Spotlight Wiscasset

Salt ’n Spar
PHIL DI VECE with Bo.

Presidential campaigns just aren’t what they used to be. Listen, campaigning using television, radio, social media, telephone calls and knocking on doors are child’s play compared to…

Rebekah's ex made her cast her eyes downward when she was out in public with him. LISA KRISTOFF/Boothbay Register

Why don't they leave? This is…

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Looking out into Broad Cove. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper

Nine years ago, I first told you about Wiscasset’s Eaton Farm Preserve, a part of Chewonki Foundation’s Back River Trail System. Bo, my dog and I returned there recently to see how the network of…

Red, white and blue signs, some with stars, stripes, or both, fill a window at Craig and Laurie Winslow’s commercial building at 51 Water St. in Wiscasset. The signs declare local pets’…

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Do you remember when little Alna, Maine was home to an eclectic gathering of mule and donkey owners? The daylong celebration was called fittingly enough, The State of Maine Mule and Donkey Day. It…

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It’s with a heavy heart I note the recent passing of Dean Shea, an old friend and Wiscasset neighbor. I’ll miss his charm, wit, story-telling and commonsense advice. Dean was a great deal of help…

Could Wiscasset’s long-held, ex-Maine Yankee land become a “Great American Neighborhood” with 110 units for a range of incomes and life stages? In a July 25 letter to Town Manager…
From the assistant editor
The spot where last week’s serious crash occurred in Woolwich, at Route…
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I wonder if anyone still tells ghost stories around the campfire? This used to be one of the rites of summertime; like toasting marshmallows and sleeping under the stars when it grew too hot and…

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This time last year I wrote a column asking whether there might be any takers for Wiscasset’s Boston Post Cane. You know, the time-honored tradition of passing a ceremonial walking stick to the…

Press release

The Fund to Support Historic Alna (FSHA) is pleased to announce that painting of Alna’s historic 1789 meetinghouse has been completed. The meetinghouse was painted by Hopkins…

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As the saying goes, one picture is worth a thousand words. Since I first picked up a camera 50 years ago I’ve probably taken 10,000 or more pictures, many of them for the newspapers in the…

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Let’s talk worms, marine worms that is – “blood” and “sand” – prized bait for saltwater sports fishermen and that fetch between $12 and $15 a dozen on the Jersey shore. Once upon a time Wiscasset…

Wiscasset Middle High School (WMHS) seniors walked across the stage, received a diploma and shared joy with Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson, School Committee Chair Jason Putnam and Class…

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It never ceases to amaze me what you can find online as was the case the other day when I was searching for one thing and came up with something else altogether – a 20-page eulogy delivered in…

Press release

The Old Ferry Road Culvert Replacement is a significant step towards our shared vision of a sustainable and thriving community. This project illustrates the Town’s commitment…

Kacey Mullins of Wiscasset waxes enthusiastic about his profession of harvesting blood

Donna Footer's journey as an educator began in her hometown of Melrose, Massachusetts. From a young age, she knew she wanted to become a teacher and this was a dream that became a goal…

Gravity is a friend of wastewater treatment plants, which is why the facilities are typically placed at low elevations, often along Maine’s extensive coastline.

Placing them in low-lying…

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Let’s return again to the quiet community of Edgecomb where our neighbors across the Sheepscot River are celebrating their Semiquincentennial, that is to say the town’s 250th birthday. We’re going…

The future of our town is in your hands! Wiscasset is embarking on a journey to shape its future through comprehensive planning, and we need your valuable input to make it happen.

