Reinventing Rockland
A decade after its artistic and commercial renaissance, the ?Lobster Capital of the World? is experiencing growing pains.
By Virginia Wright
Melody Wolfertz left home in 1982 a newly minted high-school graduate with dreams of becoming a chef. That would never happen in Rockland, where the only restaurant offering fare more adventuresome than chowder had closed after six months. No wonder. The depressed fishing town's Main Street was patrolled by motorcycle gangs and young toughs leading Dobermans, and neither group had a reputation for gastronomy. Moreover, they scared the dickens out of those who did.So Wolfertz said farewell to Rockland, earned a degree at the Culinary Institute of America, and set out to see America.
