The Working Waterfront - October 2023

News from Maine’s Island and Coastal Communities volume 37, no. 8 n october 2023 n free circulation: 50,000

publishedby byisland islandinstitute institute nn workingwaterfront workingwaterfront.com .com published

Honoring Maine’s ALMOST WOOL-WEARING TIME— immovable beacons Lighthouse stories highlight important history

BY SARAH CRAIGHEAD DEDMON

L

ighthouse keeper Willie Corbett knew Velma Johnson was the woman for him when she arrived for a visit in a bosun’s chair strung between a ship’s mast and the island holding Saddleback Ledge Light.

“He thought, ‘If she can handle this, she can handle anything,’” laughs his granddaughter, Delia Mae Farris, retelling the story. “He called that station ‘nothing but a damned bare rock.’”

That might be an apt description of Saddleback Ledge Lighthouse, which warns mariners of danger from its perch atop a quarter-acre of granite in the deep waters between Isle au Haut and Vinalhaven.

But there were dangers for the lighthouse keepers, too. Once, after returning to Saddleback from leave, Corbett found his metal cot turned on its side and bent to the shape of the wall.

“An enormous storm had struck, and the sea had crashed in through a window—that’s power. Papa really became very respectful then. And probably

Becky Bartovics tends to her sheep at Cider Hill Farm on North Haven. For more photos of North Haven, see Michele Stapleton’s photo essay on pages 14-15.

very quickly put his name in to go to the next lighthouse,” recalls Farris, again laughing.

Corbett was serving at a series of what were known as “stag” stations—where women were not present— like Saddleback, while he courted Velma, having joined the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1908. And as the daughter of a lighthouse keeper herself, Johnson was

an apt match. The pair married and had eight children together, including Farris’ mother Ruth. They raised their family on the 15-acre island in Cutler, keeping the Little River Lighthouse from 1921-1945.

Lighthouse people are hardy, says Farris, and they’re also good storytellers. Today she and her Corbett continued on page 4

Yes, the rain hurt Maine tourism Outdoor recreation saw biggest dips

BY STEPHANIE BOUCHARD

D

uring the rainy months of June and July, Aaron Lincoln, captain and owner of the schooner Olad and the cutter

Owl out of Camden Harbor, would run into people he knew at the local grocery store.

“People were giving me condolences like my dad had died,” he said. “I realized ‘It really is as bad as I think.’” In July, he said, about half of the trips his

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boats would have made didn’t happen Glenn Tucker, owner of Coastal because of rain or fog.

Kayaking Tours and Acadia Bike in Bar Before June and all the rain hit, said Harbor, echoed the bad news, good Tony Cameron, CEO of the Maine news assessment.

Tourism Association, most people “It’s been a challenging year for everywere optimistic about the season. body who’s involved in the outdoors “Travel demand tourism business,” said. across the board was “We’re fully staffed this “They came here there and the sentiyear for the first time in ment to travel was quite a while, so we’ve to do outdoor very high, and all the had plenty of guides, national surveys and but not quite enough things and they’re the things that we work for everybody.” sucking it up and rely on to help with June and July were predictions were all rainy, and when it they’re going biking very, very positive.” wasn’t raining, there and they’re going While the offioften was fog, which is cial state tourism just as bad as rain for kayaking…” numbers won’t be those working on the released until later water, he said. “I know this year, Cameron said our “mixed for instance, all the excursion boats in bag” summer won’t be a washout. “I Bar Harbor, they’ve had a difficult time don’t think that we’re going to have a with not only rain, but fog,” he said. record-breaking year,” he said, “but I The National Weather Service in also don’t think that it’s going to be a Gray said that 5.68 inches of rain fell in horrible year by any measure.” continued on page 7

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Secret Schoodic PHOTO ESSSAY BY LESLIE BOWMAN

The Schoodic peninsula—whose name may derive from the Mi’kmaq word eskwodek for “the end,” plays no second fiddle to its neighbor to the west, Mount Desert Island. Like MDI, it hosts part of Acadia National Park, but it also includes the pretty villages of Winter Harbor, Birch Harbor, Prospect Harbor, and Corea.

Ann E. Slattery at the Winter Harbor to Bar Harbor Ferry station. The ferry was not running that day due to high surf.

Surf was up at the ledges and people cautiously walked to the edge. The terrain never disappoints.

Unloading lobsters at the Winter Harbor Lobster Co-op.

Liza Fisher, potter and one of the family of craftspeople at U.S. Bells in Gouldsboro

Downtown Winter Harbor has several shops, galleries and eateries.

Ruth Mapleton stands in front of the Winter Harbor Public Library for which she is director. Built in 1888 as a Unitarian chapel, the building is preserved as the library.

Andrea Roberts, left, and Charity Robbins from Leonard Middle School in Old Town attending an educators workshop at the Schoodic Institute.

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The Working Waterfront . october 2023

LIGHTHOUSE

continued from page 1 cousins do their part to keep their family lighthouse stories alive. Many still reside in Cutler, where in the 1990s they met a kindred spirit who also moved to Cutler because of the lighthouse and who worked, maybe more than anyone, to keep lighthouse stories alive.

“Tim [Harrison] thrived on them.

He was so excited by lighthouse stories, his enthusiasm was boundless. How could we resist it when he said, ‘May I come and sit down with you?’ recalls Farris. “‘Of course, Tim.’ And the stories would roll with our family.”

Harrison died Aug. 19, leaving a legacy that includes more than 30 years publishing stories in Lighthouse Digest magazine, and in 14 books about lighthouses, alongside extensive preservation and advocacy efforts and the founding of the American Lighthouse Foundation which, in 2007, became the first nonprofit in New England to obtain ownership of a Maine Lighthouse—the Little River Light in Cutler.

Harrison had an ear for lighthouse stories, recording the facts, the tragedies, and the whimsy of lighthouse life, too. In his book, Lighthouses of the Sunrise County, Harrison recounts the tale of a Corbett family cow who never adapted to island life “...and kept swimming to the mainland, so keeper Corbett had to go and fetch him and bring him back to the island,” wrote Harrison. “After a few times doing this, Corbett gave up, and the cow spent its remaining years on the mainland.”

As a child, Harrison fished next to the Holland Harbor Lighthouse in Michigan, and in 1989, he and his wife, Kathleen Finnegan-Harrison, traveled to visit Maine lighthouses, and eventually relocated to Cutler.

Little River Light off Cutler in Washington County.

PHOTO: BOB TRAPANI JR.

Little River Light off Cutler in Washington County. PHOTO: BOB TRAPANI JR.

“It just was the perfect place for him to be because he was surrounded by people who were still alive, who knew all the stories, and could look at the photographs and say, ‘Oh, we can tell you about that one,’” says Farris.

Harrison was devoted to preserving the Little River Lighthouse. Built in 1847, in 1998 it was listed as one of Maine’s ten most endangered historic properties. Having read about Harrison’s preservation efforts online, in 2011, Bill Kitchen asked if he could live there and work on the lighthouse while raising money and awareness for its restoration. Harrison said yes.

“Tim knew more about lighthouses than anyone else on the planet, and

not just Maine lighthouses, lighthouses across America, and around the world,” says Kitchen, noting the positive impact Tim and Kathleen’s tight working relationship also made on their work with lighthouses.

“It is rare to see a couple so dedicated to a professional mission,” Delia Mae Farris holds a book featuring a photo of her Kitchen says.

Today, the Little River mother, Ruth Farris, who was raised at Little River Light in Cutler.

Light still shines at the mouth of Cutler Harbor, and visitors can stay in the beautifullyOpen Lighthouse Day was founded, maintained Little River keeper’s house says Trapani, to bring attention to the through an overnight stay program. need to preserve Maine’s lighthouses, “For the past nine years our care- to shine a light on the Coast Guard’s taker Terry Rodin and his wife Cynthia involvement in keeping the lights and have entertained guests from all over horns working, and to showcase the the world,” says Bob Trapani, executive beautiful places where they’re situated. director of the American Lighthouse “We live in a digital age, where everyFoundation, which still owns the light- thing is social media, and lighthouses house. “It’s just a little island paradise, and can sometimes be seen as static, but you can just get away from the world.” step inside one and it’s almost like you In 2009, the American Lighthouse get to go back in time,” says Trapani, Foundation started Open Lighthouse also the author of several lighthouse Day, which took place this year on books, including Gleams & Whispers: Saturday, Sept. 9. Nineteen Maine Maine’s Lighthouses and Their Allure, lighthouse towers were open to the released this year. public, as well as some keeper’s houses, “Today we have GPS, and all these the Maine Lighthouse Museum in other digital technologies to guide Rockland, and the Maine Maritime boats. But there’s still something about Museum in Bath. a lighthouse, the fact that it sits there, it doesn’t move, you can always rely on it if you need it.”

There are 66 lighthouses in Maine, 55 of which are still active today, and 36 still have foghorns. The lights and Lightkeeper Willie horns are maintained by the Coast Corbett knew Velma Guard, though the structures are mainJohnson was the tained by other entities. Those entities woman for him. can use a helping hand to continue their important work.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF DELIA FARRIS “The lighthouses are helping people but we need to help the lighthouses, too,” says Trapani. “We want to carry these forward, and the only way to do that is that people who care about them can give the lighthouse some of their time, or talent, or money, to help keep it standing there and gifting it to the future.”

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

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ESSAY

Raise a pint to remember David Geary Homegrown brewer helped create today’s Portland

BY TOM MAJOR

THE DEATH OF David Geary earlier this summer invites consideration of his contribution to craft beer in Maine.

To understand his influence, it’s helpful to remember how dire the American beer scene used to be. In 1980, only about a hundred breweries existed, down from 750 in 1935. Nearly all of them brewed fizzy, yellow lager.

“You got to the point ten years ago,” Geary told the Evening Express in 1987, “where five breweries sold 95 percent of the beer in the country.”

DL Geary Brewing, New England’s first craft brewery, was conceived at $3 Dewey’s in Portland in 1981.

Peter Maxwell Stuart, a Scottish Laird visiting to promote his Traquair House Ale, invited Geary, an aspiring brewer, to visit Traquair. David and Karen Geary incorporated their company in 1983, and Geary finally accepted Stuart’s invitation in 1984.

While Karen cobbled together small investments to raise $300,000 in startup capital, David visited Traquair House to learn the basics. From there, he toured several other British breweries, most notably Peter Austin’s Ringwood Brewery in Hampshire, England.

Under Austin, he studied commercial brewing in earnest. He also enlisted Austin’s associate, Alan

Pugsley, to travel with him to the U.S. to install the brewhouse.

In 1985, the Gearys began construction in Portland’s Evergreen Industrial Park. The location proved auspicious, as ten other brewing companies have since begun in the neighborhood. Maine’s largest brewery, Allagash, may be the most famous, but Maine Beer Company, Bissell Brothers Brewing, and Rising Tide Brewing all started there, outgrew their space, and moved into larger facilities.

Four others remain in this brewery incubator: Foundation, Austin Street, Battery Steele, and Definitive.

On Dec. 10, 1986, the first pint of Geary’s Pale Ale was poured, again at Dewey’s. The earliest extant menu shows that a pint cost $2.75, 25 cents more than Portland Lager, which had beaten Geary to the market by a few months.

Few people remember that brand, which Maine Coast Brewing contractbrewed in Wisconsin and New York.

Maine Coast’s plan for a microbrewery in the Worumbo Mill in Lisbon Falls literally went up in smoke in July 1987 when the mill complex burned down.

Although it’s a footnote in craft beer history, Portland Lager illustrates two points. First, it followed the pattern set

by Jim Koch’s Boston Beer Company by introducing a lager, while Geary brewed an ale. Lager was far more popular back then, as it is today.

By leading with a pale ale, Geary’s risks were somewhat greater, but his beer was more distinctive. Second, Geary was actually brewing, kegging, and bottling his own beer. Maine Coast Brewing sadly never got a chance to do that, and the Boston Beer Company would not have its own brewery in Boston until 1989.

Unlike many pioneering craft brewers, Geary did not disparage contract brewers like Boston Beer Company. In a keynote address at the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado, he scolded fellow brewers for criticizing Jim Koch, reminding them that Koch had carved out a market for them. Eventually, Geary’s company would become a contract brewer for other brands, like Belfast Bay Brewing, which the DL Geary Brewing recently purchased.

Craft beer would have come to Maine with or without Geary. Harpoon in Massachusetts and Catamount in Vermont went on tap in 1987. In 1988, Gritty McDuff ’s became Maine’s first brewpub, and in 1990, Bar Harbor Brewing sold its first pint at the Lompoc Cafe.

Yet David Geary’s success fundamentally shaped craft beer, not just in Maine, but regionally and even nationally. By recruiting Pugsley to install his brewery, he established the malty, English ales as the defining regional style.

Pugsley later installed more than 80 other breweries and trained generations of brewers. He was a partner at Shipyard Brewing, the 46th largest craft brewery. Most recently, Puglsey has been working with Orange Bike Brewing, which will soon release a line of gluten-free beers.

Geary’s influence can even be found in the history of Allagash Brewing, Maine’s largest brewery. Founder Rob Tod learned to brew in Vermont, but was drawn to Portland by its vibrant beer culture. Recognizing the dominance of English-style ales, he opted to brew Belgian-style ales to set himself apart. Allagash is now the 20th largest craft brewery in the U.S. The Maine Brewers Guild estimates that craft beer contributes around $250 million to the Maine economy, more than the potato industry. More than 160 Maine breweries employ more than 1,600 workers.

Beer still falls far short of the lobster industry’s impact, so the lobster on the Geary’s Pale Ale label might be an homage to Maine’s traditions, but also expresses an aspiration for prosperity.

Tom Major writes about beer and other subjects for the Portland-based publication The Bollard. A version of this essay appeared in The Bollard earlier this summer.