The…

March 29 in a Wiscasset home, a grassroots committee was talking dirt pie-eating, a worm-themed relay race, carnival fare and games, an exhibit on Wiscasset worm digging history, a possible beer…

Willow Orr’s mother Michele Colson tells the Wiscasset 10-year-old about every donation that comes in. “I feel that it’s good for her to know how much she’s loved and supported, because she’s…

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Friday, the 13th in March 1981 was a lucky day for some of the candidates running for Wiscasset town office and a not so lucky day for the others who lost. Take it from me it was actually one of…

Plans call for New England Clean Energy Connect to get Alna officials a contract proposal soon, as the hydropower transmission line project nears town. Town officials, residents and project…

A group of community-minded volunteers are in the early stages of planning the return of Wiscasset’s Schoonerfest, celebration of the town’s seafaring past and present-day working waterfront.…

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In January, I received an email from Ryan Gahagan, president of Mason Station Redevelopment Company LLC, based in Portland. His comments were in response to publication of a column I’d written…

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Let’s turn our attention to the town of Edgecomb where our neighbors across the Sheepscot River are celebrating their town’s 250th birthday. Mark your calendar: A town-wide birthday party is…

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Not so long ago, Maine winters were a lot colder. Around this time of year the mercury would plunge far below freezing and stay that way for days, sometimes weeks even here on the coast. Around…

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Once upon a time there was the Wiscasset Theater, a movie house downtown offering more than just Hollywood films. Its front entrance didn’t have a glitzy marque of flashing lights, but inside…

Wiscasset selectmen

Wawenock LLC expects masonry work to be finished next March on its Main Street, Wiscasset building that shed hundreds of bricks in April 2021. Wawenock’s latest update to the town follows Town…

Silas Lehouillier of Edgecomb is a high school junior who knows his way around a kitchen. He has cooked with his family members since he was a child. His favorite dish to prepare is curry. He…

Press release

Wiscasset is pleased to announce the establishment of a pivotal role within our town management – the job of economic development director. This reflects the commitment of the town manager and…

Gary Dow, who has been associated with Boothbay Register/Wiscasset Newspaper as a graphic artist for 25 years, learned of the Lewiston mass shootings in a phone call from his son who lives in…

On Saturday, Sept. 30, about 25 people looked on as Richard DeVries, chair of the Wright Landing Committee, unveiled a plaque to honor longtime, former selectman George Richardson as the “founding…

Revisiting sending the Wawenock building’s owner a lawyer’s letter, Wiscasset selectmen…

Maine Yankee might or might not end up paying Wiscasset as much as the town has decided. Selectmen Sept. 13 passed new property valuations for the ex-nuclear plant. Sept. 14, Maine Yankee’s…

Wiscasset Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield plans to regularly release bulletins that share town governments news and other information. They will also appear at wiscasset.org and on the Wiscasset…

Despite Alna Second Selectman Steve Graham’s urging otherwise Aug. 24, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri blamed the code…

Saturday morning, Wiscasset’s Jan Flowers said she and husband Larry had just seen “things we never get to see from the road ... Beautiful, lot of pines, we saw the backs of houses that we’ve…

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Parishioners of Wiscasset’s First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, are celebrating their 250th anniversary. If you haven’t done so already mark Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 9 and 10…

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I was going through some papers the other day and came across a small but interesting pamphlet produced in 1994 by the town of Alna’s Bicentennial Committee. Alna is a part of Lincoln County and…

Take pride, Wiscasset, as people from all over Maine, and other parts of the country, came to peek inside our fascinating collection of homes on tour!

The weather on tour day, Saturday,…

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Three years from now on July 4, 2026, America will celebrate its "Semiquincentennial,” our nation’s 250th year of independence. Here in “Maine’s Prettiest Village,” there’s also a 250th birthday…

When Lucia Droby and other early organizers of Wiscasset Art Walk were planning its 2013, inaugural season, their strategy was to “start small and simple and then build the event, and to develop…

Boothbay Harbor WIndjammer Days Festival

Ahoy, Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days (WJD) fans! The 61st event is near and the Friends of Windjammer Days are now nailing down the final few details.

The Festival begins Sunday, June 25…

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“Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.”  Theodore Roosevelt

Not long ago, Larry Rines of Wiscasset telephoned…

Wiscasset selectmen

Two years ago, Susan Murray moved to Wiscasset from Pennsylvania. Tuesday night, May 16, she stepped up to the microphone at the selectmen’s…

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“Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits.” – Henry David Thoreau.

I had intended to write this Salt ’n Spar column last September but one thing led to another and I never got…