Features

He’s Been Thinking

Philosopher Daniel Dennett has written more than a dozen influential books, but his new one is in an unfamiliar genre: memoir. We visited his place on Eggemoggin Reach for a porch chat about consciousness, AI, farm implements, and Maine as a lifelong refuge.

By Rachel Slade

A Quartet at the Bridge

After a tumultuous few years, one of Maine’s most renowned chamber-music ensembles plays a transition.

By Douglas Rooks

When Blue Hill Turns Gold

As autumn descends, Maine’s most charmingly bucolic peninsula adopts a lavish palette of bronze, amber, and rust.

Photographed by Dave Waddell

Departments

North by East

Almost 90, artist Alison Hildreth is everywhere all at once. For a local weatherman, there’s always a chance of giant pumpkins. The world’s largest revolving globe, Eartha turns 25 (and turns and turns). Plus, in Maine Dispatches, a whole neighborhood gets fleeced.

Food and Drink

The Maine Heritage Orchard grows a pear, Bolognese meets Benjamin Franklin at Lincolnville’s Astor & Rose, and artful cakes bloom in Cumberland.

Good Things from Maine

Vintage materials inspire a Topsham outerwear designer with an outdoorsy uncle, dolls don animal masks for a Portland craft exhibit, and small-scale artisans go big in Bangor.

Maine Homes

A couple leans into retro vibes in their Portland ranch, an Auburn homeowner gets spooky in her Gothic Revival, and a Patten preservationist is a historic church’s salvation.

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Where in Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to August’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

My Maine, Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Children’s-book author Peter Brown, on Bristol’s La Verna Preserve.

On our Cover: The Jud Hartmann Gallery, in Blue Hill, by Dave Waddell.

Additional Photos: Hannah Hoggatt, Tara Rice, and Benjamin Williamson.

Features

Down East’s 16th Annual Best of Maine

Our annual roundup of Maine’s best everything: food trucks to florists, diners to dentists, lodging to lobster rolls. How did your favorites do?

Roads Less Traveled

They’re not the state’s heralded scenic byways or well-worn tourist routes. They’re just a few of our favorite back roads, the stretches we never get tired of traveling, where the traffic thins out and vacationland becomes Maine.

Waterville Under the Bridge

Eight years of investment, led by Colby College, have reshaped Waterville’s downtown. What does it mean for the future of the historically divided city?

Departments

North by East

Catch a glimpse of stardust, sneak a peek into Governor Janet Mills’s diary from the early days of the pandemic, and make way for a Robert McCloskey exhibit. Plus, in Maine Dispatches, an award for fancy new spuds. 

Food and Drink

Burritos are big in Southwest Harbor, a Bristol charcuterie spot flips the script on “farm to table,” and Aroma Joe’s opens its 100th coffee shop.

Good Things from Maine

A Berwick furniture maker makes woodworking more accessible, a Portland museum strings together the past and present of beadwork, and an Augusta craft fair welcomes makers of unusual wares.

Maine Homes

A new build for a family with old ties to MDI, a West Bath gardener’s dedication to dahlias, and the residential rebirth of historic Bangor buildings.

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Where in Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to July’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Mime and storyteller Antonio Rocha, on South Paris’s Celebration Barn Theater. 

On our Cover: Cod serenata, from Portland’s Papi, a Best of Maine finalist for Best New Restaurant. Photographed by Nicole Wolf. Styled by Catrine Kelty.

Additional Photos: Dave Waddell, Hannah Hoggatt, and Clayton Simoncic

Features

The Phantom of the Allagash

Eighty years ago, an act of shocking violence in the Maine woods kicked off a sprawling manhunt that captivated observers around the country and became a true-crime phenomenon.

By Andrew Vietze

Where There’s a Mill, Is There a Way?

The scrappy eco-insulation startup TimberHP is taking a big swing by bringing Madison’s shuttered paper mill back online. Can a novel pulp product sow the seeds of a homegrown green-manufacturing success story?