Selfie magnet—Eastport’s artsy buoy Painted bell buoy photographed, shared

BY TOM GROENING

E

astport has plenty of bragging rights—its pretty, compact downtown with red brick buildings and handsome 19th century homes. Its dramatic, wild tides and its setting at the confluence of two bays, the Passamaquoddy and Cobscook.

Its proximity to Canada, visible across a strait.

But why not follow Key West’s lead, where a large buoy has been set in that Florida island community, boasting of its southernmost U.S. location? And so Eastport now has a buoy, duly noting its status as the easternmost U.S. city; city, of course, referring to its form of government. (Yes, Lubec. You may be the easternmost municipality, but you have a town form of government.)

The Eastport buoy project was cooked up by Karen Raye of the city’s chamber of commerce and Chris Gardner of the Eastport Port Authority, and thanks to Joan Lowden of Eastport ArtWorks, the idea was shared with Alison Brynn Ross, an artist who arrived in Eastport recently from Charleston, S.C. The focus of Ross’s work has been murals, signs, and sculpture,

though she notes that she recently has been teaching brush lettering.

The city and port were interested in creating a landmark that would draw visitors and locals to the breakwater for a photo op, Ross said. Visitors taking selfies and sharing them on social media then serves as free and widespread marketing for the community.

She believes the buoy that now sits on a wooden deck area just off the breakwater—and across from the Coast Guard station—was an active Coast Guard bell buoy that broke loose and washed up in the area. It was given to the port authority.

“In many ways, Eastport feels like a bit of a time capsule, with the old-school WaCo diner, family-owned hardware store, and lovely downtown,” Ross said.

“With this imagery in mind and sifting through some of the old signage from the area, we decided to give the buoy a retro 1950s style lettering.”

She hand-lettered the script and digitized it, after first painting the base blue on the cleaned and primed buoy.

The sign was hand-painted.

“The artwork from the buoy is now also being licensed out to local businesses by

Eastport’s buoy on a foggy day in August. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

the Eastport Chamber,” Ross added, “with funds going directly to the buoy project.

There are plans to continue making the area more of a draw with kiosks with historical information on the platform, seating, and regular container plantings

from the Eastport Garden Club.”

For more information about Alison Brynn Ross, see: AlisonBrynnRoss.com; email info@alisonbrynnross.com, or find her on Instagram or Facebook @alisonbrynnross.

The Working Waterfront . october 2023

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ESSAY

Andy Gove. PHOTO: JUSTIN LEVESQUE

Stonington village. PHOTO: GRETA RYBUS

Stonington fish houses. PHOTO: GRETA RYBUS

A curated coast—stories preserved and amplified ‘First Coast’ collaboration in Stonington through mid-October

BY GALEN KOCH

IF YOU VISIT 44 North Coffee’s Stonington location through mid-October, you’ll notice something different about the beloved cafe. This year, 44 North is hosting an exhibit of photographs, audio stories, and a soundwalk by The First Coast, a collective of storytellers and documentarians that I helped curate.

Founded in 2016 with a grant from The Kindling Fund and distributed by Space Gallery, The First Coast is a multimedia storytelling project that documents and shares stories of rural coastal Mainers. The Deer Isle-Stonington Exhibit and Soundwalk joins the ongoing series of community exhibits thus far in Lubec, Jonesport, and Beals Island.

Many of the interviews featured in these exhibits are from historic archives, or were conducted by me with residents who have lived through incredible periods of change on the coast. While each location of The First Coast exhibits is unique, the stories featured share similar themes of family, place, community, fishing, and identity. ~

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~

When I started The First Coast it was, aside from collaborations with photographers, a completely independent project. I renovated a leaky Airstream and for a few years, I’d spend chunks of time collecting interviews and living in that old trailer with my dog.

In 2020 The First Coast officially partnered with College of the Atlantic, Island Institute, and Maine Sea Grant and the project expanded. As part of that partnership, I committed to teaching one class per year and mentoring and advising students at COA. The exhibit was written, edited, and produced by two of my students at COA, Annika Ross and Celia Morton. They pored over hundreds of hours of interviews, digging through transcriptions of audio interviews from the Deer Isle-Stonington Historical Society and The First Coast archive.

Through the process of listening to oral history interviews, Annika and Celia became immersed in Maine’s coastal history and the culture of Deer Isle.

They learned about sardine factories, lobster regulations, island life before the Deer Isle-Sedgwick bridge, fish camps, and back-to-the-landers.

After listening to the interviews and pulling their favorite stories and themes, I gave Annika and Celia the incredibly daunting task of creating a 45-minute non-narrated audio exhibit. They learned tangible professional skills such as how to synthesize information, structure a story, and use audio editing software. They also learned about ethics, accountability, and critical thinking. We talked at length about the role of an editor and artist; how do we decide what stories stay and what stories go?

I grew up in Stonington. The community members featured in the interview archives are people I have known for most of my life. This made the process of mentoring Annika and Celia especially meaningful.

Annika and Celia brought outsider perspectives to the project; they heard moments in the interviews that I would have missed. They found simple interactions in interviews very profound, like when a subject offers me a cup of coffee and a piece of cake. By incorporating those moments, and stories of community care, family, and love, they created an audio story for the Deer Isle-Stonington Exhibit that is deeply informative, personal, and caring.

The Deer Isle-Stonington Exhibit and the Stonington Soundwalk are intended to be an asset to the community and town. As cultural heritage tourism, the exhibit and soundwalk offer visitors a way to engage with history.

Stonington is, first and foremost, a fishing town.

It can be challenging to get a sense of that history and identity when visiting the island for a day or overnight trip. The stories in the exhibit and soundwalk give insight into the year-round community; the values, culture, and shared memories that make Stonington special.

The exhibit inside the cafe features 24 stunning photographs by Greta Rybus, Justin Levesque, and Jenny Rebecca McNulty. Each photograph has a corresponding caption and QR code that, if scanned, will play the audio edited by Annika and Celia.

For this exhibit, we also debuted a new method of sharing stories with the public: digital story frames designed by Perch Made. These story frames feature all of the audio and photographs in a touchscreen interface that can be installed in community spaces after the framed photographs come down in October.

The Stonington Soundwalk takes the exhibit outside the walls of 44 North’s cafe. A soundwalk is an immersive experience. The intention of a soundwalk is for the listener to be outside, moving, engaging with a landscape and a place. The stories are intrinsically tied to place, something that’s difficult to achieve in any other storytelling experience.

If you take the soundwalk, you’ll wander through the main streets of downtown Stonington, guided by my voice and the stories of community members.

You might be shrouded in fog, or walking in a brisk autumn wind. You may be navigating tourists or find yourself on empty streets in the off-season. You are invited to engage with history, memories, and place while witnessing the town and community firsthand.

Most importantly, the exhibit and soundwalk were made for the Deer Isle and Stonington community. It is with their ears and eyes in mind that Annika, Celia, and I created this work.

On July 1, we hosted the official opening of the Deer Isle-Stonington Exhibit and Soundwalk. Some of the first people to arrive at the event were two of the 90-year old island residents featured in the exhibit. We gave them mp3 players and headphones and I cued up some stories.

When the audio started to play one of them exclaimed, “That’s Andy!” as the voice of the late fisherman Andy Gove played from the headphones.

They started beaming from ear-to-ear and nodding, listening to a story about the herring fishing.

At that moment I felt the true impact of this work. We create the work to share memories, stories, and histories, but sometimes the most important thing is the simplest: hearing the voice of a friend you thought you may never hear again. It is almost a kind of magic.

For more about Galen Koch and her work, see GalenKoch.com and TheFirstCoast.org.

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

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MONHEGAN REUNION— In 1972, the student body of the Monhegan School posed for a photograph. In that image are, from left: Ruth Ives (standing); back row from left: Kelani Cundy (seated), Lisa Dickson, Louisa Boehmer (Wickerd), Donna Cundy, Kris Boehmer, and Zoe Zanadakis (seated); middle row, from left: Jeff Rollins, Chris Rollins, and Courtney Day; bottom

row, from left: Lance Burton, Tim Boehmer, Kathy Wincapaw (Velek), and Rev. Bob Ives (standing).

The 2023 reunion photo shows, back row, from left: Kelani Cundy (seated), Lisa Dickson, Louisa Boehmer (Wickerd), Donna Cundy, and Kris Boehmer. In the middle row from left are: Chris Rollins, Courtney Day, Zoe Zanadakis (seated). In

the bottom row from left are: Lance Burton, Kathy Wincapaw (Velek), Rev. Bob Ives (standing) Absent: Ruth Ives and Jeff Rollins (deceased), Tim Boehmer (not able to attend).

The Working Waterfront is grateful to Lance Burton for providing the photos and names.

TOURISM

Park. While the numbers of visitors are lower this summer than last, it’s not by much.

In June, visits were down by just over 6%, with 572,841 visits, 37,682 fewer visits than the previous June. In July, the number of visits was down only 3.31% from last year, with 772,434 visiting this July and 798,858 in 2022. Numbers for August were not available at press time.

While the weather of June and July is the worst stretch of bad summer weather he’s seen in 28 seasons, Glenn Tucker acknowledged it hasn’t been devastating—at least for him.

“I don’t mean to paint too gloomy a picture because we’re surviving fine and a lot of the tourists are here,” he said. “They came here to do outdoor things and they’re sucking it up and they’re going biking and they’re going kayaking—just not in as great numbers as they ordinarily do.”

Aaron Lincoln agrees. He’s had boom seasons and tough seasons, he said, and this is just one of those tougher seasons.

“It’s easy for us to sound super pessimistic, but I have an awesome life. I’m not discouraged.”

continued from page 1 Portland in June, which doesn’t seem like a lot when it felt like it rained nearly every day, but is far above the average of 3.77 inches for June. July was a repeat of June in many ways, with 5.75 inches of rain in Portland, again exceeding the average, which is 2.32 inches in July.

Interestingly, while August with more sunny days felt like a vast improvement over cloudy June and July, there was more rainfall—preliminary rainfall totals for the last month of summer were 5.8 inches in Portland, when the average is 3.57 inches. Instead of being spread out day after day, like in June and July, August’s rain happened in concentrated storms.

While rain can mean trouble for outdoor-related activities in Maine, for places not outdoor-focused, the summer’s rainy weather was a boon.

“I can definitively say that rain is good for business,” said Amanda Pleau, marketing and communications manager at Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. The museum’s top two busiest days as of the middle of August were on days when it poured, she said. On the museum’s best day, 591 people visited. The museum’s daily average in the summer is 236.

The rain also didn’t seem to deter people from eating out or camping. People still lined up under umbrellas waiting to place an order at Red’s Eats in Wiscasset.

Sean Brown, co-owner of Brown’s Clam Shanty in Wells said he’s had a good year, and a spokesperson for Sandy Pines Campground, a glamping resort in Kennebunkport, said they’ve had a great season with nearly every weekend almost completely booked.

Further supporting Cameron’s belief that this summer won’t be the worst ever, the rain and gloom didn’t stop people from pouring into Acadia National

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The Working Waterfront . october 2023

from the sea up

Rewriting the storyline of island schools Institute works to support these small institutions

BY KIM HAMILTON

MY FATHER HAD the honor of cutting the celebratory ribbon for the 150th anniversary of the Chebeague Island District 9 School House last month. At 93, and as the oldest living graduate, he can still remember specifically where he sat in the school room, “middle row, at the very end,” and how he cried as a kindergartener when forced to wear uncomfortable school clothes after spending summers running carefree.

He likes to say that he graduated second in his class—a class of two! The statistics on that 1948 graduating class of two are easy to comprehend. As my tall-for-his-age father wrote in his comical salutatorian speech, 50 percent of the graduating class were shorter than average, and 50 percent were taller.

In fact, exactly one half of the class was 20 inches shorter than the other; 50 percent were male, and 50 percent were female. And so it continued.

Height notwithstanding, that graduating class might have included more graduates had some of the students not moved to the mainland or simply left school to go fishing—challenges that persist today.

Across Maine this autumn, almost 175,000 students are in schools across the state, and some have returned to schools on islands along the coast.

Like my father, many are facing small class sizes in schools with diminishing attendance over the past decades.

On some of our year-round, unbridged islands, total enrollment is hovering between four to 10 students and in one case it is as low as one student, and in some cases, as low as one or two students.

Teachers are returning, too. Teaching on an island requires a level of ambidexterity that is impressive. A conversation with Kaylin Wu, one of our ace Island Institute Fellows working with Vinalhaven’s Lego Robotics Club, highlighted this. She reminded me that what might be a day trip for most mainland students can become a demanding, multi-day commitment for students, parents, and teachers who must navigate ferry schedules, additional expenses, and over-night travel.

It seems like the grim storyline is already written for island schools given the shrinking number of students, the challenges of attracting and retaining teachers, and the growing expense of funding island schools. The odds are not in their favor.

Schools, however, play an undeniable role in the ecosystem of a thriving, island community. They are the centerpiece for attracting young families, who are essential to sustaining our islands.

They attract energetic and courageous teachers who are drawn to island schools and become part of the fabric of the community. Schools are often meeting grounds for community activities. They are at their core an essential institution that fosters diversity, critical thinking, and principles of democracy.

Investments in island schools are investments in long-term community health.

The research literature points to a few critical interventions to fortify remote schools: • focus on place-based education to build excitement about our island communities and their inherent assets • expand broadband quickly to ensure that all students and teachers can take advantage of online educational resources at school and from home • welcome teachers into the community while also ensuring they are connected to other teachers facing similar challenges, have professional development opportunities, and

connect remote island communities and students to each other.

Island Institute’s own Outer Island Teacher and Learning Collaborative (TLC) is a pioneering effort putting these recommendations into action. Even before the pandemic, we were working with island communities to create a resource-rich, peer-to-peer network to enhance the education and support for students and teachers alike.

