Features

Rumor has it that a man called "Black Will" was the first nonnative to settle on Bailey Island. Those who have explored the matter further may have learned that a man called Black Will or Will Black moved to the island in the early 18th century; and that after Deacon Timothy Bailey purchased the island, Will Black relocated across the channel to Little Sebascodegan, now Orr's Island.

You have all driven by it: the small, very old house in the field at Harpswell Center, just across the road from the Kellogg Church. You might have wondered about it. How old is it? Who has lived there?

When music educator Bob Modr and engineer Daniel Huber were put in charge of entertainment for the Harpswell Summer Festival about 10 years ago, musicians were playing on a concrete slab at George J. Mitchell Field.

The origin story of many tech startups includes a tale of intrepid founders in a cluttered garage, working all hours on a world-changing idea.

Stephanie Alexander sounds tired. "We've talked about it for years and just can't seem to come up with any solution," she says. It, in this case, is the declining membership of the Merriconeag Grange.

The many interesting figures who were prominent in Harpswell's history tell us a great deal about life in our town in the 19th century. Many of the surnames of that era still grace our town today: Alexander, Barnes, Curtis, Dunning, Jordan, Merritt, Orr, Stover, Sylvester, among others.

There are many unsung heroes in this town, and Jeff Morrell is one of them. But he doesn't do what he does for the recognition. Every morning on his way to work, Morrell quietly stops his truck in front of the Meeting House in Harpswell Center and puts up the American flag on the pole that stands close by.

There is magic in the motion that spins the wheel at Ash Cove Pottery in Harpswell, where lifelong potter Susan Horowitz builds more than just clay pots. She builds connections and community, near and far, with her foot on the pedal and her kiln fired up.

They are worth a lot of money in Maine — third only to lobster and soft-shell clams in value, bringing in $6.8 million in 2020 and employing around 600 Maine fishermen.

If I had not tripped over the footstone of Robert Peter Tristram Coffin's tombstone, one of three elegantly simple granite slabs in a family plot, I would not have discovered him, at least not for a long time.