By Kathryn Miles

Keeping It 100

Maine’s 100 Mile Wilderness is a rugged sanctuary of windswept peaks, backcountry ponds, and the remotest stretch of the Appalachian Trail — but you don’t need to be a grizzled thru-hiker to enjoy it.

Departments

North by East

A bird carver’s grandson tries to re-form the flock, the history of Kittery’s Memorial Bridge spans a century, and a PMA exhibit takes a snapshot of 50 years at boundary-blurring photo workshops in Rockport. Plus, in Maine Dispatches, three rare orange lobsters caught in one week, by one guy.

Food and Drink

Chef Lulu Ranta brings a James Beard award home to Monson. It’s a Peaks Island pizza party all summer long (and since it’s BYOB, you might want to pack some canned cocktails before catching the ferry).

Good Things from Maine

A summer guide to Maine-made tools, toys, and other gear to haul upta camp, from towels to travel posters and from fire starters to fishing-rod racks.

Maine Homes

A mid-century ranch in Biddeford gets a modern makeover. A South Bristol gardener digs into her rocky yard. And do antique Puerto Rican front doors threaten the Old Port’s historic character?

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Where in Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to June’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

Room With a View. Books: Beachy Maine Romance.

My Favorite Place

Opera singer Kate Aldrich, on the Damariscotta River.

On our Cover: The White Cap summit, by Chris Shane.

Additional Photos: Cara Dolan, Chris Bennett, and Dave Waddell

Features

Do Go Chasing Waterfalls

From roadside chutes to backcountry cascades, tiny slides to dramatic plunges, here’s where to find our favorite falls.

By Adrienne Perron and Brian Kevin

Wet, Hot Lakeside Summer

Pontoon flotillas! Dance parties! Disco-themed booze cruises! The little town of Naples is one big party all season long — and nowhere else in Maine is quite like it.

By Jaed Coffin

Blasts from the Past

Restaurants come and restaurants go, but these time-tested diners, lodges, lobster shacks, and more only get better with age.

Departments

North by East

The high-tech equipment that aids LifeFlight of Maine, the end of the Maine Sea Goddess’s reign, and an Aroostook-reared poet with home on the brain. Plus, in Maine Dispatches, L.L.Bean goes dark on social.

Food and Drink

Gifford’s Ice Cream recovers from a factory fire, Trudy Bird’s Ølbar brings Scandinavia to North Yarmouth, and Veazie’s Korean Dad hosts a buffet of global pop-ups.

Good Things from Maine

A unique South Porland welding school blazes a path for those underrepresented in the trades. Also, a roundup of Maine-made skin-care and a visit with the volunteer knitters of the Loose Ends Project.

Maine Homes

Orono gardeners go big on hostas, determined cottagers go off-grid in Harpswell, and a Brunswick inn launches an innkeeper essay contest.

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Where in Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to May’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Swordfishing captain Linda Greenlaw, on Surry’s Morgan Bay. 

On Our Cover: Long Lake, in Naples, by Mat Trogner.

Additional Photos: Benjamin Williamson, Kelsey Kobik, and Nicole Wolf

Features

The Islands Issue

We dispatched nine writers to 14 islands — large and small, peopled and unpeopled, along every stretch of the coast — in search of the kinds of wonders, experiences, and stories that can only be found on a Maine island.

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Where in Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to April’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

My Favorite Place

On Our Cover: Little Hen Island, by Dave Waddell

Additional Photos: Dave Waddell and Jacob Bond Hessler

Features

101 Reasons to Love Summer in Maine

Piecing together your summer plans? Here’s a plethora of reminders why they ought to include regular rambles to every corner of the Pine Tree State.

By Hadley Gibson

A Spectacle of Abundance

As alewives return to historical migration routes, their restored runs are captivating wildlife watchers.

By Brian Kevin

What Was the Art Colony?

Maine’s towering role in American art owes, in part, to enclaves of artists gathering in out-of-the-way places. With the days of the rusticators long gone, how is the tradition holding up?

By Brian Kevin

Special Advertising Section: Freeport’s Future

For decades, outlet retail has anchored Maine’s most-visited downtown. Now, its champions say the next iteration needs more than big brands.

