Four years ago, having just moved to my new home in Lubec, I went to work immediately on a vision I had nurtured for some time: Let’s stage a marathon here.

Folks with a handful of write-in votes have been nudged into office.

Cobscook Bay State Park draws Mainers and others year after year, offering the quiet seclusion of softwood forest with easy access to one of the most dynamic bodies of water in Maine.

Maybe it is a Maine thing, or an island thing, or just not a Connecticut thing, because I was definitely deprived of this creative outlet as a child.

Margaret Wise Brown, author of such children's classics as Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny and The Little Island, had a deep love for Vinalhaven.

Rita MacWilliam came to the tiny one-room, K-8 schoolhouse on Isle au Haut from a life of immersion in new cultural experiences that included working in other tiny schools in out-of-the-way settings.

A new type of ferry linking Winter Harbor and Bar Harbor that’s also a research platform was established by a woman of many roles. Kaitlyn Mullen is a prominent marine mammal observer, world traveler, doctor of ocean engineering, tour operation manager and captain and professional singer/songwriter.

In the 20 years she’s been operating her kayak business, Karen Francoeur estimates she has introduced well over 1,000 people to the joys of paddling on Maine waters.

Arts organizations, drawing people to events, exhibits, classes and more, are the seeds for healthy, diversified growth…