Our experience with this program suggests the future of island education and community vitality is still very much ours to define.

The school that graduated my father and his singular classmate is now the home to the Chebeague Island Historical Society. There is now a new school on our island, which continues a longstanding commitment to island education and serves as a centerpiece of this community. We’re still writing the story.

Kim Hamilton is president of Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. She may be contacted at khamilton@islandinstitute.org.

rock bound

Why am I painting the living room?

Savoring summer poses conundrum

BY TOM GROENING

AS SUMMER WANES, the urgency to squeeze out the last of projects and fun grows to a fever pitch, especially so in Maine, where the season is so fleeting. That urgency comes with a conundrum—how to balance projects with fun?

Lyrics from an old folk song by the husband and wife duo Peter and Lou Berryman come to mind each year at this time, and those lyrics can be understood in a larger context as well.

The song, “Why Am I Painting the Living Room?,” juxtaposes pressing global problems one might work to address with the simple joys of life. She sings the first verse, in a cadence that connotes the seriousness of these threats: Holes in the ozone the size of Brazil Barges of trash in a chewable breeze Pools of industrial waste paté Sulfur dioxide dissolving the trees Pretty soon it will all end with a boom Why am I painting the living room?

His voice, in a lilting melody enters: I have the whole day off ‘Cause it’s a Saturday

There is a bluegrass band Somewhere along the bay Look at the lilacs bloom Why am I painting the living room?

contemplating it as a home improvement during the dark winter months.

But it’s rarely necessary or pressing.

And it can be done in the winter.

One simple summer joy is enjoying live And that, I think, is the conundrum music. Belfast has developed, with volunof summer in Maine. I feel the pressure teer effort and a little funding, a music to stack the firewood I purchase, and series called Belfast Summer Nights. cut and split another cord or so. I need In its early years, the Thursday evening to replace some deck boards, finish event was moved around town, but trimming the porch, and I probably now it is regularly held at a flat expanse should reshingle the north-facing roof. of grass along the waterfront known as Belfast Commons.

But this also is the Hundreds of time to continue people attend, setting my quest to kayak In its early years, the up beach and lawn both shores of event was moved chairs, bringing food, Eggemoggin Reach and—the dominant (I’ve covered most around town, but now activity—catching up of it). And to with friends, acquainvisit Castine on it is regularly held at a tances, and neigha late afternoon flat expanse of grass bors.

Handshakes for drinks on the and hugs dot the wharf. And venture along the waterfront… crowd throughout to Eastport for a the couple of hours of walk around this (sort of) island town. Two of those music. We see and catch up with folks three were accomplished, and some of we haven’t seen since last summer.

Yes, there is dancing up by the stage, the projects can be checked off, but the question remains: Why am I painting and the bands have been better and better in recent years, but it’s really the living room?

Painting the living room can be satis- a social event that strengthens the fying and provide a sort of pleasure in community fabric.

Given that it starts at 5:30 p.m., I don’t have to forgo my “painting the living room” responsibilities—that is, putting together this newspaper.

Thirty-five years ago the folk duo was raising the specter of “holes in the ozone” and other environmental degradation, and surely similar problems remain. Beautiful Maine isn’t immune from the climate crisis, the dearth of affordable housing, poverty, drug addiction, and on and on.

So what is the answer to the question?

Well, I think living rooms do need to be painted, but our corner of the world also needs our individual and collective effort to make things a little better.

And we are better at both painting and community action if we take time to savor what’s outside the living room window. Especially in summer.

Tom Groening is editor of The Working Waterfront. He may be contacted at tgroening@islandinstitute.org.

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

9

NO TRAFFIC, BUT ROUGH ROAD—

T

his late 19th century photograph of Camden’s Elm Street shows an unpaved road with a handful of horse-drawn wagons and carriages. The three story brick building at the center of the image today houses the town office and the Camden Opera House.

The two wood-frame structures on the left remain standing. On a rainy day, it might have been slow going for those horses and wagons, while today it’s tourist traffic that clogs up busy Route 1.

op-ed

A top-notch choice

Memories of beloved Belfast, and all of Maine

BY LUCY WEBB HARDY

I AM WRITING to simply say I greatly enjoyed your column “My happy Maine anniversary” (Rock Bound, September issue). I was enjoying reading your essay—Deer Isle is my ancestral home, both parents born and raised there, and I got a tingle.

But then you went and done it. You decided of all places to buy land, you chose Beautiful Beloved Belfast, the little city that could. The place where my father worked to support his family (at Dutch Chevrolet; our family home was in nearby Prospect). The stamping grounds of my youth and then the location of my wedding reception (Jed’s Restaurant, now a bowling alley).

Belfast. Even in its rougher days, there was a spirit there that was cultural and edgy in the best of ways. I remember when I was a student at Bucksport High School in the mid 1970s, we thespians

Island Institute Board of Trustees

Kristin Howard, Chair Douglas Henderson, Vice Chair Charles Owen Verrill, Jr. Secretary Kate Vogt, Treasurer, Finance Chair Carol White, Programs Chair Megan McGinnis Dayton, Philanthropy & Communications Chair Shey Conover, Governance Chair Michael P. Boyd, Clerk Sebastian Belle David Cousens Michael Felton Nathan Johnson Emily Lane Bryan Lewis Michael Sant Barbara Kinney Sweet Donna Wiegle John Bird (honorary) Kimberly A. Hamilton, PhD (ex officio)

were lucky to get six rows of attendees Searsport for a couple of years, but in typical youthful thinking, yearned at our plays.

And Belfast? Literally the line to get for the bright lights and fast pace of into their plays would be stretching a “real” city. So off I went to Portland into the parking lot. The Broiler Festival where I had a fine time.

Six years later, I was flirting with (Waldo Chick, the head honcho with his famed barbeque techniques all over going back “home,” only to go to a dance New England; I live just five minutes one night where I met my husband (37 from his farm here in Wells and am years and counting). He had land in very good friends with the couple who Wells so I’ve been here since.

But I confess lives there and who this. About a half were like family to Even in its rougher dozen years ago, the him.) The riverside longing to go back concerts, the Chorale, days, there was a home came roaring the bookstores. It is fiercely back. And where we shopped spirit there that was so I asked him if for any goods we cultural and edgy in we could move to needed—farm tools, Belfast. And he said clothing, groceries. the best of ways.

OK. Egads! But for While I was growing a variety of reasons, up in Prospect, the population was 406 (and that number after giving the matter serious thought, might have included a cow or two). I I believe I was romanticizing such a worked locally as a secretary in move. You have heard it said, “You

THE WORKING WATERFRONT

Published by Island Institute, a non-profit organization that works to sustain Maine's island and coastal communities, and exchanges ideas and experiences to further the sustainability of communities here and elsewhere.

All members of Island Institute and residents of Maine island communities receive monthly mail delivery of The Working Waterfront.

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can never go back home again.” Some truth to that, I believe. So here we stay.

Life in Wells is nice enough. And what I have learned over the years (especially since buying a little camper trailer and traversing this state of ours), is that all of Maine is beautiful, magical, and stunning. Despite what you or others may have heard, Southern Maine has many quiet spots rich with Mother Nature’s blessings. You just have do a little digging.

A yearly (and sometimes more frequently) stop in Belfast is a must-do when I am visiting family in the Bucksport/Orland area. Just last weekend my husband and I had yet another glorious bicycle ride on the rail trail.

So count yourself very lucky that Maine charmed you. And your choice of where to settle is—without question— top notch.

Lucy Webb Hardy lives in Wells.

Editor: Tom Groening

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The Working Waterfront . october 2023

Island Institute Fellows, including those returning for a second year and those beginning their fellowship this fall, pose for a photo during an orientation in St. George. Back row, from left: Katie Liberman, Olivia Lenfestey, Lavinia Clarke, Olivia Jolley, and Kaylin Wu. Front row, from left: Alice Cockerham, Brianna Cunliffe, Grace Carrier, Claire Oxford, and Morgan Karns.

PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Island Institute announces new Fellows Service areas range from Machias to Vinalhaven

Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront, has announced its new cohort of Island Institute Fellows who join a group returning for their second year.

The Fellows program places recent college graduates in island and remote coastal communities to do service work.

New Fellows include:

Alice Cockerham will be working with the Hancock County Planning Commission to transition its resources to be available digitally and assisting towns with comprehensive and resilience planning.

communities to use the trail more fully for transportation, recreation, and community building.

Grace Carrier will work with Brooklin’s newly formed climate response committee to connect residents, business owners, and municipal leaders to energy- and cost-saving programs.

education and community-based climate action, including support for the town of Tremont’s community resilience plan.

Olivia Jolley is the Swan’s Island Fellow working with the island’s historical society to structure and digitize its archives, manage volunteers, curate exhibits and museum displays, produce oral history collections and multimedia

content, and write grant applications for building restoration projects.

Olivia (Liv) Lenfestey is the Islesboro Fellow working with the town’s sea level rise committee to support communitywide resiliency and adaptation planning.

This follows her first year of her fellowship curating and reopening Islesboro’s Grindle Point Lighthouse Museum.

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Morgan Karns will be the Mount Desert Island and Outer Islands Fellow and will work with the community at MDI Biological Labs, collaborating with outer island residents in a statewide initiative to test drinking water for heavy metals and plastics.

Partnering with the Seacoast Mission to get the word out to the communities, Karns will work alongside seniors and schools on how to sample their water.

Lavinia (Livy) Clarke will be the Machias Fellow working with the Sunrise Trail Coalition engaging

Claire Oxford will be the North Haven Fellow working with the town to shore up the island’s working waterfront from recent and future storm surge and sea level rise.

Returning Island Institute Fellows include: Kaylin Wu, who works with the Vinalhaven school supporting technology integration from pre-K through 12th grade. She also leads a growing Lego robotics club and other technology-centered after-school and summer experiences.

Katie Liberman is the Deer Isle and Stonington Fellow, supporting afterschool and summer programming on and working with the local program Mariners Soar! to expand offerings.

Brianna Cunliffe serves on Mount Desert Island, working with the A Climate to Thrive group, focusing on

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Saving a cemetery

Twice-buried history unearthed in Friendship “You got the sense that it was slipping away from you,” Goold said.

A brochure the group produced t’s not hard to imagine the scene helps slow the slide into obscurity, 250 years ago. On a treeless listing the stones which can still be read headland where the Meduncook and located, among them: Cornelius (1788-1857), Hannah River meets Penobscot Bay, families Bradford gathered for the somber ritual of Gay Bradford (1786-1857), Eleanor burying a deceased relative, the stone Jameson Gay (1806-1839), and Paul Jameson (1728-1803). In all, about 25 being carefully set.

Today, that plot of land—known as are believed buried there.

Jameson, Sigel said, hailed from Wadsworth Point—is shaded by a tangle of fir trees, and though there are grave- Scotland, moved to Ireland, then stones standing, indicating a cemetery, to Southern Maine, and finally to Friendship. He participated in the Judith Goold, left, and Sally Barrett inspect one of the older slate stones. others are broken or lying flat.

But this isn’t a forgotten bit of history, Boston Tea Party.

Research the women have done thanks to several women who live in the small enclave of houses on the point reveals that in 1754, just 11 years after within the town of Friendship. They the plantation was settled through the have, on their own initiative and with Waldo Patent, 22 families resided in the their own money and some donated community. One of those early settlers, funds, begun reclaiming and restoring Abiah Wadsworth, set aside the land as a burying ground, granting it to the the Wadsworth Point Cemetery. town. He came to The history at stake is Friendship from substantial. Some of those Duxbury, Mass. buried there include a in 1759 and ended direct descendant of Gov. up raising about William Bradford of the 15 children.

Plymouth Colony and The group Paul Jameson, an earlier “ You got the sense doesn’t want to and prominent European that it was slipping burden town settler of the Meduncook government Plantation, now known away from you.” with John expenses as Friendship. And at Martin, Bud Staples, and Elsie Gillespie chat around the woodstove at the annual town meeting. to improve the least one of those interred site—especially was a veteran of the since there are Revolutionary War. as many as 15 In recent months, the cemeteries within fate of the cemetery had become a topic of conversation among Friendship—and so they stress that Judith Goold looks over one of the stones near the embankments. the residents of the point, said Lanette improvements are self-funded.

Recently, a local arborist was hired Sigel, and she and Judith Goold, Sally Barrett, Sally Melrose, and the women’s to cut some of the encroaching trees husbands, among others, got involved and cut up downed branches and trees.

One gravestone actually was engulfed in trying to restore it.

“I was just amazed at the dates and by a tree, but the stone has since been the historical significance,” said Sigel, liberated from the trunk.

Possible grave sites have been marked who hails from Idaho, where European settlement history is not as old. with small orange flags, and in looking “Finally, we decided, let’s do something over the site with those markers, order begins to emerge. Most of the plots about it.” include footstones, and when they have Goold said the work was urgent.

“It wasn’t staying the same. You could been unearthed, the direction of the burial is revealed. Some of the headsee it disappearing before our eyes.”

An older resident told the women stones have been reset in concrete bases.

The Friends of Wadsworth Point that many more stones had been visible a few decades ago. Many of those that Cemetery have connected with had fallen flat were covered with fir other groups around the state that needles, and a recent big storm broke work to research and preserve cemea tree trunk, further degrading the site. teries, and the group maintains a Levian Moulden email address— Erosion along a steep embankment, Facebook page, possibly the result of rising seas and WadsworthPointCemetery@gmail. storms, is also evident, with as much as com—and a mailing address—PO Box 122, Friendship, ME 04547.

20 feet “Punkin” gone, said Sally Melrose.

Lanette Sigel inspects one of the intact gravestones.