By Bridget M. Burns

Departments

North by East

Edgecomb’s champion oyster shucker honors the mollusk, Aquaboggan protects Maine’s oldest drive-in, a Maine Maritime Museum exhibit highlights an underwater mountain range, and a biography celebrates the life of Maine’s first Black state senator. Plus, in Maine Dispatches, a candidate for Maine’s state rock. 

Food and Drink

Milk Bottle Mixers make mouthwatering mixed drinks, a reinvigorated country store dabbles in refined cuisine, and an old bank becomes a bakery in Bethel.

Good Things from Maine

Woodworkers turn foraged wood into sculpted mushrooms, a Lewiston designer turns fabric into a dress worthy of the red carpet, and a statewide tour turns Mainers on to locally made pottery.

Maine Homes

A renovated Searsport home with a spiritual and artistic past (and present), a Bangor garden with plentiful peonies, and Maine Preservation’s annual Honor Awards.

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Where in Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to March’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Author Steven Rowley, on the South Portland Public Library. 

On Our Cover: Deer Isle, by Amy Drucker.

Additional Photos: Benjamin Williamson and Tara Rice

Features

Maine Fauna A–Z

Husbandry and harvest, conservation and awe — they’re all a part of our way of life, as evidenced by this alphabetical menagerie of Maine animal stories. A few highlights:

C is for Caribou

More than 30 years later, a reflection on an ill-fated attempt to reintroduce a ghost of the Maine forest.

As told to Ron Joseph

D is for Dogs

The Science Dogs of New England are following their noses to endangered species.

By Kathryn Miles

H is for Hagfish

Getting to know the slimy star of Maine’s nastiest little fishery.

By Virginia M. Wright

P is for Puffins

The 50th anniversary of the renowned Project Puffin finds the species at a turning point.

By Derrick Z. Jackson

W is for Whitetails

Why are tens of thousands tuning in to see deer stuff their faces in Piscataquis County? A lot of reasons, it turns out.

By Nora Saks

Departments

North by East

Volunteers around Maine want to make way for amphibians. Is wildlife getting more photogenic or are trail cams really that good? A flock of researchers descends on the state’s birds. Plus, in Maine Dispatches, get your unicorn permit.

Food and Drink

From colorful dips made from ugly veggies to Kittery’s meatless sandwich shop to Biddeford’s tempeh touters, no animals were harmed in the making of these plant-based Food and Drink stories.

Good Things from Maine

The papier-mâché artist who sculpts animals with sundry personalities, the Maine makers who’ve developed useful products for various pets, and the pet shop that caters to all of Maine’s vastest county.

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Where in Maine

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to February’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

Travel: Things to Do With Your Dog; Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Penobscot wildlife artist James Francis, on Mud Pond Carry.

On Our Cover: A bull moose along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, by Mark Picard.

Additional photos: Ethan Eisenhaur, Benjamin Williamson, and Danielle Sykes.

Features

Winter People

For some Mainers, the coldest months of the year are the best time to test their mettle outdoors.

By Adrienne Perron | Photographed by Tara Rice

Still Feisty

A look back — and a look ahead — as Maine’s Salt Institute for Documentary Studies marks 50 years.

By Brian Kevin

What We Talk About When We Talk About Character

An inquisitive look at a complicated word, as Maine grapples with age-old — but freshly relevant — issues of livability, growth, and belonging.

By Jesse Ellison

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Special Advertising Section: Moving to Maine

What every would-be Mainer needs to know.

By Bridget M. Burns

Departments

North by East

A classic candlepin alley is under new management, while the long-running CMCA Biennial feels extra new this year. A veteran mariner’s new book is a stormy ride. Plus, in Maine Dispatches, Sugarloaf starts carving out new trails.

Food and Drink

In Portland, Miyake is back (and so is the dining scene’s momentum). In Searsport, Rio’s finds its form. Around the state, Maine-made bitters are bettering beverages.

Good Things from Maine

A tip of the cap to Yarmouth’s five-panel hat maker. Taking the measure of New Balance’s factory expansion in Skowhegan. A Portland potter’s ramen bowls make a splash on a PBS docuseries.

