REMARKABLE – SEPTEMBER 2008

By Joshua Bodwell

Photography Trent Bell

Life on the islands of Casco Bay

Maine is defined by its bond to the sea. And with that link comes a natural connection its islands. Casco Bay dominates the state’s southern coast, and it is peppered with dozens of various-sized island’s. Whether large or small, close to the mainland or miles out to sea, each of the bay’s many islands possesses its own unique personality.

In the summer, no matter the time of day, Fridays on the Casco Bay Lines ferries are busy. In early July, the pier is a hubbub of island homeowners, summer visitors, and day-trippers. Restless teens toss a bright football back and forth over the heads of waiting passengers. A young couple snuggles on a bench, all entwined fingers and kisses on necks. One bench away, white-haired retirees compare maps and travel brochures. A bearded dude in paint-splattered cargo shorts with a paint scraper in his back pocket paces the pier; with one hand he munches a white-bread sandwich and from the other hand dangles a grocery bag with a six-pack of Twisted Tea. Several island dwellers pull two-wheeled plastic carts and others tug along anxious dogs.

Suddenly, everyone boards the yellow-and-white ferry and settles. The horn sounds a single blast, the gangway creaks, white water churns at the stern, and the boat shoves off.

From Casco Bay, the Portland skyline quickly becomes a Cubist work in shades of brick and concrete. The air cools and a breeze washes over the passengers—many close their eyes as though the salt wind is a salve for the soul.

The dock at Peaks Island is bustling. As islanders trudge up the hill to their homes, others pause to consult their maps. At 720 acres, the island is home to roughly 1,000 year-round residents, although it swells to five times that number in the summer months. In addition to the elementary school, post office, and markets, there are gift shops, restaurants, bicycle rentals, and a laundromat. The island is so close to Portland—just fifteen minutes across the water—that it feels almost like a borough of the mainland city.

Just around the corner from the ferry landing—past Hannigan’s Island Market, where the motto is We don’t have it…you don’t need it—is Michael Bell and Rafael Gonzales’s charming summer home. The couple, who live in Washington, DC, bought their turn-of-the-century house in 2004—but many locals, who aren’t quick to change, still refer to the house as “Dolores’s place” after its former owner. With the help of Peaks-based Thompson Johnson Woodworks, however, Bell and Gonzales have brought a fresh breath of air into the once languishing home.

“The interior was dark, dark, dark,” remembers Bell, an interior designer. Builder Harvey Johnson laughs and adds, “I think we did as much painting as we did carpentry on this project.”

“Beyond the few structural details we had to take care of, we were executing Michael and Rafael’s vision,” says Johnson’s partner, Heather Thompson. “It helped that they have such great taste.”

The home is simple, summery, and guest-friendly. White beadboard and sisal rugs abound. The design is bright and spare, and yet the communal spaces retain a cozy quality. The four second-floor bedrooms are so inviting that Bell and Gonzales’s respective families beat a nearly continual path to their door throughout the summer months.

“I really feel like this house has regained its energy,” says Gonzales, who credits Thompson Johnson with making a quick turnaround on the long-distance project. “It was a professional relationship that turned into a friendship,” says Bell.

“We just love being on the edge of Portland. It’s a very sophisticated little city with great art and great food,” says Bell. “But you can’t beat island life. The ferry is the great common denominator. We talk to more people in two weeks here than we do in a whole year in DC!”

Back on the ferry, a few stops later and bit farther out to sea, Diamond Cove’s small pier on the northeastern tip of Great Diamond Island is quiet and calm. Unlike other parts of the island, this end offers little for the casual day-tripper beyond Diamond’s Edge, the seasonal four-star restaurant, and the neighboring Great Diamond Island General Store.

From the turn of the century until 1945, Diamond Cove was home to more than 1,000 soldiers stationed at the U.S. Army’s Fort McKinley. Handsome brick buildings, wide porches, and slate roofs define the now-defunct fort. Once rotting from neglect, the former barracks and officer’s quarters have not only been restored, but they are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Entirely privately owned, Diamond Cove is full of summer homes as well as a dedicated group of year-round residents.

Encircling the grand old parade grounds, many buildings still bear the mark of their war-era lives, including the little two-bay brick firehouse that was reinvented as a home by architect Peter Edwards of the Rockport firm Bernhard & Priestly. