Editor’s Note: As of July 2025, the office will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The editor’s public office hours remain unchanged.
The Harpswell Anchor has a new office on Bailey Island.
The office is on the second floor of the building that is home to Roxanne York Real Estate and Fishnet Cafe, above the real estate agency and accessible via exterior stairs at the rear of the building. The property is at 2118 Harpswell Islands Road, next door to the Bailey Island Post Office.
The Anchor is renting the space from Roxanne York Real Estate owner Laurie Haggerty and her husband, David Haggerty, who own the building.
The Harpswell Planning Board approved the Anchor’s use of the space on May 7 and the Anchor moved in the next day. The move follows a long search for office space led by Robin Casey, a board member who chairs the Anchor’s Building Committee.
“We are grateful to the Haggertys for making the space available and working with the Anchor and the town to gain regulatory approval,” said Greg Bestick, president of the Harpswell News Board of Directors. “We are thrilled to have a new home on Bailey Island.”
The current iteration of the Anchor has never had a formal office. In 2021, a group of civic-minded residents established the nonprofit Harpswell News and purchased the assets of the Harpswell Anchor, a for-profit monthly newspaper that had ceased publication the previous fall.
The editor and publisher of the old Anchor, Bob Anderson, operated his newspaper and publishing company out of a small building in Harpswell Center, at 945 Harpswell Neck Road. Harpswell News never operated out of that building.
Anderson sold the building to Kelley Hughes and George Cabot IV in 2023. The new owners turned it into the Itty Bitty Coffee Shop. Anderson died in 2024.
Since the inception of the new Anchor, its staff has worked remotely. But the organization’s informal headquarters wasn’t far from the old office.
The Harpswell Center home of Janice Thompson, Anchor co-founder and director of development and operations, hosted countless functions for the organization — from a launch party in 2021 to monthly layout sessions to lively gatherings of Anchor volunteers.
The home at 923 Harpswell Neck Road, known to longtime Harpswell residents as the former Hathaway’s Restaurant, is now for sale. While Thompson will remain in Harpswell, it was time for the Anchor to have a more permanent and public base of operations.
“We appreciate the hospitality and patience of Janice and her family,” Bestick said. “When it was a restaurant, their home and barn was a place for Harpswellians to gather in community. Through the last four years, it has continued to serve this function as an informal distribution hub and meeting place for the Anchor.”
“I have been honored to host the operations of the new Anchor since our relaunch in 2021,” Thompson said. “When we took over, we didn’t have the financial resources to purchase or rent a property for office space. Now, with the generous support of our friends and neighbors, we are able to move to this important next step.”
The move gives the Anchor a presence on the Harpswell islands for the first time.
“We will continue to vigorously cover all of Harpswell,” said J.W. Oliver, editor of the Anchor. “We hope our new location signals a commitment to bring local news to every neighborhood and village in this unique and beautiful place. We think of the Anchor as a ‘connector’ between the peninsulas and islands that make up Harpswell, and our dedication to this role is stronger than ever.”
The office will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, although most employees will continue to work remotely. The Anchor’s editor will hold public office hours from 1-4 p.m. each Thursday beginning June 12, and is available to meet by appointment.
Contact information for the Anchor staff remains the same, available on the masthead of the print edition or at harpswellanchor.org/contact.
The Anchor asks visitors to park behind the building when Fishnet Cafe is open. The parking area behind the building is accessible via Sinnett Drive and Ada Drive.
Harpswell News, an independent nonprofit, seeks to promote civic engagement and serve its community by providing nonpartisan, trustworthy, in-depth news and information. For more information, go to harpswellanchor.org.
