living on matinicus island

Staying overnight allows the visitor to experience the peace and isolation of a remote island after all the day-trippers have left. Everything you need or desire comes in a cardboard box. In the meantime a nice lady came by and threw our bags into the back of her truck to deposit them for us at the runways edge. Penobscot Island Air also services the island year-round, nearly daily ten-minute flights from Knox County Regional Airport. He says he isn't angry, but it's hard to believe him, and his wife says no such thing. Granite shorelines mostly. Nowhere shall we be judged for lack of sartorial splendor. They might have been a bit bigger. It originally had two light towers: one was extinguished in 1923, the other was automated in 1983. Be sure to check the most recent online schedule. We would have received a ride for ourselves as well had either of us thought we could manage to jump into the back of a pick up truck already filled with a lot of stuff, plus other people. Matinicus Island can be reached by sea or air. It was a majestic Autumn day with blue skies, crisp air, clear water, and lobstermen plying their trade. Forget about ambling around with a little basket over your arm, scrutinizing the obscure tropical delicacies in the produce section and picking out the very plumpest tomato. info@islandinstitute.org, 386 Main St. But, entirely funded by donations, this group does something that the State does not. She was a Ripley, she had a store here once, she was married to an Ames. It goes on and on: this person, that house, this husband, that wife. We set out at 10 am in hopes that by noon we would be there. Maybe they could make it out tomorrow. When Miller arrived at the Matinicus dock that morning, Ames and Young were awaiting him. After drinking the scalding top half of a cup of tea, and partly filling my backpack with a few days worth of clothes, I drove the mile down towards the point to pick up another cousin, Harold. Matinicus Isle is the most remote year-round island in Maine, located 20 miles off Owls Head in the Midcoast. I cant make out their engines, but I feel certain they were smaller, tooand slower, built for a lazier, more generous time. It will not come every day. Donna Rogers is 71; she lives with her husband, Charlie, a lobsterman, in a home overlooking the harbor. Thats how things are when you have to fight to survive. In any event we didnt hesitate to load our gear into his truck and never felt any concern over handing over even an expensive camera for delivery. The passing vehicles crush them, paving the road with red shells. He was a great host and let us be as active or passive those days as we wished. So he put more in. Theres a way of doing things, Philbrook told me, and it just seemed as though the time had come to get things clear once and for all. They wont even talk to me, he said. We were sitting together in her schoolroom, surrounded by books, wall maps, crayons, and computer tables, talking about all the people on the island who had helped create the projects her students had shared. Today, two years after putting a bullet into the neck of another lobsterman, in defense, he says, of his daughter, Vance Bunker is a pariah on the island: legally acquitted but privately unforgiven, widely but quietly reviled. Hes in his late fifties, a big man with thick arms, a droopy, graying mustache, and a warm but very certain way of saying things. By the summer of 2009, the price of lobster was at a 12-year low. I know as an EMT that the best patient care generally means close contact and the human touch. Vance and S.T. The Matinicus Rock light station is the hub of the living quarters and serves as a kitchen, dining room, office, and sleeping quarters. What a glorious natural classroom! Physicians are also being forced to adjust to a reality where not every hangnail must be seen in the office. He says he isnt angry, but its hard to believe him, and his wife says no such thing. Sunset on Matinicus (Photo courtesy Gary Peabody), An island haircut: Eva Murray gets her hair trimmed by her husband Paul Murray, the Phone Man. Slow, very slow, we are. Maybe we go for a walk alone, or out to cut firewood, or we hang clothes on the line. For we not only visited Matinicus Rock and Matinicus Island during our week afloat together, we also visited the other four principal offshore islands on the Maine coast: Seguin, Damariscove, Monhegan, and Metinic. Become an online member today: To manage your account, just hover and click on your name above. Backing up some. It was the communitys heart; it had begun as a chandlery a hundred years before, and later was a general store. Matinicus gravel airstrip with the Camden Hills in the background. State agencies and nonprofit organizations have tried to stem the loss of year-round populations by giving islanders guarantees of a certain. They warned him, then cut his traps. Some traded up to 600-horsepower diesels that could make it to Rockland in an hour or less. Throw them out in road of course. Now youve got the big fishermen with their fast boatsAlan Miller, hes