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The Working Waterfront . october 2023

Mural honors Belfast’s sturgeon story Artist creates ‘ecosystem’ on waterfront

BY TOM GROENING

L

et’s get the pronunciation lesson out of the way first. The river that flows into Penobscot Bay in Belfast is called the Passagassawakeag, which in the native Wabanaki language means, “Place where sturgeon may be speared by torch light.”

It’s pronounced: puh-SAG-uh-sa-WAW-keg.

There don’t seem to be many sturgeon in the river today, but that hard-to-pronounce name and its meaning are part of Belfast’s identity. And so it made sense for local artist David Hurley to propose painting a mural on a prominent building along the city’s harbor walk.

The building had been a garage for a Belfast fuel company’s fleet, but in recent years it was purchased

by Paul Naron, who came to town about ten years ago and has turned a former window and door company’s warehouse into a year-round farmers market.

Naron has renovated the garage building into the Bayview Point Events Center, and Hurley, who had completed a mural for the farmers market building, pitched the idea of painting a sturgeon on the lower portion of the event center. Hurley said Naron was less than enthusiastic about paying for it, and suggested he raise the money elsewhere.

Hurley easily raised the funds, he said, and then came the planning.

“I knew I wanted a really big sturgeon,” he said, and he wanted the scene to reflect an ecosystem. “I included cod, other sturgeon, pogies.”

Since the building includes trusses that support a large deck overlooking the water, Hurley decided to paint the scene on 18, 4-foot-high plywood panels. The

Artist David Hurley poses near his sturgeon mural on the Bayview Events Center, near Belfast’s harbor walk.

PHOTO: TOM GROENING

process included creating a scale model of each panel.

Then he found that the trusses didn’t conform to regular measurements, and so they had to be cut and shaped.

“It was like creating a puzzle,” he said of the 34-foot long mural. Trying to assemble the pieces in his garage didn’t work, so a friend who got to know Hurley when he painted a mural at the city’s airport offered the use of a hangar.

Painting began on May 17, which would have been his father’s 100th birthday and concluded in July.

“It’s funny,” Hurley mused. “You have this idea, but then it’s like, how do I do this? I had a hundred problems to solve.”

knowing sturgeon

BY MAYA STEIN

What I know about sturgeon could fit in the gap between two of my knucklebones. But because this is a poem about sturgeon, I’m wondering about sturgeon bones, and how many they have And it turns out they don’t have any, that their skeleton is made of cartilage and an armor of plates down their sides, and I try to imagine what it would be like to have a body with only cartilage for bones, and armor down my sides.

What I know about sturgeon could fit in the shallow glass by the side of the sink where I brush my teeth, but because this is a poem about sturgeon I’m wondering how many teeth sturgeon have, and it turns out they don’t have any teeth, and instead drag whiskers called “barbels” on the bottom of the sea to catch what they eat, and I try to imagine what it would be like to have to drag my chin on the bottom of the sea for my dinner.

What I know about sturgeon could fit inside the pencil case I took to school in 4th grade, when for the first time, I learned to write a poem.

But because this is a poem about sturgeon, I am wondering if sturgeon move in the way of other fish, (you know, in schools) and it turns out they spend more time alone, traveling in the open sea for years before returning to the coast to spawn, and I try to imagine what it would be like to manage the turbulent waters of the world with so little company.

At the public opening for the mural, Hurley brought in musicians—including Native drummers, an academic to speak about sturgeon, and the Penobscot Tribe’s James Francis.

Naron installed panels listing facts about sturgeon along the city’s public harbor walk, and more information will be added near the building, Hurley said.

Though sturgeon are not seen—or at least, seen with any regularity—in the river, Hurley remains confident they are there.

“No one sent the sturgeon a letter saying ‘Don’t come here,’” he said.

Maya Stein is Belfast’s poet laureate and she wrote and read this poem at the dedication of David Hurley’s sturgeon mural.

What I know about sturgeon could fit in the back pocket of my jeans where I keep loose notes and receipts and sometimes a $5 bill just in case, but because this is a poem about sturgeon, I am wondering about all the empty spaces I could fill with notes about sturgeon, facts and figures and scientific names, what would make me sound as if I knew something beyond the gaps between knucklebones and a shallow glass and my pencil case and my pockets.

There are so many books to read and I know so little about sturgeon.

But to know a thing is not these things.

To know a thing, you have to lean into the whispers of its briny cells.

You have to sniff the fossils of its memory.

To know a thing you have to listen to its language, even when it’s unfamiliar or absent of words, and especially then.

To know a thing, you have to honor the stories of those who knelt at the river first, who prayed to the movements in the water and held sacred the current.

To know a thing you have to travel deeper than your eyes can see, and your mouth can speak.

You have to bow to the mysteries of what is underneath, so far below and beyond.

To know a thing, you have to put the books down.

You have to open your arms wider than your own imagination.

You have to let go of the edge of understanding.

To know a thing, you have to swim toward where the sturgeon go, even if you never get there, and perhaps, especially then.

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

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The Working Waterfront . october 2023

Beautiful, bucolic North Haven Island community features walkable village PHOTO ESSAY BY MICHELE STAPLETON

The exterior of the Turner Farm’s barn.

The Turner Farm’s barn, hosting an event.

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

North Haven’s Gift Shop.

The village is often busy with pedestrians after the ferry arrives.

David Wilson’s paint brushes seen at his studio.

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The Working Waterfront . october 2023

Our Island Communities Dave Macy steps away from the pulpit Long-time North Haven minister retires

BY COURTNEY NALIBOFF

A

fter 32 years as pastor to the North Haven Baptist Church and missionary at large to the island, Dave Macy is retiring.

Macy was hired in 1991 by the Maine Seacoast Missionary Society as a full-time minister, taking the pulpit from a part-time predecessor.

“I would speculate that it always feels better to have a full-time minister,” Macy said.

He took on that position with his community roots already established—he and his wife Kathy, an islander by birth, had lived on North Haven from 1976 to 1981, prior to Macy beginning his education at Bangor Seminary. After five years at a church in East Machias, the position at the North Haven Baptist Church opened.

“The minister on North Haven at the time was retiring just as we were looking for a new church,” said Kathy Macy. “Dave reminded me that the usual stay for a minister was five to ten years, and we would probably then move on. I acknowledged that, but didn’t agree. Guess I was right,” she said.

Macy’s tenure has been defined by the ways in which both he and the church have impacted the community at large, beyond Sunday morning services.

“That would probably be my vision—providing a The Rev. Dave Macy poses in the North Haven Baptist Church. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING place for community to come together,” he said. “It’s a way to bring people together, it’s a ritual, a rite. That’s Without him, said islander Lisa Shields, “There’s with cheese and cracker plates and abundant homewhat my sense of my ministry is here. A church in this situation exists as a place for community events no way we could have a choir, which people love. made baked goods.

Using a four-page document titled “What Dave Or a band on occasion.” Macy’s trumpet can be to happen.”

The North Haven Baptist Church building, which heard playing “Taps” on Memorial Day, and he often Does—version 2023” as a starting point, task force celebrated its centennial on Sept. 2, hosts weddings, performs in a small brass ensemble at the island’s members identified three priorities for immediate attention: continuity of worship, maintenance of the funerals, school graduations and baccalaure- blessing of the fleet.

Macy’s ministry of community, and the ecumen- church building, and administrative duties. ates, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, veterinary By the end of August, an ordained church member clinics, a food pantry, doughnut and coffee hours, ical nature of his denomination, United Church of music rehearsals, and meetings for organizations of Christ, is also evidenced in the weekly Pub Theology had committed to conducting services for the month all stripes. Financially, the church has provided for sessions he has co-hosted with Ben Lovell, of the of September and a part-time interim minister from North Haven Brewing Company, Vinalhaven was in line to do the same through the community members in times of end of December. since March 2017. need through its discretionary fund Islander Harold Cooper was hired as the build“You definitely don’t feel like you and its association with the Pulpit have to be a follower of any specific ing’s caretaker, taking over Macy’s duties of shoveling Harbor Foundation, which provides “ It’s a way to faith or a faith at all to come in and snow, mowing the lawn, and generally maintaining support for medical expenses. kind of explore the ideas,” Lovell the building. Administrative duties will be carried Douglas Cornman, director of bring people said. “Dave’s not interested in telling out by the current bookkeeper, with some support island services for the Seacoast together, it’s a anybody what to think. He’s more from the Unity Guild.

Mission, sees Macy’s community “This is triage—fix the most broken things first,” interested in asking them where extending beyond North Haven ritual, a rite.” they’re coming from, and kind of said Bill Kennedy, the summer services member through his use of social media. exploring his own thoughts around leading the task force. “Once you have stabilization, “I looked forward to reading his then you can go forward.” those things.” responses, as well as the responses of Although Macy is remaining on North Haven Although the role of the church— others, to his ‘For what shall we pray this day?’ posts on Facebook,” he said. The Seacoast and its pastor—on North Haven have continued to following his retirement and will still be making Mission paid for one third of his salary until 2019, increase over time, attendance at church services has music and waxing philosophical at Pub Theology, according to North Haven Baptist Church president decreased dramatically, with as few as seven congre- his departure is strongly felt in the community.

Hundreds of well-wishers packed Calderwood Hall gants in attendance on some winter Sundays.

Candace Brown.

“It’s not just me leaving, it’s a huge existential tran- on Aug. 20 for his retirement party, which included Macy himself serves North Haven in countless ways outside of Sunday mornings, and affirms his sition because we’re following a national trend in speeches, tributes, and a flash mob choir.

“When you’re the minister that long and in the strategy of “becoming available outside the church, some ways,” Macy said.

To determine the future direction of the community that strongly, it’s just going to be kind so I would be known to people in case there was a need. That’s why I was involved in plays, I got on the church against this backdrop, an ad hoc task of depressing,” said Brown, the church president. ambulance out of a sense of civic duty,” he said. Macy force comprised of North Haven Baptist Church “Everybody likes Dave, and it’s just going to be very has been involved with North Haven Emergency members, summer services members, and repre- difficult for people not to reach out to him,” she said.

Kennedy sees one more way in which Macy’s Medical Services since 1993, serving as a first sentatives from the Unity Guild convened several responder, ambulance attendant, ambulance driver, times over the summer. It marked the first such ministry of community has borne fruit.

“Maybe some goodness and growth will come out and chaplain in his 30 years on the crew. His musical combined meeting of members of the year-round of this. For one thing, joint meetings of islanders talent, which brought him briefly to Berklee College and summer churches.

At their first session in the church’s memorial and summer people solving problems they both of Music, is also often called into service in and out room, stakeholders gathered around tables laden need to solve.” of the church.

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

Collins secures aquaculture funds Sen. Susan Collins, vice chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that she advanced $7 million in congressionally directed spending to establish an Aquaculture Workforce Innovation Center at the University of Maine in the fiscal year 2024 commerce, justice, and science appropriations bill.

“Maine’s aquaculture industry has seen significant growth over recent years, but more needs to be done to support its expansion and economic opportunity in our state,” Collins said. “This funding would strengthen UMaine’s position as the nation’s premier research and training resource for the aquaculture industry.”

“Our state is recognized nationally as a leader in cold-water aquaculture,” said Deborah Bouchard, director of UMaine’s Aquaculture Research Institute, “in great part due to UMaine’s expertise in aquatic animal health and fish nutrition research. This funding would allow us to construct a state-of-the-art workforce training and testing center where UMaine faculty and student researchers, as well as land-based aquaculture businesses, can work together to develop the talent and innovation this growing industry needs to realize its full potential.”

Funding for this project would support the construction of the Aquaculture Workforce and Innovation Center, a 15,000-square-foot, functional state-of-theart cold-water demonstration, training, and research facility located on UMaine’s Orono campus.

Acadia tourism contributed $479 million A new National Park Service (NPS) report estimates that Acadia National Park’s 3.97 million visits in

17

JUST DUCKY—

Visitors have flocked to the Belfast Footbridge in recent weeks to see what are now three large inflatable ducks secured in the harbor. The ducks bear the words “Joy,” “Greater Joy,” and “Greatest Joy.” The mystery of who is responsible for bringing the critters to the harbor remains unsolved. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

2022 provided $479 million in visitor spending to the local economy. That spending supported nearly 6,700 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit of $691 million.

“Since 1916, the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of our national parks,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “With the help of volunteers and partners, we safeguard these special places and share their stories with more than 300 million visitors every year. The impact of tourism to national parks is undeniable: bringing jobs and revenue to communities in every state in the country and making national parks an essential driver to the national economy.”

Acadia’s Kevin Schneider, the park’s superintendent,

said “People come to enjoy and learn about the park’s incredible landscape and history dating back to ancestral home of the Wabanaki people.”

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by NPS economists. The report shows $23.9 billion of direct spending by nearly 312 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 378,400 jobs nationally; 314,600 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $50.3 billion.

The lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $9 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurants sector had the second greatest effects, with $4.6 billion in economic output nationally.

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18

The Working Waterfront . october 2023

ON THE RECORD WITH…

GrowSmart Maine’s Nancy Smith Advocacy group asserts that economy is tied to land use

BY TOM GROENING

W

hen Nancy Smith first came to Maine in 1981, she was thinking, professionally, about the growth of trees and forests.

Today, her work focuses on ensuring that Maine communities retain their character and function. Or, in other words, that they grow smart.

Smith grew up in Connecticut and went to college in Durham, N.H. to study forestry. She had considered attending the University of Maine.

“Orono seemed too far north,” she recalls, yet ironically, her first job interview—and the job itself—were in Lincoln, Maine.

Though an out-of-stater, Smith’s family’s history has Maine ties.

“We have roots that go back to the 1800s in Belfast and Westbrook, and even the late 1600s in Portland. I felt like I belong here,” she says.

Smith later lived in central Maine and served four terms in the Maine House of Representatives, representing Monmouth, Litchfield, and Wales.

