one of the Island Institute’s most visible and valued resources to island and working-waterfront communities. To date, the Institute has successfully completed four named Island Fellows endowments: The William Bingham Fellow for
Is “green” certification an answer?
Maine’s lobster industry, facing a “Perfect Storm” of economic and regulatory challenges, is partway through the process of achieving certification as a sustainable fishery, led by an enthusiastic group of processors and harvesters. Not everyone in the lobstering business is sure it’s a good idea. Some believe Maine lobster shouldn’t need to prove its sustainability
Venturing
Sailing through Gotha A photograph on the wall of Wesley Rodstrom Jr.’s office at Consolidated Yachts on City Island in the Bronx, New York City, speaks volumes about this storied place: one of the two men in the picture is Sir Thomas Lipton, the British tea merchant who tried five times to win the America’s
Peaks Island couple transform ledgy backyard into bountiful garden
On Peaks Island, Jenny Yasi plants a campaign sign in her front yard, scratching at the ground with the sign’s measly metal posts, only to have it immediately fall over on the dirt. “See that? Peaks Island soil right there,” she jokes. Pebbles scatter the ground leading to Jenny’s house and a hand-constructed stone wall
Thea Youngs, Chebeague Island fellow, at the center of activity
It’s a great feeling to be in the center of things. Thea Youngs is starting the second year of her Island Institute fellowship on Chebeague Island, where she works in the Chebeague Town Office. She says it’s a great place to be. “It’s the center of activity. I like the way you never really know
Cranberry Report
When David Thomas came to Little Cranberry Island to teach in the Islesford School in August 1973, he rented a room from Cathy and Lucien Poulin before he rented Peter Bently’s house. He then lived in the Gifford house, moving to David and Audrey Mill’s little cottage on the ledges for the summer. After his