The particular topography of a Portland wharf

Without sentimentality, David Wade’s clear eye takes in the fishing community that works on Widgery Wharf. His photographs could easily do otherwise: Widgery Wharf with its rough, weatherbeaten planks seems a quaint anachronism in the middle of Portland’s busy waterfront. The fishermen who own the wharf and their tenants look the part of old salts

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The art of boat building

Fifty years ago, most of the boats built on the Maine Coast were built of wood in the traditional way with plank on frame construction. There was a certain mystery about the art of building a boat and most boat builders liked to keep it that way. However, at that time there were a lot

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Salt: A World History

The history and understanding of the uses and properties of the many salts of this world is a subject with tentacles reaching out in every direction. This is not a book to take to the beach. Rather, it is an utterly absorbing, in-depth look at a common, everyday substance. Salt is necessary to human life

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Helping to make marine research happen

The coast of Maine is blessed with a wealth of marine science institutions that help track the annual movements and mysteries of Maine’s marine resources. Scientists at the University of Maine’s Darling Center, at the Bigelow Laboratory and at Maine’s Department of Marine resources all support significant marine research programs. By sharing their information and

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To Save a River

Camden, Maine, and New York: Coastal Mountains Land Trust and Aperture, 2002 Hardcover, $50.00 This is a spectacular book. Large in format, eloquent in artwork and design, high in price, quietly well-spoken in its text, “To Save A River” is, in effect, a lesson plan for protecting a significant natural area. The river in question

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Two coons

Coons don’t help much trying to make ends meet, let me tell you! Let them visit you and you’ll wish you hadn’t. It wasn’t long before we realized we needed to be coonproof. A case of shutting the restaurant door after the coons have been there, but better that than never shutting the door at

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