New York: Sterling Publishing, 2005 Hardcover $19.95, 272 pages Finding the Funky Has cabin fever set in right about now? The images and anecdotes in Weird New England offer an enthralling distraction from the woes of winter as it winds down. A disclaimer cautions the book is “intended as entertainment to present a historical record
“Radical Change”Composites promise very different ways to build things
The hum of activity in André Cocquyt’s advanced composites training class increases as the 15 trainees head from classroom to shop floor. There, blackboard theory is put into practice, with all the pitfalls and hazards of real life thrown in. The shop ceiling is festooned with vacuum hose and pressure lines, signaling that the boats
Rockport Marine It’s All Based on Trust
The current patients in the iconic red boat sheds at the head of Rockport Harbor are a 65-foot Herreshoff schooner, Mystic Seaport’s 62-foot schooner, Brilliant and a 55-foot P-class sailboat, originally built in 1916. They have all come north to Maine to find new life at Taylor Allen’s wooden boat clinic for reconstructive surgery. Allen
Becky’s Diner: A landmark waterfront eatery gets the green light to expand
Since 1991, 0n Hobson’s Wharf off Portland’s Commercial Street, Becky’s Diner has been dishing up utterly familiar, authentically home style fare. This is a diner than never disappoints — walk in the front door and you can really count on something, even if it’s just lunch. The regulars eschew fancy food phrases like “comfort food,”
Slow Food
Imagine a world in which people sat down at their table and ate together regularly. Then imagine the food they ate had been prepared in their own kitchen using ingredients found primarily in nature, and nearby. That’s the basis of the Slow Food movement, begun in Italy in 1986 and spreading around the world —
Riverside Boat Company thrives on tradition
Nat Bryant is the sixth generation of boat builders on the family’s original property on the Newcastle shore of the Damariscotta River. Riverside Boat Company is operated by Nat’s parents, Paul and Linda Bryant, and Nat has joined them, keeping up a family tradition. The yard is busy, even in the depths of winter, and
Carpenter’s Boat Shop adds a new workshop
For 27 years, apprentices at the Carpenter’s Boat Shop in Pemaquid have built peapods, dinghies and other small craft in an inadequately lighted and drafty chicken barn with low beams sure to raise a lump on many a tall worker’s head. Ruth and Bobby Ives and the first group of apprentices and volunteers had reclaimed
Up and down the coast, Island Fellows harness community energy
Since 1999, the Island Institute has matched over 50 recent college graduates with communities throughout the coast of Maine. These Island Fellows stay for one to two-year assignments, living in the community and working on locally led projects. Fellows have offered expertise and assistance on a wide range of projects. They have helped develop school
Boothbay Shipyard Now playing: Bounty
Workers at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard have caulking on their minds these days. Sitting on the ways is the tall ship BOUNTY, originally built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, for the 1962 movie “Mutiny on the BOUNTY.” Her hull has over a mile of seams. “Our calculations told us we would need 5,280 feet of planking,” said
High Tech, High Touch: Island Institute launches three-year strategic plan
The vision of the Island Institute is to be “a locally valued and broadly recognized partner finding solutions to challenges posed by local, state, national and international trends that threaten Maine’s island and working waterfront communities,” according to a new strategic plan for the organization. The Institute’s Board of Trustees approved a series of new