Thirteen years ago, she joined the nonprofit advocacy group GrowSmart Maine, where she is CEO. Our interview with her was edited for length and clarity.

The Working Waterfront: How do you define smart growth?

Smith: Smart growth is a set of principles that promotes long-term sustainable solutions for communities.

It’s about providing choices in how you manage growth and change. Change is going to happen. It is human nature to try to put a stake in the ground and say, “I like the way it is now. Stop.”

And that’s not what happens. Who is going to be in charge of what that change looks like? It’s not just the immediate—what’s it going to look like 20 years from now, 50 years from now?

Smart growth is that balancing act, so that we have what we need now but also making sure our communities are as strong in the future as they are now.

WW: And that term has been in usage by policy makers for, what, 20 years? Longer?

Smith: It probably came out of the ’70s when we started looking around and said something isn’t right. I think everybody has stories about sprawl, which is what we’re trying to prevent. I grew up outside of Hartford, Conn. The places I grew up sledding became hundred-unit single-family subdivisions. I didn’t know what they were called, I just knew I couldn’t go sledding there anymore. And it felt “off.”

We want to keep those things that make us proud to be Mainers, but we also need economic activity and opportunities.

WW: I’ve tried to make the case that there’s a positive connection, a causality between smart growth and economic activity. Can you talk about that?

Smith: Oh, absolutely! I describe the work that we do by saying that GrowSmart Maine—smart growth—is the one place where historic preservation and downtown revitalization come together with farmland protection. These are really opposite sides of the same coin.

And a community should never feel they have to choose between the two.

Those principles reinforce each other.

The best tangible example I have of that is that the farmers market is where you see it. When the farms have the land to produce the product—mostly food, but also other things—that people are interested in, they bring them into the community where people are. There is economic activity in farmers markets.

And they are in the downtowns, where people, ideally, are interested in living.

WW: What are the unique challenges that the coast of Maine is facing?

I see our beautiful downtowns— whether it’s Rockland, Belfast, Damariscotta, or Eastport—they’re a real draw to young people. I feel like these downtowns are threatened.

Smith: Your readers are going to be the experts on that. But the working waterfront—if you don’t have access to the clam beds or the piers, and don’t have the infrastructure fishermen need on site, then you’re losing the economic driver of what makes it a fishing community. That’s got to be at the forefront.

I think the coast is seeing it as much and probably more than the rest of the state. Now that we’re finally getting people to move to Maine, which we’ve been saying we need because we’re not producing enough native Mainers, what does that look like? What does it mean for pricing out working people?

That is, I think, exponentially more difficult on the coast.

I live in Ellsworth now. I lived in Monmouth outside of Augusta for 30 years. When I drove from Monmouth to Portland, I would see lobster traps outside of houses in Lisbon. I know, because of my work, it’s because they can’t afford to live on the coast.

I think that tension has been there for decades. But it’s going be more so because people can live and work anywhere, and they come to where they love, which is Maine, because Maine is amazing.

What does that do to the infrastructure they need? And housing as a piece of that?

WW: That leads into my next question—how can smart growth make housing more affordable?

Smith: What GrowSmart has been working on in the legislature is removing barriers and creating incentives for building housing where it makes sense in the long term. Some of the proposals we’ve made that will make it easier and less expensive to build affordable housing include a complete rewrite of the growth management law, which is where comprehensive plans are.

This is so communities can really think about, “What are the ways we want this town to feel like and look like, and what are the barriers we have in place with our own zoning ordinances?”

Another really cool proposal would have the state create a catalogue of preapproved residential building types, from cottages and single-family to duplex and four-family to eight- to tenunit. The best comparison I can make is the Sears catalogue houses.

So if the state comes up with a selection of five different categories and eight different choices within those, if we come up with a catalogue, a municipality goes through all their public processes and says, in our village centers or downtowns, these are the buildings that we feel are a fit. We like these. If a developer came in to do these, we’d be OK with that.

A developer can still propose building whatever they want, but if they choose one of those preapproved building types for the areas that the town has identified as where they want growth, then the municipal approval process is simply administrative. It’s not short-circuiting the public process, because the public approval has already happened.

Let’s have these conversations about what we want for a particular area before there’s a specific proposal that gets people excited.

WW: For a time, back in the ’90s, towns started adopting ordinances that mandated 2-acre or 5-acre minimum lots, but that’s now understood as wrong. Why? Smith: No one is benefiting from that, or from requiring 200 feet of road frontage. And talk about the cost implications—when a household has to have at least two vehicles, there is a calculation that the general cost of owning a vehicle is $800 a month, so every time we require a family to own two, that’s $1,600 a month.

There’s also a cost to the municipality. It’s that many more roads to plow, that many more school buses.

All the services that we expect at 200 feet a shot, or in the village at 20 feet?

WW: Does the legislature understand these issues? And do people in inland towns understand the pressures?

Nancy Smith

Smith: I’ve been with GrowSmart for 13 years and for the first ten years, I would have to insert smart growth ideas into conversations. Because of the housing crisis, and the combination of the pandemic and the climate crisis and people moving here because they’re thinking about where they want to be in 30 years, it’s now at the forefront.

Now, conversations are leading with land use and smart growth.

WW: What about commercial sprawl—places like High Street in Ellsworth, Cooks Corner in Brunswick. Is there any way to reverse that?

Smith: Yes. And municipalities have tremendous power.

One proposal in the legislature was the “thriving corridors” bill. It requires DOT to work with municipalities and land use when we have “graying” commercial strips that aren’t working.

How do we have them work as mixeduse spaces?

Some changes include putting in a hotel, workforce residential, along with commercial. The magic of that is they use the same parking spaces at different times of day. If we’re going to do that and get creative with mixed use, and invite people to walk on sidewalks, we need to make roads safe.

We really need to coordinate the investments that Maine DOT makes and our impression of what a road is.

If we want transportation to be part of the planning of what we our communities to be, we need to rethink it. I live on a street in a neighborhood. Most of the traffic is neighbors coming and going.

Roads are bigger, often with numbers on them. Then you’ve got “stroads,” a street serving the role it wasn’t built to do. When we get too many “stroads,” it doesn’t work for anybody.

WW: How can smart growth mitigate climate change?

Smith: It fundamentally does. When communities are thoughtful and take all of these components and think about them together, your economy is stronger, your municipal budget is stronger, and the climate implications are better. If people have to drive less and have more options when they do need to use transportation, it’s better economically, socially, it’s better for farmland. It’s better for the climate.

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

19

A fresh look at Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain New biography, On Great Fields, digs into his Maine life

BY STEPHANIE BOUCHARD

H

aving just been informed that a crowd of angry men was gathering, threatening to kill him, 52-year-old Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain buttoned his coat and strode to the rotunda of the capitol building in Augusta and dared those assembled to kill him. He was there to keep the peace and the honor of the state, he told those gathered.

“I am here for that, and I shall do it,” he said.

Opening his coat he declared, “If anybody wants to kill me for it, here I am. Let him kill!”

This mind-blowing scene, recounted in Ronald White’s new biography of Chamberlain—On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain—took place in January 1880, when the state government was on the brink of collapse and threatened armed confrontation over election shenanigans prompted the governor to issue an order that essentially made Chamberlain military governor of the state for 12 days. In a letter to his wife Fanny, Chamberlain called the day of his rotunda speech “another Round Top.” To most people, Chamberlain is a Civil War hero and what they know most about him are his heroics at Gettysburg and Petersburg. But White’s new biography—the first major, full-life biography of Chamberlain in more than 20 years—delves into his life in Maine, especially his childhood and student days.

“We’ve so focused on him as the Civil War hero.

I get that. But there’s so much more to his life,” said White in a phone interview from his home in Pasadena, Cali. “I think [it is] so important to under- the creation of a new major biography written by a stand Bowdoin College and its classical education noted biographer is something special.

Ronald White “It’s very exciting for us to have a major biography and the kind of Calvinist Christian trajectory that his parents imparted to him. Both of those things really come out,” she said. “We have had other people write about Chamberlain … but, yeah, this is definitely a shaped who he [was].”

“So, I made the suggestion—which others have Having written and researched two major biog- more ‘headline’ kind of author, and we do certainly made—that perhaps for a while, they lived separaphies of the most prominent actors of the Civil look forward to it.”

While Vigue Picard hasn’t read the book yet, John rately, that they had this thing going on. But then I War—Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant—White knew something about Chamberlain, but not much. Cross, secretary of development and college relations wanted to come back and say, I think they repaired When someone in the audience at one of his lectures at Bowdoin College, has reviewed parts as it was in their marriage.”

And as White notes in the book, available materials suggested his next book be about Chamberlain, White development and thinks the new biography will mentioned it to his editor and publisher, who jumped present a more fleshed out picture of Chamberlain suggest that while the couple did have rocky times in their marriage, they seemed to care for and respect on it. So in 2017, White found himself making his than previous biographies.

“Ron has an appreciation of Chamberlain as a each other. first research trip to Maine. “Of course, I fell in love Not having more evidence, said Vigue Picard, “is very complex figure,” Cross said. “I think Ron is with Maine,” he said.

In Maine, White worked with many Chamberlain getting at some of the tensions and the contradic- very frustrating because in a day and age where we want to call out these people tions in Chamberlain that resources, including the Pejepscot who did unseemly things, make him, I think, more History Center in Brunswick, which it’s a real limbo area. We interesting.” owns Chamberlain’s Brunswick don’t have another piece of White’s biography makes home, Bowdoin College, First evidence to say, ‘Oh yeah, he a point of discussing Parish Church in Brunswick, Brewer did it, and boy, that’s pretty recent arguments that Historical Society, the University of reprehensible.’ But nor can Chamberlain overinflated Maine in Orono, the Maine State “ I think Ron is you obviously just sort of toss his Civil War heroics, and Archives, and the Maine Historical that letter aside and ignore it. addresses the potential Society in Portland. getting at some of “ We’ve so focused So I think the thing is to talk abuse of his wife, Fanny.

Researching a major biography the tensions and on him as the Civil about it, and again, explain As White acknowledges of someone like Chamberlain is a these complexities. This is in the book, there are few huge task and one that’s collaborathe contradictions War hero. But not just a hero who did all known sources to shed tive, and, in White’s opinion, more these famous things.” light on a letter written by fruitful if done in person. in Chamberlain there’s so much White’s On Great Fields: Chamberlain to his wife in “You have to go,” he said, because that make him more to his life.”

The Life and Unlikely which he describes that he “someone like Larissa [Vigue Picard, Heroism of Joshua Lawrence has heard that she has been executive director of the Pejepscot more interesting.”

Chamberlain, will be telling others he was physiHistory Center], is very, very imporreleased Oct. 31. White cally abusing her. tant, saying, ‘Ron, are you aware of will talk about his book “I really struggled with this? Have you thought about that?’ at Bowdoin College in what to say about this, and And so each of these archivists …

Brunswick on Nov. 8. A I didn’t want to come down all helped me think about [how to specific location and time with a verdict,” White said. shape the biography].” have yet to be determined “I really sort of said, we There’s a constant stream of scholars and writers interested in Chamberlain, said don’t know, and sadly, the correspondence is missing. for the free event. When details are available, you Vigue Picard, so assisting in research is not some- We don’t have any of her correspondence. How did can find them on the Pejepscot History Center’s website, pejepscothistorical.org. thing new or a burdensome task, but being a part in she experience this? How did she understand it?

20

The Working Waterfront . october 2023

book reviews

Tragedy and hope in debut novel Northern Maine setting rendered with tension

The Road to Dalton

By Shannon Bowring (Europa Editions, 2023) REVIEW BY TINA COHEN

SHANNON BOWRING’S debut novel, The Road to Dalton, has earned high praise from some Maine all-star authors. Richard Russo has a rave on the front, as does Morgan Talty; Susan Conley’s is on the book’s back cover.

But apart from that, if I told you only that it’s a book about death, some close calls, and complex and difficult relationships, all set in the bleak landscape of northern Maine, is that something you’d jump to read?

Well, then I’d have to tell you that although initially I was lukewarm, the book soon caught my attention.

I began to care about the characters and their plights. As much as the book

was full of tragedy and compromises, I authors, feel a bit off-kilter, sensing didn’t feel flattened by it; it held hope, that tragedy could be just ahead, and too, and provided a reminder that that people’s reputations, relationships, people struggle but they or future could be ruined also cope. It really is that: in one fell swoop. a book about coping.

If you have enjoyed the There is in Set in a small (fictional) fiction of Ruth Moore, town—Dalton—in the give Bowring a try.

Bowring’s 1990s in Aroostook Here, in one sentence, writing that County, some of the is an example of how events and undercurBowring shares a characsame vibe rents we read about here ter’s reality: of tension, could have, in another “He only knows it’s the kind of book, easily been Fourth of July because he uncertainty, sensationalized. gets stuck at the top of Extramarital affairs?

Depot Hill for the parade and potential Taboo intimacies? on Main Street with all the threat.

Abusive spouses, drunk same parade-things he’s partners? Instead, she seen all his life, the firetreats these situations trucks and ambulances with respect, recognizing that choices and the Chief driving one of the DPD have many different reasons, or don’t cruisers, and the potato harvesters feel like choices. There are lessons to and massive John Deere tractors and be learned here about not rushing to Girl Scouts dancing to some Whitney judge life experiences of others. People Houston song and Boy Scouts dragsettle into complex situations. And ging their heels across the hot asphalt they learn to cope. and candy thrown everywhere and I was reminded of author Ruth Moore sirens and horns and bursts of laughter and her books about small town Maine. and happy screams and babies crying There is in Bowring’s writing some of and kids demanding more candy, more that same vibe of tension, uncertainty, firetrucks, more everything, and the and potential threat. We can, with both sun is big and round and yellow, and

Nate has to find a different way to get to Bergeron’s, where he forgets what he came to town for and ends up buying a quart of Allen’s and a box of powdered sugar donuts and that’s what he’s drinking and eating when, later that night, he tastes blood and hears the distant boom of fireworks down at the river.”