got two boats, hes not a young guy anymore, hes already made his moneywho come in not caring about anything, just looking to fish some sweet waters.. These mainly line the shore, providing a year-round bulwark against the weather, while a greater diversity of deciduous trees fills the interior areas. With island life, the issue is usually the weather. After landing, I shouldered my backpack for the walk to the inn, unusually loaded down by a glass jar of spaghetti sauce and pasta, along with some cheese, cold cuts and a few cans of other food in case the lobsters somehow did not materialize. Together we drove up Maines coastal highway, Route 1, initially encountering the morning shift heading to the Bath Iron Works, but little in the way of summer crowds since this was still before Memorial Day. The next ship wasn't scheduled for several weeks so I would return to the mainland on the "mail-plane" in four days -- weather permitting! In the end, though, it is the islands willfulness, more than anything elsemore even than its isolationthat sets this place apart. We have seen that before, and nothing to do with a pandemic. The rest of the world is learning, as we have always understood, that holidays are adjustable, celebrations flexible, no exceptions. But how about other trash? Thats how we found ourselves on this ferry, which now was making its way to Matinicus, thankfully with a stern wind and following seas. A Winter Adventure on Matinicus Island | Wiscasset Newspaper A ticket issuing machine and mechanical arm gave access to long term parking. While Matinicus Rock is not a hospitable place, it was a necessary place for a lighthouse, situated as it was in a busy shipping lane roughly twenty miles off Maine's shore. When Charlie and I were coming up, it was a different time. I awoke alone at my cousins family cottage on Harpswell Neck which juts into the heart of Casco Bay. Essentially, Main Street just turns into a gravel airstrip at the north end of the island. So was his wife, Jananwho had seen from her window the men converging on the harbor, and had brought with her a 12-gauge shotgun she would claim she didnt know how to use. By the time the road with the designated forks petered out to a couple of ruts that looked as though no one had driven in them yet this season, there was in fact a house there. She told me about how shed first come to the island, as a 9-year-old girla thousand years agowhen her mother married a Young. If one were to follow the South by Southeast heading to Matinicus harbor, steering from Owls Head Light outside of the Rockland Harbor breakwater, and should one manage to miss the landing at Matinicus, the next landfall on that heading would be along South Americas northern coast. We are grateful to those who already participate. Me longer than Harold, much longer. On Prom Night three summers ago, he was the one in white tie. Now, with all thats happenedI dont know. You dont see that other places. Pools of water formed among the rocks by the receding tide, leaving behind small crabs and other marine life to be discovered by curious students. He drives slower after that.. Of fires, drownings, lost boats, sea rescues, church suppers, roof raisings, shared food, every neighborly act you could think of. All those generations. And we were told that the water taxi service is well run and a good option. And speaking of the mail-plane -- it was my only way off the island. Danger and illness aside, one might argue that wintertime island life is something like 2020 with a scenic view. Hussey is a lawyer in his forties, a slight man with thin features and tousled, receding brown hair. I unfortunately did not get down to the harbor then for a picture of their ship. Lobstering was a tougher business in those days: The boats were slower; you couldnt set your traps more than a few miles out from the island; and you had to haul them up by hand. Now there's an island for unwanted and banned books, too. A man drives too fast, we tell him to slow down. They began spending parts of their own summers. The walk to the airstrip was a bit farther than what we had managed already (more than double), being at the other end of the island. Most are aggravating, to be sure, but a few really are for the better. Matinicus Rock Lighthouse, Maine at Lighthousefriends.com A nurse visits the island homes, and there are telemedicine facilities on board to e-link in doctors as needed. It is worthwhile to keep in mind that this couple lived there until fairly recently, in this century. And on this little island, where a brooding sort of silence has settled over things, its hard to find anyone who doesnt fear for the future. Life on an island: Silence, beauty and a long wait for the ferry Cottage Connection of Maine Vacation Rentals Since 1993. (Some people talk about family trees; what we have here is a wreath.) Their son, Nick, now 30 years old and a captain himself, has been lobstering since he was 8. Find unique places to stay with local hosts in 191 countries. Weve had problems ever since.. We didnt do very much. Memories, connections, personal