Wharfside

Stories from Portland Harbor's Working Waterfront

In 2016, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership and the Waterfront Alliance cooperatively supported a series of audio/visual stories that illuminate the many facets of Portland Harbor’s working waterfront.

Stories are produced by Galen Koch
Photography: Justin Levesque / Jenny Rebecca Nelson

Funded by Waterfront Alliance + Casco Bay Estuary Partnership

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Featured

A Port in Portland

In the late 1980s, the Waterfront Alliance began drafting recommendations for Portland's waterfront zones. Those recommendations laid the groundwork for the waterfront's future, and established the West Port Development Zone as an industrial working port.

Keeping the Lights On

EM1 Tony Robb and EM3 Alex Tade of the Coast Guard are in charge of keeping the lights burning at 22 lighthouses in Maine.

The Terminal

In the past four years there's been a lot of activity under the Casco Bay Bridge. The International Marine Terminal is now a fully operational freight facility, connecting Maine with the rest of North America and the North Atlantic.

Dredging the Slips

There's a lot of silt between Portland Harbor's wharves and piers, and some of it is very, very dirty. For decades, pier owners have worked to incite a collective effort to remove and dispose of this material. But once we remove it, where do we put it?

Nomad

Jim Buxton keeps his boat, Nomad, on a berth at Merrill's Wharf. In this story he shares his thoughts on Portland's changing waterfront and the importance of maritime work in Portland Harbor.

The Desert

On the end of Merrill's Wharf on Portland's waterfront there's an empty lot. This is The Desert, where ground fishermen stretch out and mend their trawl nets.

Gretchen Frank on Machigonne II

Gretchen Frank is the first mate senior designating deckhand on Machigonne II. Five days a week, seven runs a day, Gretchen directs cars and passengers onto the Casco Bay Lines ferry to Peaks Island, Maine.

The Workhorses

Ships come in-and-out of Portland Harbor daily carrying precious, and sometimes even hazardous, freight. This is the story of one ship's passage through the port and the tugboats, and crew, who make that trip possible.

SailMaine

A day on the water with SailMaine instructors and students on Casco Bay.

Leland Merrill on Widgery Wharf

Between Chandler's Wharf, to the east, and Union Wharf, to the west, there stands a narrow wooden pier, flanked by fish houses and lobster boats. It is here that Leland Merrill, a 92 year-old resident of Portland, worked for the past 66 years.