Maine Homes

The revitalization of a 150-year-old home in Portland, the restoration of native Maine plants on a farm in Washington, and the big reveal of a hotly anticipated boutique hotel.

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Where in Maine

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to January’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Movie writer and director Todd Field, on Rockport’s post office.

On Our Cover: More Women+ Surf members Pamela Chévez, Miranda Rico, and Britt Dahlberg at Scarborough’s Pine Point Beach, by Tara Rice.

Additional photos: Tara Rice and Dave Waddell

Features

Season Unseen

Acadia National Park’s summertime splendor attracts millions of visitors, but in the depths of winter, the park takes on a different character.

Photographed by Benjamin Williamson | Text by Ann Pollard Ranco

The New Maine Classics

The last 25 years have given us a bumper crop of motley, memorable Maine storytelling. We picked out 25 Maine-media artifacts — a sundry set of books, films, digital projects, and more — that’ll stand the test of time.

The World Through Kaleidoscope Eyes

Abstract paintings by the late Lynne Drexler are suddenly fetching upwards of a million dollars apiece. Who was Drexler, and why is her immense talent only just beginning to get its due?

By Will Grunewald

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Special Advertising Section: Retirement

How Maine came to be a pioneer in lifelong learning — and what’s on offer for those heading back to the classroom.

By Bridget M. Burns

Departments

North by East

Mainers love their pond-hockey tournaments, a novelist hates on “nor’easter,” and a new chief curator reflects on 75 years of the Farnsworth. In Maine Dispatches, Maine elects its first Black Speaker of the House.

Food and Drink

A Sunday River food truck slings sweet on the slopes, they’re lining up for waffles in Dover-Foxcroft, and a new Stephen King cookbook is more scrumptious than scary.

Good Things from Maine

Trying on our favorite Maine-y graphic tees and a Waterville mask maker’s masquerade pieces. Plus, checking in on Bangor’s vintage revival.

Maine Homes

A Bangor Garrison designed on the cheap, UMaine’s innovative 3D-printed houses, and a welcome historic designation for Portland’s Mechanics’ Hall.

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Where In Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, responses to December’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Maine Coast Heritage Trust president and CEO Kate Stookey, on Blue Hill’s Falls Bridge.

On Our Cover: Acadia National Park’s Jesup Path, by Benjamin Williamson.

Additional photos: Cait Bourgault and Benjamin Williamson.

Features

8th Annual Down East Reader Photo Contest

Our readers and fans understand better than anyone the essence of Maine — something our annual photo contest proves to us again and again.

This Woman Wants to Destroy Your Lawn

Heather McCargo and the Wild Seed Project want us all to think differently about what we plant (and, yeah, to think about it in winter).

by Peter Andrey Smith

Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Heating with Wood

But didn’t know who to ask! If you’re smitten with the romance of a well-made woodpile or a dancing flame, you have a few things to learn.

by Katy Kelleher

Departments

North by East

A celebrated Westbrook roller rink is reborn, the 75-year-old Maine Turnpike is revered, and Harpswell’s local paper is relaunched. In Maine Dispatches, News Center Maine’s Pat Callaghan is retired.

Food and Drink

A prominent Maine chain examines lobster’s carbon footprint, the food rivals the beer at Milo’s Bissell Brothers Three Rivers, and South Portland’s Knightville neighborhood hosts (arguably) Maine’s best food block.

Good Things from Maine

Looking down at a Brewer miniaturist’s doll-size furniture and back on 150 years of pioneering Maine-made winter wear. Plus, hand-carved wooden tap handles in Winterport.

Maine Homes

A resourcefully styled Bowdoin A-frame, photographer Chansonetta Stanley Emmons’s century-old domestic portraits, and more appraisals in our recurring antiques roadshow.

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Where In Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, reader feedback, responses to November’s Where in Maine, the masthead, and more.

Columns

Books: Malaga Island Revisited; Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Wilco bassist John Stirratt, on Jefferson’s Hidden Valley Nature Center.

On Our Cover: Port Clyde’s Marshall Point Light, by Kody Theriault.