histories. The system here relies on clans. We circled the island and headed across the water toward Owl's Head. Your support is even more critical during rapidly changing times, when communication is paramount. We all of us out here would.. The trip takes over 2 hours. MATINICUS, Maine The snow had begun falling overnight, and fell throughout the day, draping the towering pines and the lobster traps, stacked up on land for the winter, in blankets of white. The parrot in the living room wished us good mornings and otherwise was mostly friendly, though Harold believed the parrot didnt respect him very much. At some point Janan Miller yelled Hey! and pointed the shotgun at the stepbrothers. This was a far cry from Booking.com, with our reservations in an app, confirmation number and all. Matinicus may appear to be a quaint, sweet little New England town, but that's not the whole story. Nature will eventually do the heavy lifting. It needs them, its always needed them. For those at the moment safe from the big problems wildfire and hurricane, racism and hunger, depression and fear, and forgive me for making light in a time of crisiswe might compare notes. Matinicus Island - life off the coast of Maine - DITCH'S DISPATCH He had to pay his dues. The tiny library on Matinicus. It was a while before either of us mentioned Alan Miller. Your spouse, the kid next door, more or less any random citizen can cut your hair; you just park on a kitchen chair in the dooryard. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. The community has some workforce housing, primarily for people sterning on lobster boats. I say climbed in but this was really a drawn out process. As the most remote island in Penobscot Bay, 22 miles southeast of Rockland, Matinicus Island is a wonderful place to take a deep breath and relax. But if anyone wants to participate in a service, those are provided too. Without a word, Philbrook was out of the cab, and for the next several minutes the two unloaded traps together in the rain. The Matinicus Island Ladies Literary League and Subversive Activities Committee, also known as the Red Dahlia Society, was . Anyway, heres wishing us all peace in the New Yearand a month of Sundays, and the plumpest tomato, and maybe just a little scheduled hooliganism. I am happy to note that telemedicine is becoming much more mainstream. Five hundred traps was now a manageable load. (Photo courtesy Robin Tarkleson), Matinicus (Photo courtesy Kimberly Peabody), Matinicus below (Photo courtesy Kimberly Peabody), Knitting socks is so 2020 (Photo courtesy Eva Murray), Eva Murray: Baking bread and watching chickadees, Eva Murray: A trip with Honor Flight Maine, Eva Murray: Tenants Harbor and Matinicus Island combine effort for shoreline cleanup, Without an Agenda: talking with the crew of the Sunbeam, Without an agenda: talking with the crew of the Sunbeam, Eva Murray: Island winter weather, food, and the owls, Eva Murray: An accidental twitcher birding on Matinicus Island. Its always been that way here. Matinicus Island Vacation Rentals & Homes - Matinicus Isle, ME - Airbnb A bright sun peaked over an island across the sound and it promised to be a clear day, one where the blue in the sky will be surpassed only by the deeper blue reflecting from the water. A friend of mine had recently taken a job on a tiny Island, 24 miles off the coast of Maine. Its more, I think, than the perfect calm of the water, or the hazy, purplish light that must have followed the rain that day. Robins, crows, sparrows, cardinals and jays were everywhere as well as a few hummingbirds. Matinicus is officially a plantation, a Maine-specific, organized form of municipal self-government, similar to but with some differences from a town or city. But these windows come in periods only about twice a month. If Im buying for my own table, I guarantee you, theyre going to come from Matinicus.. The Matinicus red dahlia society - The Working Waterfront Archives There is nowhere to wear those cute shoes. High heels are a complete waste of money; youll never use them. In the photo, the harbor boats seem smaller, and humbler, than I remember. Open to all, supported by readers. Just about any Matinicus story you read (and there have been dozens, especially since the shooting) is going to have you believe that its either a rogue outpost of inbred, gun-happy cowboysPirate Island is a common referenceor a quaint little throwback to some simpler time. When we were out for an afternoon walk we missed Bills monthly visit by the nurse from the Maine Seacoast Mission. Matinicus is one of a vast necklace of islands, more than 3,000 in all, spread out along the Maine coast as far north as the Bay of Fundy. Then shed left, and returned again as a young wife and mother when her husband first took up hauling traps: Weve always had to fight to hold on to what we had, always. The island is part of the Plantation of Matinicus Isle. Matinicus Island lies 23 miles out to sea, the most remote inhabited island on the Atlantic seaboard. Call Josh Ames at (207) 366-3128. For those fortunate enough to be neither ill