Guest perspective/Ralph B. Pears Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to explore many of Maine’s islands, secluded coves and inlets. When visiting such places with my family, the pleasures of discovery have frequently become even more poignant, as I’ve been swept up by my children’s sense of enchantment inRead More

I’ve always liked bumblebees, but that Sunday morning my mind was elsewhere when I spied one on deck, upside down and caught under the jib sheet. I wasn’t in a compassionate mood, as my broken engine diagnostic process was reaching the end of the line and yielding nothing. My departureRead More

Guest perspective/Tim Plouff “Chummie, take that mooring, ain’t no one using it,” came the deep Downeast voice over the stern of the lobster boat tied up to a float in the middle of the harbor. The issuer of the invitation stood before a hot grill on this glorious Saturday, cookingRead More

Harbor of Spies: A Novel of Historic Havana By Robin Lloyd, Lyons Press 2018, 320 pp., $24.95 Reviewed by Bob Muggleston For Points East The year is 1863. The American Civil War is in full swing, and a young American ship captain named Everett Townsend pulls a half-drowned man outRead More

Light has been rebuilt many times The August Mystery Harbor is Gloucester Harbor in Gloucester, Mass. The shot was taken looking at the end of Dog Bar Breakwater and Dog Bar Light on Eastern Point. The breakwater is 2,200 feet long and was constructed by the Army Corps of EngineersRead More

I’ve been waiting for the Stephen Taber to sail by, so I could snap a photo to post with this scanned one taken in 1956 by my mother, Marion Emerson in Buck’s Harbor, Maine. Built in 1871, the Taber was 85 when the photo was taken by my mother (above)Read More

The tools we use today all descend from a few common origins.

Greenwich, Conn. Capt. Henry E. Marx, Master Mariner and founder of Landfall Navigation, passed away from pneumonia on June 28, 2018 in Greenwich, Conn. He was 77 years old. Henry was born in New York City, to parents Henry and Marguerite Marx and was a graduate of the Lawrenceville School,Read More

Islanders know better than most the importance of critical resources and services. The most critical of all on the islands is arguably clean water. What is worth mere pennies a gallon to most city dwellers accustomed to a seemingly endless flow out of household taps becomes a matter of inestimableRead More

There are still extraordinary depths of solitude to be fathomed on far-Downeast islands, where the world is possessed of a spare and abstract drama, palpable ancientness, and breathtaking sweeps of sea, sky and shore. In spite of development creep, perfect privacy can yet be had along this coast and secretsRead More