Feature - The Importance of Place

Text by Laurie LaMountain

When you enter the Winslow Homer Studio at Prouts Neck, in Scarborough, Maine, which has just undergone six years of painstaking restoration, the impression is one of stark simplicity. There are relatively few pieces of furniture and decor left from the artist’s personal possessions, but as Kristen Levesque, director of public relations for the Portland Museum of Art, points out, the Studio is more about the importance of place. It is here, on the surf-battered coast of Maine that Winslow Homer lived and worked for the last twenty-seven years of his life. It is here that he found inspiration in nature and created some of his most iconic paintings.    read more >

Feature - Call It Classic

By Leigh MacMillen Hayes

I’ve been in love with cars since I was five years old and my father had a 1934 Packard with a rumble seat,” says Al Robblee of Fryeburg, a retired machinist. As a teenager in the ‘60s, Robblee wanted a cool car to get the girls and acquired a first-generation Ford Mustang. He laughs when he says, “Turned out I had better luck with cars than girls.”

 For a couple of years, he drove the ’65 Mustang, but eventually had to park the car because it needed too much work. Though he’s restored and sold other vehicles, he never had time for this particular one until about eight years ago. Finally, Robblee stripped it down to its bare body, shedding years of rust.  read more >

Feature - A Tale of Two Camps

Text by Leigh MacMillen Hayes

Wyonegonic Camps has withstood the test of time because of the values it honors, Camp Blazing Trail is still standing because of the people who value what it was.

Wyonegonic Camps, the oldest girls’ camp in the country, will celebrate its 110th season this year. Back in 1902, girls arrived via railroad, steamer and horse-drawn coaches. They wore bloomers and high-laced boots, but soon felt the earth between their toes.

Charles E. and Harriet Cobb founded the camp on Highland Lake in Bridgton. From 1904 until 1907, the Cobbs slowly grew and relocated it to the shores of Moose Pond in Denmark. Today, Wyonegonic Camps consists of three separate camps, which focus on water sports and outdoor trips plus a mix of traditional activities for girls between the ages of 8 and 18.   read more >