nor evicted, but merely annoyed and fatigued by this year of upheaval, let me suggest that a few of us have first-hand experience. But a bad hurt has happened. People do more than one thing.) Life on an Island: Silence, Beauty and a Long Wait for the Ferry Tornadoes strike Virginia and Florida, flooding in other states There were also some items that gave a sense of the man. But there was no time for a fire in the old stone hearth. No cars, few people, great hikes (most of the island is a forest preserve) wonderful sunrises and sunsets and the quiet that only comes from being miles out to sea. Matinicus boat owners began wintering in Florida, or buying second homes on the mainland. Finishing off over 3 lbs of lobster each is serious business, requiring a relentless commitment with no distractions tolerated. Maybe the post office, where we wait our turn outdoors, and gossip from a distance with some guy idling in his truck. He had a bad reputation. Red squirrel in Seurasaari. She looked at me coldly. There's no garbage collection on the island and no dump, so what does one do with lobster shells and claw remains? The small open, car ferry makes the 23 mile, two and a half hour crossing only 20 to 30 times a year, running once a month in winter, but twice now in May. This from someone who recalls the days, 30 and 40 years ago, of church suppers, bingo nights, and community softball games; when times were so tight that most of the men fished year-round (the norm these days is April through December) and still went out at night with herring nets; and grudges, no matter how bitter, were nearly always trumped by need. Second Fig House - 47 acres, 22 miles out to sea. It could have been something their grandfathers were fighting about.. Bill told us the story of an old couple who had lived in a two room cottage most of their lives somewhere at the end of that short spit of land shown at right in the photo above. Not really needing to take anyone else at the moment the pilot told us to climb in. So its hard, whats happened. Back last spring everybody in America was waiting for butter and flour and toilet paper. Walks about the island every day. The Island Institute works to sustain Maines island and coastal communities, and exchanges ideas and experiences to further the sustainability of communities here and elsewhere. You want to be a part of the community, put your kids in the school here, support the island, pay into itthats one thing. Its also the biggest reason why, whenever theres an event at the schooljust about any event at any time of day that involves the five or six kids there30 people are apt to show up. You can call our office at (207) 594-9209. FORE MORE DATA ON MAINES ISLAND AND COASTAL COMMUNITIES VISIT: Matinicus Isle, Maine - Wikipedia This is not just a learning curve for the patient, by the way. But it seemed as though the main reason to have a ferry to Matinicus was to permit the sizable number of pick up trucks to transport their sizable payloads of gear, food, hardware, building supplies and whatever may have been loaded in that U-Haul that was on board. I made my way along the gravel road, walking past small scattered homes, some with mountains of lobster traps neatly stacked in the yards. This isnt a place that could exist on the mainlandor, probably, even 10 miles closer to it. You have to want to be here, really want it, Nat Hussey said to me early in my first visit. The sun had grown quite hot and the route along dusty gravel roads required choosing between a number of left and right hand forks, all unmarked. Though even some of those may take extended winter vacations in places like Florida. Out past Isle au Haut, past Monhegan, past Metinic, approximately 22 miles out in the middle of the Gulf of Maine, sits Matinicus Island, a 750-acre granite tooth covered with black spruce. In past columns I have remarked once or twice that people who have something to say about an island not being part of the real world have a strange idea of the real world, as in, the real world is where you have to pick up your dry cleaning. While youre at it you can also paint the dogs nails. There are two private ferries on the island: Matinicus Excursions (207) 691-9030 and Penobscot Ferry and Transport (207) 691-6030. Matinicus has a one-room island Every boat on the island, and Vance Bunker in his plane, worked the sea for days, while the islands wives walked the shore in search of clues. Apple cider, hard from aging a year in mason jars, was served and enjoyed. I was struck by the variety of wildlife and plants. And doing for themselves what has to be done since no one else is there to do it for them. He was a nice guy and came in for a sit and a talk, after both ends of the bargain had been completed. Its the big dogs whove kept it going, Nat Hussey says. Some men began to do well. Threatening notes were left in bottles; trap buoys were tied with half-hitches to warn away encroachers; and sometimes, trap lines were cut. They invited us over on Sunday to watch the Patriots game, using an old-time antenna to receive the signal. No cars, few