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With Confederates boarding his ship near Monhegan Island, Daniel Merryman, captain of the Harpswell-built P.C. Alexander, threw his money overboard rather than let the rebels have it. In total, Merryman consigned about $100 to Davy Jones' locker that day in August 1864. In today's money, the captain's cash would be worth nearly $1,000.

Linda Furbish remembers how her only grandson, Mason Warren, loved gazing out over the water at sunset. Warren was a 21-year-old Harpswell lobsterman when he died in a vehicle crash in 2022.

Ronnie LeClair, who as a co-founder and leader of Harpswell's first lobster co-op helped shift economic power from buyers to fishermen, died on Nov. 22 at the age of 91.

Vincent "Lucky" Oppedisano Jr., originally of Great Island, died at 56 on Nov. 20. Lucky fished his whole life despite obstacles and detours, and he is remembered for aiding fellow fishermen in ways both big and small.

Chris McIntire was content. He had made goals — to live on Orr's Island, to fish for a living, to raise a family — and by working hard, he had achieved them. Maybe more than anything else, he wanted to make sure his children could also have the life that satisfied him so much, if they wanted it.

Carols were sung, love letters written, and chimneys descended during a holiday celebration at Centennial Hall in Harpswell Center on Saturday, Dec. 6. Harpswell Community Theater and the Harpswell Garden Club put on the event, which included the variety show "Tis a Night in Harpswell" and a traditional tree-lighting ceremony.

The annual lighting of the Christmas trees in Cundy's Harbor had an old-fashioned addition this year: horse-drawn wagon rides through the village. Horses Ben and Bill pulled the wagon and socialized with riders.

Like a lot of people his age, Tim McCreight smiles when he looks back on his college years in the late 1960s and early '70s. His reasons, however, might be different than most.

This month marks the 84th anniversary of the infamous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The surprise assault sank four battleships, killed thousands and hurled the United States headlong into the Second World War. However, a persistent coastal Maine legend suggests the Axis powers actually fired their first fatal shot on an American vessel five months earlier, 5,000 miles east of Hawaii and not far from Bailey Island.