Additional photos: Michael D. Wilson, Jason Frank and Benjamin Williamson.

A Few of Their Favorite Things

Maine’s talented artisans tell us about the heirlooms and objects of art that have inspired them, shaped their lives, and informed their craft.

By Adrienne Perron, Brian Kevin, and Arielle Greenberg

Legacy Keeper

After a wild year, Aroostook musher Jonathan Nathaniel Hayes, champion of a canine hero and a Maine heritage breed, looks ahead to another ambitious challenge.

Interview by Brian Kevin

How Did Gulf of Maine Lobster Get Canceled?

And does it matter? A look at the red-listing of Maine’s iconic export — and the fallout.

By Kathryn Miles

Departments

North by East

The curtain comes down on a Belfast theater, a new children’s book salutes Maine’s very own Christmas song, and Rockland unveils an El Faro memorial. In Maine Dispatches, things are getting off the rails in Orneville.

Food and Drink

A Rockland chocolatier’s Maine-y Advent calendar, a reboot for Portland’s sky-high cocktail bar, and a Vassalboro brewery with lab leanings.

Good Things from Maine

A Portland ceramicist sculpts funky menorahs, and a printmaker in Brooks turns out folksy designs. Plus, fuzzy fleece neck warmers with flair.

Maine Homes

Tour a Cape Elizabeth muralist’s 1952 Cape, a cute-as-a-button Portland artist’s studio, and block after block of festive holiday-lighting displays.

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Where In Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, reader feedback, responses to October’s Where in Maine, and more.

Columns

Books: 80 Years of We Took to the Woods; Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

USM director of choral studies Dr. Nicolás Alberto Dosman, on Portland Head Light.

On Our Cover: Snow-covered branches in Acadia National Park, by John K. Putnam.

Additional photos: Jason Frank, Benjamin Williamson, and Tara Rice.

Buy This Issue!

Taking the Long View

An aerial photographer took to the skies to capture Maine’s stunning, surreal, and vulnerable coastline, offering a unique perspective on Maine communities anticipating the effects of sea-level rise.

Photographed by Alex MacLean | Text by Kate Cough

Tales from the Borderlands

More than 600 miles of international border separates Maine from Quebec and New Brunswick. But for the people who live on either side, that line isn’t a source of division so much as an axis of connection.

by Will Grunewald, Brian Kevin, Joyce Kryszak, Mary Pols, and David Shribman

The Walk

In 1972, little-known Bangor mayor Bill Cohen set out on a walk clear across the state to convince voters to send him to Washington. A new book looks back at the 650-mile jaunt that became a Maine political tradition.

Special Advertising section: Ask an Artisan

You can’t go wrong giving handmade gifts — and three Maine artisans have the scoop on what to look for this holiday season.

By Tina Fischer

Paid Content Section: Nonprofit Spotlights

Departments

North by East

The endurance junkie running every Portland street, the ironic trend lifting L.L.Bean tote sales, and the exhibition showing off a different side of Alex Katz. Plus, in Maine Dispatches, puffins are flying high again.

Food and Drink

A farmer embraces tartness in an organic cranberry bog. A couple of restaurateurs serve up super-local (and super-good) meals at Camden’s wolfpeach. Collectors look out for lighthouse-shaped bottles of Maine’s favorite coffee liqueur.

Good Things from Maine

A Penobscot elder makes birch-bark moose calls, and four artists break the mold with stained glass. Also, come for the oysters and stay for a downtown Damariscotta shopping spree.

Maine Homes

A colorful cottage in Sullivan, a tunnel of gourds in New Gloucester, and mini-houses in everyone’s backyards.

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Where In Maine

Maine Moment

Dooryard

Editor’s note, reader feedback, responses to September’s Where in Maine, and more.

Columns

My Maine: Cheney, Matthiessen, and Me; Room With a View.

My Favorite Place

Artist Ian Trask, on the organic garden at Bowdoin College.

On Our Cover: Saltwater marsh in Wells, by Alex MacLean.

Additional photos: Alex MacLean, Hannah Hoggatt, and Benjamin Williamson.

Buy This Issue!