people, great hikes (most of the island is a forest preserve) wonderful sunrises and sunsets and the quiet that only comes from being miles out to sea. They sell raw milk, eggs, and occasionally cider. ([He] was my personal hero, blogged journalist Crash Barry, a former Matinicus lobster-boat sternman. We all dined together and then headed to the beach, walking past the island graveyard, to explore for the rest of the day. So now we got problems. I am sure that demons need to be wrestled to the ground there as with everywhere else. A ferry could come out on Friday still, but by Saturday that window may be closed for another couple of weeks. Im forever getting helped, by this person or that. Since there are no stores, except for a "bakery" which operates out of a residential kitchen in the summer, many islanders have their own gardens. The day we talked, a warm May day in the front yard of the couples island home, hed just put his boat in the water for the season. Luxury homes for sale in Finland | JamesEdition Or dry-cleaning. Not a bad deal I think! There were 188 people living on Matinicus in 1950, roughly half that 20 years later. They voted him off the islandout of island waters. Some of the newer stones are engraved with a lobster boat. Then at the next meeting, they go and change the rules.. Bunker fired his handgun and missed. For a couple of years some of my cousins, siblings and I had been going out to Monhegan Island for one or two nights each summer. Matinicus has high-speed internet on the island, including wi-fi access at the library. And Id do about whatever I had to do to see that doesnt happen, he said. A gentle, funny giant He drove a boat like it was an extension of his body Kind and generous, tough and strong ). The island is now part of the U.S. (Also an electrician and married to the baker, who also had been schoolteacher, currently a writer, a pilot, and medical technician. A combination of fresh air coming through the windows and utter quiet worked magic. There is a year round population of maybe around 40,making a living lobstering mostly. The roads there dont go very far anyway. We really had very little planned. And we did. Seurasaari ( Swedish: Flisn) is an island and a district in Helsinki, Finland, known mostly as the location of the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum, which consists of old, mainly wooden buildings transplanted from elsewhere in Finland and placed in the dense forest landscape of the island. But now with this She tilted her head back, hard, almost violently, toward the open window behind us and the dock and harbor beyond. The station was known for its isolation and its punishing weather. As a child, she spent her summers on this island and now has returned here with her family. Thirteen years ago, he bought his own. Vance and Chris getting into it, theres nothing new there, one islander tells me. Rankin lives, with her husband, Tom, in a 200-year-old farmhouse along a gravel road, the only through road here, midway between the school and the church. One couple, in addition to having an amazing vegetable garden, has the only cows on the island (4), as well as chickens, ducks, and turkeys. Fish crates, firewood, and rope coils are piled about. And Vance Bunker was there; hed arrived with his sternman in a blue pickup with a .22-caliber handgun and an AK-47 assault rifle with nine loaded magazines. Of course rubber boots, work gloves, oilskins, hoodie sweatshirts, Stabilicers, and Smartwools are always in style as are hand-knit socks, ridiculous multi-colored reading glasses, and flannel anything. But the couples primary home was on the mainland; some said their island house wasnt even winterized. Maine has inspired artists for 200 years - National Geographic She had just finished her second and final year as the islands teacher; her six students had ranged from kindergarten through sixth grade. Its larger than youd expect, and more formal: probably two or three acres, a fenced-off square of grass and old granite, with its tiers of headstonesseveral hundredgiving way to a small, shaded bench in the rear. More time passed; the economy soured. Theres no going back. She was the new teacher in a one-room schoolhouse on Matinicus Island. Never has he had a drivers license and hes never driven a car. He defied them: set 400 traps around Matinicus, reportedly with his father-in-laws blessing. He would be over shortly. The runway is usable year round, and permission is needed to land. The island has a growing group of children approaching school age. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. That was the way it workedbefore the boats got fast enough so a man could live in one place and fish in another. If someone had to deal with climbing up or down due to the tide level at the moment, well, so be it. But islanders know that no matter how important you are, how rich you are, how loud you are, how much you stomp around the flying service office yelling, Do you know who I am? there is nothing anybody can do about the delay.

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