A Fourth of July celebration in a familiar setting should feel enjoyable— after all, it is rich with traditions, an upbeat event—but here we are seeing it become nightmarish. The description reads as stream of consciousness; disorienting to the reader, it allows us to experience the character’s own disorientation.

Stay tuned to read more from Shannon Bowring. She credits growing up in Ashland as inspiration for Dalton, 20 miles west of Presque Isle in Aroostook County. Now living in Bath, she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has a Master of Fine Arts from Stonecoast, University of Southern Maine. Her sequel to The Road to Dalton is described as nearing publication.

Tina Cohen is a therapist who spends part of the year on Vinalhaven.

The fate of frogs on Oxbow Island Young readers appraise Peaks Island author’s latest

Oxbow Island Gang: Leap Frog

By Rae Chalmers Maine Author Publishing (2023) REVIEW BY CARL LITTLE

IT’S APRIL BREAK from school and Berend Houtman—known to his family and friends as Bear—can’t wait to visit his grandmother, Sally Parker, on Peaks Island. He has to jump onto the ferry at the last minute—the first of many leaps in Oxbow Island Gang: Leap Frog.

Bear finds his best island friend Olivia Anaya on the boat and they discuss plans for the week off, which include looking for frogs (she’s a budding naturalist). The two are disturbed by the sight of ambulances at the dock and emergency fire boats on the water. What has happened, who is hurt?

Like the other three titles in Peaks Island resident Rae Chalmers’ Oxbow Gang series, all illustrated by fellow

None of the kids knew the answer islander Jamie Hogan, the book spins a mystery related to an environmental to “who done it” till the end, although issue, in this case the appearance they had inklings that whoever owned of deformed frogs on Dump Road Bug-Out Farm, a peculiar property tucked away in the (a handy map at the woods, might be the beginning shows this villain. The need to landmark and others solve the mystery kept in the story). Like the Being them engaged. other titles, Leap Frog Favorite scenes highlights the can-do 60-something, included several related attitude of island kids.

I recruited to this hideaway and its Being 60-something, surveillance cameras, I recruited three of three of my which swivel to follow my grandchildren— grandchildren— the motion of intruders.

Maria, 10, Serita, 9, and In one, Dr. May Silva, James, 6—to help me Maria, 10, Serita, a biologist who comes review the book. Begun to the island to test the in Charlottesville, 9, and James, water, decides to moon Virg., and finished in 6—to help me walk in front of the Somesville, the book cameras. In another had several different review the book.

Bear and Olivia pretend readers, each revealing to be stealing from the new clues, chapter by premises—a ploy that chapter. ends up helping them In a post-reading interview, the girls chose Sally Parker, solve the case of the poisoned frogs.

All three young readers recognized Bear’s grandmother, as their favorite the importance of the island setting. character.

“I really like how she’s so determined Serita and Maria noted that when an and cheers everybody up,” said Serita. elderly lobsterman has a stroke, they Maria added, “She thinks about every- can’t just get in an ambulance and go to body and is serious, but also cheerful the hospital. James felt the island was a and makes Bear feel better when he’s good place for a hideout.

The book’s ending left them frusfeeling nervous.” James leaned to Bear, trated. They felt there could’ve been in part because of his name.

more information about the people behind Bug-Out Farm, “how they got their money, if they were smugglers or a gang, why they needed an escape place.” That said, Maria, Serita, and James enjoyed the swings of mood— from happy to sad, funny to scary— and the spirit of the kids who didn’t give up trying to help the frogs despite some naysayers.

For this reviewer of a certain age, several references to Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” (“Jeremiah was a bullfrog…”) brought a smile (and an earworm). I also appreciated the multi-generational nature of the story and its evocation of island life: going to Mooney’s Market to find out what’s happening, acknowledging that the community can be split by issues.

Also well-wrought: the relationship of Bear and Olivia and the escapades of a couple of charming dogs. Chalmers knows how to tell a tale at once entertaining and intriguing with a message, to quote one of the grandkids, that encourages everyone “not to give up.”

More about Rae Chalmers is at raechalmers.com and about Jamie Hogan at jamiepeeps.com.

Carl Little lives on Mount Desert Island and relies on his grandkids to keep him honest and afloat.

www.workingwaterfront.com .. october 2023 www.workingwaterfront.com April 2020

21 23

RanBeRRy R epoRt bookcreviews

Getting seriousTown aboutmeeting, the heat painting lines, eating

doughnuts, and throwing rocks

Climate writer gets to the boiling point

As winter winds down, islanders mix prep work and gatherings The premise of Goodell’s thoroughly heat for later release, not to reverse it.

A basic premise and lingering

By Barbara Fernald ACTIVITY on the islands, at the end of February and into March, is like a mirror image of the action at the end of August into September. Just as the summer residents of First: the Cranberry The Heat Will Kill You Islesand endDeath theironvacations right before Life a Scorched Planet fall, many year-round residents end

By Jeff Goodell their winter breaks just before Little, Brown and Company (2023) the spring equinox.

It’s time to getWALSH back to work and REVIEW

BY TOM reconnect.

Our annual townthinking. meetingPlease, takes SPARE ME, you’re placeanother on the second Saturday March. not book on climateinchange.

For selectmen town hasn’t employees, Greenland’s lastand iceberg even winter has been anything but a vacacalved, and already we’re awash in tion. They have been working steadily, Doomsday books about climate.

Not gathering information to write the one more. Please. warrant for town meeting.

It’s the time Maybe you can judge a book by its of yearOr weatcome as aThis town to cover. least together by its title. new decideinsightful on projects and spending and and analysis by veteran how much money is to Jeff be raised by climate science writer Goodell property taxes.by its cut-to-the-chase can be judged Discussion the Kill school title: The Heatof Will Youbudget First: alone can take well over an hour.

The Life and Death on a Scorched Planet. islands take turns hosting the meeting and the luncheon. This year, town

researched insights and layman Until now, he points out, oceans have meetingprose will is take placeHeat on isIslesford. brightthe red“hero with aofblack like the stripe) climateand, crisis” friendly simple: a lethal been What’s forimpacts lunch? every Homemade pizzas, every other lobster in Maine absorbing 90% fisherman of the additional force that living cell on by salads, and desserts. Life gets busier heat this winter, he read about, talked about, generated by the global burning the planet. as“My we goal volunteer to help prepare the and experimented with purple paint. is to convince you to think of fossil fuels over the past 200 years. first community meal of the season.

The latest whale regulations require about heat in a different way,” Goodell And counting.

Town meeting is aheat great Maine fishermen to usewere new evenlobster 20 years ago, shrimp writes.

“The kind of I’mopportutalking allNot nity to hear about winter from friends markings the ropes theyinattach to for a on dollar a pound brown about here is not an incremental bump sold anda neighbors.

“How wasslow yourslide trip of to paper lobster lunch traps. Depending how close bags alongonDowneast on thermometer or the ...?” “Who knew grand-parenting was Maine’s to shorehighways, they fish, critters they will add sohave freshtofrom spring into summer.

It is heat as an active so exhausting line. the buoy sea most force, one thator that there were so 2-4 purple marks on each many cold germs involved?” “You did On warps that are 100-feet or alive less there were and can bend railroad all that painting?”

These same quesmust be one 12-inch purple mark kicking. withNo tracks and kill tions before could be trap and a 36you youasked in September at in a few fathoms of the more. a school board meeting in a large sub- inch purple mark within 2“As fathoms of fish and even understand urb.

(Preferably not during the meetbuoy. If the warp is longer 100 “ In the long run,the extreme heat other that species your life is at risk. ingthe while someone for a 12-inch to In long run, else has the floor!) feet, the requirement ismigrate is an extinction force. All life In January a second cool waters12or extreme heatand is February, Bruce and purple mark near the trap, I got toextinction spend a lot ofhas timeawith our inch purple the from buoy, dietooff an temperature limit.”mark halfway grandchildren in Southern Maine. and a 36-inch mark near the buoy. temperature force. All life has them was the main goal of Bruce figures he will bec putting h a n g 1,500 es, aVisiting temperature most of our winter travel.

We considto 1,800 markings on his rope all; two thereincan be limit.” ered trying reinto paint our kitchen, but to three weeks of extra work he does big ifimpacts Goodell we kept fishon localoffishforces thecatching reality odd coughing virus- it without hiring help. A number es and experienced more down time ermen are applying paint“Just to their ” Goodell writes. askropes the that the oceans are the main driver of eries, than weclimate wanted,system. so we never gotevery to it. cod by resting them 3-footorlong gutters fishermen in in Alaska, shrimpers Earth’s While Maybe I’ll May, when can in made PVCbeen pipe. the from Gulf lengthwise-halved of Maine, who have second thepaint sevenit in seas may be Ibusy have the windows open.

Bruce’s first attempt was with spray paint absorbing the equivalent of the heat wiped out by rapidly warming waters morebombs, than enough butthe heAtlantic. soon moved on to the more effi” of Bruce three saw nuclear oceans paint, store in anyway, this winter. During his “time cient brush and latex paint. off” he painted 600 buoys (white and Some fishermen will add a 3-foot

conundrum of science is the more piece of purple rope the to themore end ofthere the researchers know, buoy or toggle, all attachments is to line know.

That’s but especially true of must be made with splice or aphysics, tuck. understanding the astructure, I know it’s a stretch to compare foland chemistry of the oceans. While lowing Maine whale rope requireoceans may cover 70% of the planet, ments with a plein workshop, and but they remain largelyairunmapped amostly person could return home know from eiunexplored.

Scientists far ther saythe thatsurface they’dofbeen moreand about the paintmoon ing their spare time.the If vast, Brucemounwere thaninthey know about writing essay onterrain how hebelow spent his tainous an seafloor the winter vacation, painting would be a surface of Earth’s oceans. part of it.

Another part would be the Climate scientists, meanwhile, are busy description I heard him tell brother learning more and more eachhis day about Mark about walking to get doughnuts, how heat impacts marine dynamics. in“Extreme February, heat with our Robin, and is ason force beyond our grandchildren and Cora. anything we haveHenry reckoned withI was away with friends in Portland, before, ” Goodell contends.

“It may and be a Stephanie was away friends human creation, but itwith is godlike in in its Florida.

Father and son were in charge. power and prophecy. Because all living “Yeah,share we one got doughnuts things simple fate:atif The the Cookie Jar and then to the temperature they are walked used to—what beach for acall picnic to throw Zone— rocks.” scientists theirand Goldilocks Eating homemade donuts and rises too far, too fast, they die.” throwing rocks at the beach—if that isn’t a mirror image of many childhood summers on Islesford, I don’t Tom Walsh is an author, academic, know what is. q journalist, and science writer now based in landlocked Minnesota.

Barbara Fernald lives on Islesford (Little Cranberry Island) with her husband Bruce.

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22

The Working Waterfront . october 2023

saltwater cure

Alive in the time of herons Encounter while swimming prompts reflection

BY COURTNEY NALIBOFF

ON AN OVERCAST August day, my teammates and I set off on a training swim down the Millstream. We were building up mileage ahead of our 5K fundraiser for LifeFlight of Maine, our fourth such venture in as many years.

As we passed the waterfront house that serves as our halfway point, we noticed a great blue heron perched on shore to our right. A quick turn of the head revealed a second one to our left.

Of all the birds North Haven has to offer—and there is a robust variety— the great blue heron is the most charismatic to me. While I love the rapidly plunging terns, the high circling eagles and ospreys, the disproportionately aggressive hummingbirds, and the chatty warblers, herons stir my heart.

Our swim team, officially Team North Haven, adopted the heron as our mascot a few years ago after several sightings.

They supposedly represent fierce inde- by a pterodactyl or an archeopteryx or pendence, a trait we all happily claim some future majestic flyer.

The presence of herons also implies during our cold-water miles.

As we drew nearer, the heron to the presence of food for herons—fish, our left took off, unfurling its massive frogs, insects—themselves harbingers of the health of an wings and tucking its ecosystem. Also implied is neck and legs. It flew the delightful thought that low over the water, We were somewhere hidden on the coming within feet of awed, seeking island there are enormous our heads. We gasped nests with baby herons. in unison, following to imprint the As we approached the its flight with our eyes heron, it once again silently as we treaded water. It moment on took flight. It seemed landed not far ahead our minds. unperturbed by us, flying as if waiting for us to on to find more minnows catch up. We obliged, or crabs or to offer us an swimming on.

I saw an Instagram post recently, a incentive to keep going. It swooped meme to the effect of “You could have so near our heads that we instinctively been born any time, but you were born ducked out of the way. Far from threatwhen great blue herons are alive.” The ened, we felt acknowledged as fellow thought has stuck with me—that I could water-lovers.

The heron landed just ahead once be in a time or place without these quiet giants, where their niche might be filled more, taking off for a final time as we

entered the harbor. We were awed, seeking to imprint the moment on our minds.

I had a second delightful heron encounter on Fresh Pond, the island’s reservoir. As I kayaked through the water lilies, blooming in white spikes and yellow globes, a heron suddenly rose aloft from behind a clump of alders. It landed a little further down the pond and I followed, gliding on water as it did in the air, acknowledging that we are two of a kind, dependent on and loving the fresh and salt water of North Haven.

Courtney Naliboff teaches theatre, music, and writing at North Haven Community School and lives on the island. She may be contacted at Courtney.Naliboff@gmail.com.

journal of an island kitchen

The plant-based food masquerade True impact on climate isn’t easily calculated

BY SANDY OLIVER

IF IT EVER LIVED—moved, breathed, ate, drank, grew from within—it is probably plant-based. My house has a plant-based structure, filled with plant-based things to sit on, sleep on, dine and write at, and filled with plantbased creatures, humans and a cat, who are covered, as much as possible, with plant-based clothing and fur.

