In an era of YouTube music videos and dwindling public school arts budgets, Farmington, Maine, teenagers are lining up — and auditioning — to play the jigs and reels heard at 19th century barn dances. Part of the credit goes to a rural tradition of family and friends playing music together. The catalyst, though, is Steve Muise, the orchestra teacher at Mt. Blue High School.
It took some time, but eventually Great Gott became the heart of an island-based business for Claire and Carly Weinberg. Their company, Dulse & Rugosa, uses seaweed and botanicals grown on the island to make skin care products, and has allowed them to make a living in the one place that has always felt like home.
Deborah Joy Corey’s writing space is a small floating shack. When she is there, she is in tune with the tides, nature, and one special cormorant she calls Jinx.
The son of a housewright, boatbuilder, and inspector of timber, John Haley Bellamy was born in the seaside community of Kittery, Maine. In addition to working on house carvings, he fashioned eagles that are considered icons of American folk art.
How often do we get the chance to buy back a boat with family significance? Chrisso Rheault was able to do just that when he bought a 26-foot sloop that his father had built.
Maine’s stellar reputation for new boat construction gets the limelight. But it is all-purpose yards like Great Island Boat Yard with their capacity for service, repairs and refits that are the backbone of the state’s maritime industry today. Searching for more meaningful lives, Great Island owners Steve and Stephanie Rowe left high-powered corporate jobs to run the yard.
While Nate Levesque has a day-job at the law firm of Eaton Peabody, his true love is photography. Levesque, who graduated from Hampden Academy and the University of Maine, acquired a professional-grade digital camera soon after college and began teaching himself how to use it. A hiker and lover of the outdoors, he sought to capture the scenes that meant so much to him. A few years ago he became interested in shooting the night sky, particularly at Acadia National Park.
