Where in Maine?

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“You never know who you’re going to be riding with on the barge,” says a member of the family who has provided mail boat, ferry, and freight service to a small archipelago for three generations. Your fellow passenger may be a revered artist, a beloved poet, or the wealthy CEO of one of world’s largest corporations. That’s the kind of folk who summer on the isles, which are roughly two miles offshore from where this barge is about to sail. The barge is part of the only boat line in the area offering a regular year-round schedule, so it plays a key role in sustaining the small community of fishing families who live on two of the islands. As for the harbor, it has a long history as a destination for recreational sailors. Filled with art galleries and boutiques, the little hamlet was once nicknamed “Philadelphia on the Rocks” because so many of its elite summer denizens hailed from Pennsylvania.

If you can identify this barge and the harbor it calls home, send us a note at P.O. Box 679, Camden, ME 04843; whip off an email to editorial@downeast.com; or post a comment below. We’ll feature our favorite letter in an upcoming issue — and send the winner a Down East wall calendar.

Photographed by Pat & Chuck Blackley