Generally, plant-based refers to vegetative matter. These days plant-based sounds terribly virtuous, and people will assure me and each other that they prefer a plant-based diet. We walk through grocery stores whose shelves hold products proclaiming plant-based and dairy sections with plant-based milks and faux-cheeses.

Is there something wrong with this? I suspect it depends on how much tolerance one has for fooling ourselves.

Consider what’s conventionally described as plant-based: almost anything that comes in a box or bag and goes crunch, whether or not it has nutritive value. You can be a vegetarian and never cook a vegetable.

The problem is it’s all processed food.

If one is hoping to tread more lightly on the earth, one must consider the carbon required to take commodities like corn, soy, grains, and nuts and turn them into a product packaged and distributed far from the source. Big food manufacturers cheer every time

the public decides it wants some new coming from almond tree plantations often growing where they must be irridietary regimen.

Plant-based milks are another source gated. Oat and soy milk both require of troubling questions, mostly because much less water than almond milk, of water use. Why are we drinking but, as one in my household points out, milk, period? Milk as a beverage for oat milk doesn’t taste very good, and the least water anyone not a baby human consumptive— or animal is a fairly soy—never recent phenomenon, Milk as a beverage seems to darken only a hundred plus a few our door. decades old. for anyone not a baby As for me Milk is a wonderand milk, I fully useful substance, human or animal never touch the goodness knows, for is a fairly recent stuff. As a kid, cooking or fermenting I hated it, and into cheese or yogurt. phenomenon, only a I like it mainly Several different animals hundred plus a few when it’s made contribute milk to the into chocolate cause: goats, sheep, decades old. pudding. Or ice buffalos, yaks, camels, cream. etc., so cows needn’t be a All the assersole source.

A worthwhile book sheds light on tions that our diet is easier on our our reliance on cow’s milk. Spoiled: climate when we don’t eat much meat The Myth of Milk as Superfood by Anne ignores that animals are also plantMendelson—which I highly recom- based. How we raise them harms our mend—tackles head-on the idea of environment, health, and the health of the animals themselves. Why do milk as a dietary necessity.

So instead of pasturing them to eat we raise them that way? Welcome grass as Mother Nature designed them to the United States of Cheapskates, to do, we are raising dairy animals people—cheap burgers, chicken confined in huge buildings, fed a grain- tenders, the world of pink slime. If based diet and egregious amounts of we dialed meat consumption back water in order to provide a beverage to a couple or three times a week, we could have our meat and eat it, too, we don’t need.

Almond milk, which requires much and the climate wouldn’t be taking it less water, is still too water-costly on the chin.

If we shifted slaughtering and butchering closer to home, we’d reduce the incidence of foodborne illness and the carbon foot-print.

I notice Mother Nature seems to like animals as part of her overall growing practice, managing it with balance. It’s humans who throw it all out of whack.

We’ve got ourselves so far down the road of immoderation in food production that there are no simple solutions left. For meat eaters, the simplest so far seems to be deer and moose hunting which puts lean, clean, free-range, organic meat in our freezers.

For islanders and rural dwellers, and even urban gardeners, the home vegetable plot is part of our salvation. The old family cow, pig, and a flock of chickens is not practical for most of us. Farmer’s markets offer good ingredients to the few who have access to them and can afford fresh and gorgeous produce.

What else is plant-based? Would you accept homegrown, home-cooked food? How about a wider perspective, generosity, and wholesome humility?

Sandy Oliver is a food historian who lives, gardens, cooks, and writes on Islesboro. She may be contacted at SandyOliver47@gmail.com.

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

23

cr anberry report

That pause between summer and fall Feelings of regret mingle with anticipation

BY BARBARA FERNALD

I’M AT MY LAPTOP on a Tuesday, wracking my brain for a subject to write about. It is Bruce’s birthday. I promised to bake an orange cake with orange chocolate frosting and I’m starting to get anxious.

I’m fully confident in my breadbaking capabilities, but cakes are not my forte. I spent most of yesterday writing so that I only needed to bake today. With the column well under way I would have plenty of time to make a second cake if the first one fails.

My deadline is not until Friday, so why panic on a Tuesday? Because I have to go off island tomorrow for a dentist appointment and a memorial service, and on Thursday I’m headed to Belfast with a friend. This is my moment to be creative but I don’t like what I wrote yesterday, so I’m back at square one. I’m experiencing writer’s block and I don’t like it.

Mark Twain said, “Write what you know.” At this time of year, as I pass through the gateway between an island summer and the magic of fall, what I know is that I feel untethered. I look forward to September as the calm,

summer’s end I’ve craved, while at the They welcome the quieter streets and same time I wish the month could just less crowded ferries with no yearning for the season just past. procrastinate its arrival.

In short order I am more than a little Every year I think I’m going to find a way to avoid this uncomfortable tran- bit glad that September is here. It is the sition but then I start “feeling the feels,” prettiest and most varied month of the as they say. I get rear-view FOMO year. Weather-wise, we can encounter a heat wave, a cold (fear of missing snap, and even out). Did I make Not everyone feels this the remnants of enough memoa hurricane all in ries this summer two-sided ache but those one week. to sustain me of us who do just nod to Usually the days through the are sparkling and winter? Are there each other… dry with nights people I wish I cool enough to had seen more often? Yes to both. I feel happy and sad encourage a good sleep. The ocean air at the same time. It’s the only seasonal protects us from early frosts giving our tomatoes just a bit more time to ripen. transition that hits me this way.

Robert McClosky describes a similar (They need it this year.)

The beach is empty in the afternoon feeling in his children’s book, Time of Wonder. As the family closes up their and the sea water is about as warm as it’s summer home getting ready to leave going to be all year, around 60 degrees. for the fall they are “a little bit sad about There are enough people staying on for the place they are leaving and a little bit the month that we can still meet up with friends for a walk or a dip. There will glad about the place they are going.”

Not everyone feels this two-sided still be dinners together and the restauache but those of us who do just nod rant stays open for most of the month.

At this time of year I can be in my to each other, roll our eyes, and wait.

The others have moved straight to cele- studio with my window open and listen brating the end of a busy work season. to gray seals “singing” from the back

beach. It’s one of my favorite September sounds. If you sit on the rocks of Gilley Beach, when the tide is low enough to expose the ledges in the Gut, you can hear them.

I learned from the internet that gray seals only gather on land for mating, pupping, and molting. Apparently they also gather for songfests, though I had trouble finding much information about their vocalizations. Here’s the link to a short YouTube video of the sound I’m talking about: https://bit. ly/3sGec8cIf. Or, just imagine a pack of beagles taking turns howling with an eerie edge.

Meanwhile, my cake turned out OK… I think. I hope you learned something about seals you didn’t know.

And I hope the month of September is magical for all of us, giving us good stories to tell in October.

Barbara Fernald lives, writes, and bakes on Islesford (Little Cranberry Island).

She may be contacted at Fernald244@ gmail.com.

observer

An island musical legacy Return of ‘Rampage’ honors local man

BY PHIL CROSSMAN

ON A TUESDAY evening earlier this summer, representatives of the Jeff Tolman Music Award, a 501(c)3, presented themselves at a select board meeting to make an unreasonable request: that they might close and be given free rein of the only—and very busy—town parking lot, from noon and through the evening, on a midAugust Saturday for a musical event, an event that might devolve into whoknows-what.

The board granted it unanimously, a measure, truly, of its own magnanimous vision and of the regard they had for this organization and not, as it might have appeared, because the town manager was herself an old rocker who expected to be among the performers.

Jeff Tolman, already a talented, enthusiastic, and innovative musician when he graduated from Vinalhaven High School in 1990, went on to the University of Maine at Augusta for further musical education but then, while certainly not tiring of music, he returned to our island to pursue lobstering.

He acquired a boat and named it Rampag&, an amalgamation of “Gram”—his grandmother, Marion— and “Pa”, her musician husband

(Bob)—and the ampersand implying, perhaps, things to come.

Back at home, he and an island girl he’d only known as a child, but who was now a teenager, fell unmistakably in love and on August 10, 2002, he and Alexandra (Ali) Bickford married.

They were soon blessed with a daughter, Isabella, and for a tragically short time, Jeff was her loving father, but on April 27, 2006, on his 34th birthday, Jeff had an unexpected heart attack and died.

A month or so after he died, grieving fellow enthusiasts Richie Carlsen and Tracy Wotton organized a musical event to benefit Jeff ’s daughter, Bella, and to help the community heal and to carry on Jeff ’s love for music.

Four years later, Ali married Johnny McCarthy, another island boy and clearly to anyone watching—and on this little island-bound community, we are all always watching—the very best next step.

The devoted couple had two more children, Jack and Faith, while Bella quickly grew to become as gifted a musician as her dad, albeit a vocalist and drummer.

Not much later, Ali, Richie, and Tracy established the Jeff Tolman Music Award. Its mission is “To encourage and instill a love for music in people of all ages,” and since then, the group’s made yearly donations to the school music

program, provided a college scholarship, funded music lessons, and contributed to other organizations or events that promote an appreciation for music.

In 2015, 11-year-old Bella spoke about her dad during the award of a $6,000 scholarship to a deserving graduate.

In 2007, the award’s founders hosted an outdoor musical event, widely and wildly attended, featuring musicians from all over the island. They called it “Rampage,” and it was, but only in the very best sense. The event took on a life of its own and Rampage was held for the next nine years, until her death, at Charlotte Goodhue’s spacious and somewhat removed estate at Roberts Harbor.

For a few years following, there were events, as the program clung to life, but not of the same magnitude, and then COVID struck.

On Aug. 19, the town parking lot was closed to traffic at noon. Folks who might have expected to park in the lot and run errands were untroubled.

A local freight company drove their tractor-trailer to the lot and deposited the latter to serve as an enormous stage.

Countless folks showed up to set up huge tents—just in case—and to install hundreds of chairs in front of the stage.

Attendant booths popped up—kid’s face painting, sales of T-shirts, etc.;

several downtown businesses donated $250 to this re-birth of Rampage, and a very ambitious food emporium was established at the opposite end of the lot from the trailer.

During the afternoon a big crowd began to assemble. By 5 p.m., it far exceeded expectations and available chairs. The first of eight gifted, local musical groups, including the very entertaining old rocker, took the stage at 5, and within minutes, five generations, from two to 93, were dancing in the big open space between the chairs and the stage, matched by equally copious crab rolls and treats at the lot’s other end, prepared by Johnny’s extended and supportive family. The joyous music and the infusion of loving comradery continued all evening.

A palpable, collective, and sustained sigh emanated from us all that night and now, weeks later, we’re still breathing deeply.

Phil Crossman lives on Vinalhaven. He may be contacted at PhilCrossman.vh@ gmail.com.

24

The Working Waterfront . october 2023

fathoming

What is driving right whales to extinction?

Answers emerge from trend lines, patterns

BY BOB STENECK

WHEN I WAS a child, I listened to Smoky Bear tell us, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires!” That was a clear and direct message but it was wrong.

This summer, vast regions of North America were on fire and most of those fires started from lightning strikes, but the expansive tinder-dry conditions fueling the fires resulted primarily from climate change.

Closer to home, we learn that the North Atlantic right whale is on the brink of extinction. That is serious and shocking, but from my perspective, current explanations are wanting.

NOAA Fisheries states that these whales are “dying faster than they can reproduce, largely due to human causes…” It identifies those causes as “vessel strikes and entanglements.” This leads many to think the lobster fishery can prevent right whale extinction.

As a professor in the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences, I teach students they must first determine patterns of distribution and abundance and then consider which factors are most consistent with, or most likely causing those patterns.

When I apply that approach to the right whale and the lobster fishery, the patterns and timelines don’t seem to fit.

The latest information on the NOAA Fisheries website notes that in 1990, fewer than 270 North Atlantic right whales existed but their abundance steadily increased to a peak of 480 in 2010. They then declined steeply to the current 340.

During the 20-year population increase, lobster trap tags issued in Maine (for each trap, associated lines, and buoys) increased from 2 million to 3.5 million, peaking in 2005, ten years before the right whale population started to decline. Similarly, NOAA’s “cause of death data” shows a decline in vessel strikes.

So, what corresponds with the population decline? Let’s consider trends in birth rates and death rates.

Right whale calves peaked at 39 in 2009 but declined to zero by 2018. The consequence of no offspring is obvious.

However, since then, 64 calves have been born and only 16 whale deaths have been documented.

NOAA’s causes of 36 deaths from 2017 to 2023 shows 12 from vessel strikes and nine from entanglement, with most of those in Canada. While those sources of death are likely under-counted, they do not account for the decline of 140 whales since 2010.

Right whales got their name because they were slow swimmers that float when dead, perfect for 18th century

whalers. Some hypothesize dead whales are sinking and that explains underestimating mortality rates.

Admittedly, Maine’s lobster fishery has more vertical lines in the ocean than any other area or any other fishery. Although entangled right whales have rarely been seen in the Gulf of Maine, researchers have seen entanglement scars and speculate that repeated entanglement with fishing gear happens and it is so stressful that they deplete their blubber reserves, fail to reproduce, and when they die, they sink. NOAA estimates about three whales die for each identifiable death (called cryptic mortality).

So, if trends in lobster fishing gear do not correspond to population decline, then what does? Nutrition, in the form of the planktonic food right whales eat. Calves started to decline in 2010, the year Gulf of Maine oceanography changed, according to a scientific publication.

Climate change shifts the Gulf Stream closer to the Gulf of Maine.

Starting in 2010, warm salty tropical water started entering the Gulf of Maine, also blocking the cool nutrient rich water from the Labrador current.

