The Edge of Maine (16 page)

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As on many of Maine's prettier resort islands, friction between natives and newcomers is an old story. In
A Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast
the Tafts quote Michael Kinnicutt, whose distinguished family has come to Dark Harbor since the dawn of rustication, when the family would entrain from New York on the Bar Harbor Express a couple of days before Independence Day. Mr. Kinnicutt tells about a private steam yacht having dropped anchor off Dark Harbor within view of a salmon fisherman, busy setting his nets. Someone on the yacht waved the fisherman to approach, and the fisherman rowed over. “A fancy fellow climbed into the boat and told the fisherman to take him ashore. As they approached the shore, the passenger said, ‘My name is George Washington Childe Drexel and I just bought that land and intend to build a large house with stables.' The fisherman squarely regarded the passenger and replied, ‘My name is George Robeson, and this is my punt.'”

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A periwinkle fisherman “sucking snails” off Dark Harbor warned his friends via his website—using the handle Salty Dog—“BEWARE THE RICH FOLK!!” He cheerfully explains: Kirstie Alley was being taken in her boat from Islesboro to the Mainland. “Well, I made the mistake of passing her with my beat-up old dive boat and taking the prime spot on the public dock to unload my winkles. Well, she didn't have anything nice to say about my boat, me, or fishing folk and wanted me to move my boat to the end of the dock so it wasn't near hers! Well, needless to say I told her that if she didn't have anything nice to say, then she shouldn't say anything at all, and I was not about to move my boat till I was done! … Oh yeah, DON'T COOK WINKLES IN THE MICROWAVE!!! pop poP pOP POP!!!”

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Maine keeps a weather eye on its Islesboro celebs:
Down East
magazine put Travolta on its December 2001 Naughty List for Santa, “for being stopped for speeding on his way to a fast-food restaurant in Rockport.”