My first “student” of the week aboard our Friendship sloop EASTWARD was George, a pleasant, enthusiastic young man who had been sailing on other people’s boats and was eager to learn. He paid attention to the direction of the wind and the luff of the mainsail and soon got the feel of the wheel. Sam
Heating and Housing: A community agency helps Downeasters cope
Dreading the thought of your heating bill this winter? Most of us are, but if you meet federal low-income guidelines and live in Washington or Hancock County, there is an agency that can help. The Washington Hancock Community Agency (WHCA) is a nonprofit, private, non-governmental or state agency that was incorporated in 1966. An 18-member
What will the coast of Maine be, in the future?
Change is inevitable, along our coastline, and everywhere. Buildings go up or fall down, people move in and move out, and our relationships with the land, sea, and each other are not the same from year to year. Community, citizenship, and the understanding of our connectedness to one another are essential to coping with these
Rocky Romance: In Love with the Coast of Maine
The Edge of Maine Washington, D.C: National Geographic Society, 2005 Wolff is a seasoned author of biographies, including a fascinating one of his con artist dad titled The Duke of Deception, and fiction. This travelogue comes in a series from the National Geographic Society, featuring some of the best contemporary writers including Francine Prose, Louise
Couple Gives Land Trust $500,000 to buy working waterfront
A Boothbay Harbor couple with an interest in preserving local working waterfront has donated $500,000 to the Boothbay Region Land Trust for the purchase of a small but choice shore property on Barters Island. The 1.9-acre parcel is at the end of Kimballtown Road, contiguous to the land trust’s 19-acre Porter Preserve. It consists of
“Yes” on 5 and 7
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: voters on November 8 have two chances to support economic opportunity on the Maine coast. They can support the bond issue that would fund the Land for Maine’s Future program, including $2 million for working waterfront acquisitions, and they can vote for a constitutional amendment to
Making Sense of the “Turkeyfied” Holiday
Giving Thanks, Thanksgiving Recipes and History, from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie Plimouth Plantation, 2005 Islesboro’s own food historian, Sandra Oliver, tells us that “Thanksgiving in nineteenth-century New England, coastwise and inland, was widely observed and hopelessly romanticized.” It seems that bygone New Englanders thought of Thanksgiving as their one great holiday and over the years
New Portland Research Institute welcomes middle school students to labs
This school year each of Maine’s nearly 16,000 fifth or sixth graders will be doing some detective work at the new Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in Portland. The GMRI, which officially opened Oct. 1, is committed to busing every upper level elementary student in Maine to the Commercial Street campus, where each will
Two Kinds of Housing Developments
In separate stories this month, we explore aspects of the Maine coast’s housing problem. For a look at the high end, consider the development just proposed for a peninsula on Islesboro. Philip Conkling notes that the first of the big, national real estate developers has arrived in Maine – on Islesboro, to be exact –
Downeast Library Tour
Island librarians and friends gather on the steps of the Swan’s Island library during the recent Downeast library tour. Sponsored by the Island Institute with assistance from the Maine Seacoast Mission, the tour provided an opportunity for island librarians to network and learn from each other. A group of almost 20 participants, including librarians, board