This spelled trouble for cold water zooplankton such as Calanus finmarchicus, (the whale’s most important food). Without Calanus, right whale

nutrition was compromised and likely contributed to the declining calving rate.

The study also showed right whales leaving the Gulf of Maine for cooler Canadian waters, possibly reconnecting with their favorite food resulting in calving increases since 2018.

This leaves us with the unsettling notion that even if all lobster traps were removed from the Gulf of Maine, North Atlantic right whale populations may fluctuate as an indirect effect of climate change.

If so, perhaps in the long run Smokey Bear was right to say, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Only by reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally will we eventually see climate-driven ocean currents, zooplankton, and the lobsters and whales that depend on them return to the Gulf of Maine. I just hope the whales can hold on until then.

Robert Steneck is a professor at the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences and a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation.

reflections

Island Institute Fellows are explorers Summer programs on Deer Isle were rich and active Reflections is written by Island Institute Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront.

BY KATIE LIBERMAN

ISLAND INSTITUTE FELLOWS are adventurers and explorers by nature—they flock from all corners of the country seeking new experiences and community in some of the most remote places along Maine’s coastline.

Fellows don’t know what their placements will be when they are applying.

It’s a complete mystery. Fellows can find themselves creating town plans, working in museums, volunteering with food banks, and building community.

Not long after landing on Deer Isle, I found myself barreling down the Kennebec River in an inflatable raft with a bunch of middle schoolers kids in from Deer Isle and Stonington’s after-school program.

We paddled furiously—though not always in sync—responding to our guide’s commands. The kids and I

attempted to stay in the raft, but as we bobbed closer to a Class 5 rapid dubbed “Big Mama,” I was almost sure we would capsize.

The raft vaulted forward and careened at breakneck speed. Water sloshed into the raft and sprayed our faces which showed excitement, fear, and determination. There were delighted squeals and anxious exclamations. Almost as soon as we had approached Big Mama, she had left us swirling around in the river exhausted, laughing, and soaked.

The Deer Isle and Stonington “Mariners Soar!” after-school program’s motto is “When Mariners soar, the sky’s the limit!” It’s a fitting motto for an afterschool program where adventure and exploration are the modus operandi.

During this summer, Mariners Soar! had a series of summer camps that catered to varying interests: visual and performing arts, gardening, adventuring outdoors, and more. I found myself often leading expeditions with a couple of vans full of kids to do stuff I could only dream of doing at their age—sea kayaking in the rain, rock climbing in the rain, visiting an outdoor art gallery in the rain, hiking

in the rain, taking a ferry in the rain— you get the idea.

It was a very damp June. Rain or shine, the kids were always down for an adventure with smiles on their faces.

Because of my background in marine sciences at UMaine, I was able to plan and run a week-long marine sciences camp with the after-school program. It was an interesting challenge because I knew ahead of time that we’d be short-staffed.

Calling on veteran community partners, creating new partnerships, and going with the flow were essential to making the week a success.

The week kicked off with a short visit to Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport where the kids rigged sails and made fish prints. We visited the Discovery Wharf at Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries in Stonington and listened to Capt. Leroy’s sailing stories, and perused the touch tank.

We explored tidepools around the island and of course had beach days. The kids also took a “Discover Scuba” class with Oceans Wide at the end of the week.

One of the best things about my fellowship is that I get to bring my passions into my work. I am an avid

lover of the ocean, plants, and outdoor adventuring.

As loud as the after-school program is, I find myself enjoying the quiet moments in the school garden. The greenhouse is my sanctuary. Weeding, watering, and tending to the beds leave me time to reflect on my day and fellowship.

The satisfaction of harvesting a handful of tomatoes or a bag of greens that I grew is a reminder that all good things come with time. Not every seed that I sow will grow, and that’s OK. Just like all relationships and partnerships, the ones you water and tend will grow.

And sometimes the seeds we unintentionally sow into our communities surprise us: a gigantic squash might pop up out of the compost bin and produce the largest squash in the whole garden.

Katie Liberman works with school and summer programming on Deer Isle and Stonington. She has undergraduate and masters degrees in marine biology from the University of Maine.

www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023

25

in plain sight

Shipbuilding legacy strengthened by unions BIW’s history tells tale of worker leverage

BY KELLY PAGE

Maine’s proficient, hardworking, and regionally low-paid laborers helped to secure a competitive edge in the shipbuilding industry of the 19th century, contributing to the state’s significance as a center of American shipbuilding and fleet ownership.

Like many historic narratives, this shipbuilding prominence has often been examined through the lens of prominent entrepreneurs. But without a workforce, the achievements of these men would not have been possible.

Generations of Maine shipbuilders have developed and honed skills amid war, economic shifts, and technological advances. This legacy is alive and well in Maine today, particularly in Bath—a city that has continuously built ships on the banks of the Kennebec River since the 1780s.

Bath Iron Works (BIW) is Bath’s last remaining shipyard. Formerly a builder of a variety of vessel types such as yachts, freighters, passenger steamers, and railroad ferries, it has been in business since 1884 and has built exclusively for the U.S. Navy for over 30 years.

As an employer of 6,500, BIW’s contributions to the local economy are immense. Over 4,000 of these employees work in the trades and make up the membership of the Local S6 Chapter of the International

Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. This labor union just voted in August to accept a new three-year contract among which minimum pay rates and benefits are negotiated along with other provisions.

In 2020, similar contract negotiations with union membership failed, with workers voting to reject terms and go on strike. This has happened only a handful of times since BIW trades have been represented by a single union in the early 1950s.

The duration of these strikes has ranged from less than a week to over three months. The image pictured here was taken in the summer of 1985, during BIW’s longest Local S6 strike to date—99 days. Those in the picket line stand across the street from the union hall and at the edge of a parking lot that has seen little change since. Such scenes have been rarely documented throughout the history of labor disputes in Maine’s shipyards.

The fact that BIW’s longest strike occurred in the 1980s is not surprising given the national climate of tensions between businesses and unions. The Reagan White House had openly supported the swift firing, and lifetime employment ban, of a group of specialized government employees on strike.

Private sector employers were emboldened to stand up to their own union-backed workforces, portraying them as selfish and impediments to

economic growth. With weakened leverage, union membership declined.

Along with trickle-down economic policies of the era, this series of events has been linked to decadeslong income-gap widening and wage stagnation. For comparison, the national union membership rates of 40 years ago were double today’s 10%.

The fact that Bath Iron Works employs Mainers from all 16 counties certainly says something about the attraction, and importance, of stable wages that a union can help to maintain.

Bath has had a lengthy history with organized labor in its shipyards. As far back as 1841, there is evidence of a movement to reduce workdays to ten hours via a group Strike at Bath Iron Works, July 1, 1985. PHOTO: GEN WILLMAN that was aptly named the Bath 10 Hour Association. They were Era and Great Depression policies. specifically opposed to the practice Eventually, federal legislation estabof a year-round, sun-up to sundown lished a 40-hour week with overages workday that neared 15 hours per day eligible for overtime pay until 1940. in the summer.

By 1850 this reduced schedule was Kelly Page is collections and a common practice throughout the library services manager for Maine city’s 20 shipyards, and adjacent ship- Maritime Museum in Bath. Explore building communities followed suit. resources and plan your visit at www.

This was decades ahead of Progressive MaineMaritimeMuseum.org.

guest column

When teens can say ‘I know Maine’ Program fosters positive community engagement

BY PATRICIA ESTABROOK

IN 7TH GRADE Gavin Bradstreet looked like a choir-boy angel with a moon-shaped face and round glasses, but looks were deceptive and the school found him “a handful.”

Now he is on his way to college, with greater aspirations than he or his family could have imagined seven years ago.

The turn-around could be due to his family, a caring school department in Searsport, steady work at Nautilus Restaurant, or the dedication of his mentor, Brian Phelps. All of these played a part, but Gavin cites the I Know ME program for raising his aspirations and supporting his accomplishments.

The I Know ME program seeks to raise aspirations in youth over a course of six years. Beginning in the 7th grade, cohorts of ten students meet to explore Maine and to gain insights into their

Gavin, who is no stranger to hard own strengths and personal assets. The program is funded in part by the Rural work to help support his family, Futures Fund and run by Maine Youth learned the value of volunteering and Alliance, which also runs the Game being part of a community of interest.

In the six years of Loft in Belfast. the program, he Gavin entered I Know volunteered in: ME because he had Gavin, who is no Machias, Doveran interest in role play stranger to hard Foxcroft, Dexter, games. He is proud to Belfast, and in say that he was the first I work to help many state parks.

Know ME recruit. Over Wherever Gavin the years games became support his family, and the I Know ME less important as Gavin learned the value cohorts go they are learned new skills and congratulated for developed new interof volunteering their hard work ests. He visited 32 state and being part of and dedication to a parks from Aroostook to good life in Maine.

Cumberland counties. a community of Kids like Gavin He learned to enjoy who live and work camping and the interest. on Maine’s wateroutdoors, he experifront are our future. enced live theater, he explored a variety of work opportuni- Keeping them in Maine, with aspirations ties, and he met interesting adults who to be productive, contributing adults is crucial for the success of the state. make up the fabric of Maine life.

For the past 25 years the Game Loft and I Know ME programs have created positive relationships that strengthen academic and social skills. Participants have learned meaningful roles in their communities and to see the state as a resource and their responsibility.

They have had opportunities to engage with peers and adults in the community that are positive and productive. If you love Maine, you worry about its future. Keeping our culture and values depends on the generation of Maine workers who are now in middle and high school. Please support positive youth development programs in your community.

Patricia Estabrook is the founding codirector of the Game Loft/I Know ME program. She and her husband, Ray, have served youth for 25 years. They live in Belfast.

The Working Waterfront . october 2023

26

art of the waterfront

Diana Young’s Penobscot River view Bangor’s ‘delicious relish of geography’ serves as muse

BY CARL LITTLE

IN THE HALF CENTURY Diana Young has lived in Bangor—she and husband Jim moved there in 1973—she has painted all over the Queen City, so many different scenes she should be declared painter laureate. Her views are always animated, full of a kind of motion that often compels one to smile. There is never a dull moment; even buildings seem to be on the move, leaning this way and that.

“Boom Island” was inspired by one of Young’s walks along the Penobscot River with her standard poodle, Polly. In the foreground, the stone chessboard installed on the Brewer Riverwalk Trail tilts slightly toward the water. Anchored on the far shore is what appears to be an ocean-going vessel or service boat, its black hull jutting into the river. Beyond the boat lies the skyline of Bangor with the spires of churches poking the sky.

The painting’s title refers to the island in mid-river, one of several in the Penobscot made from timber and CHASLE21.PLT 2/10/2021 2:43:50 PM cobble that served as log booms during the glory days of Maine’s timber industry.

In Young’s hands the islet and its Lorax-like trees seem to bend with the flow of the river yet hold it in place, the foundation of the island appearing to grip the water. This mid-river waymark serves as a monument to a longago working waterfront, the toots and creaks of boats replaced by the music of James Taylor or Santana.

Young has always been drawn to water. Born and brought up in New Haven, Conn., she spent summers in nearby Stonington (she loved it so much she chose it as her middle name when she was seven). She made

Scale: 1:12.83 H: 36.252 L: 96.247 in

Diana Young’s Boom Island, 2023, tempera, 16 by 20 inches. PHOTO BY MICHAEL HALLAHAN

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www.workingwaterfront.com . october 2023 art from an early age, supported by her mother, Jane Kellogg Corbin, who found her a Saturday art class when her high school offered none and supplied her with a sketchbook on a trip to France when she was 15.

Young attended the Rhode Island School of Design, class of 1957, which she considers a blessing.

“I met people from all walks of life, many just as art crazy as I was,” she recalls. They included her future husband James Young, a Mainer from Somerset County. He became a professor of chemistry at St. Francis College in Biddeford and later an analytic chemist with his own lab in Bangor. In both places she was fortunate “to live near tide water.”

Young set aside creative pursuits while raising three children, but returned to painting with a vengeance, hitting her stride in her 60s. In addition to Bangor, she has painted Eastport where in the ‘80s she bought a small banged-up house as a getaway (she paints there to this day). For many years she and several artist friends calling themselves the “Plein Air Heads” rented a cottage on Monhegan and painted to their heart’s delight.

For her 80th birthday, Young treated herself to a cruise on the Rhine and Danube rivers. From the top deck of the ship she sketched the passing scene every day.

“This was ideal since we went about 15 mph,” she reports, “about the same speed of local cyclists on the riverside paths.”

Young loves living near the Penobscot, which, she points out, moderates Bangor’s downtown weather.

“Even from the interstate in Etna,” she notes, “one can often see a long thin cloud marking the course of the river.” She wonders at the city’s “delicious relish of geography,” which has prompted so many of her wild and joyous paintings.

Young shows her work at the Eastport Gallery, the Boothbay Region Art Foundation, the Bangor Public Library, the Kimball Street Studios in Lewiston, and St. Joseph’s Hospital as part of its Healing Arts program.

DREAMING OF INDIGO— On Sunday, September 24, the Farnsworth Art Museum and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art—in partnership with Indigo Arts Alliance—will present the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival in Rockland.

Programming will include a reading by author Dinah Johnson from her picture book Indigo Dreaming from 1-2 p.m. in the Farnsworth Library, and art-making activities in the Farnsworth’s Gamble Education Center, where free copies of Indigo Dreaming as well as tote bags containing Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival books will be given out.

The Festival was created to honor the legendary and highly acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Ashley Bryan, whose award-winning picture book Beautiful Blackbird is a celebration of blackness.

Admission to the program is free from 1-3 p.m., but registration for the book

Dinah Johnson

reading is recommended. All ages are welcome, and free books will be available for younger, middle, and intermediate level readers. For more information or to register, please visit www. farnsworthmusuem.org.

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The Working Waterfront . october 2023

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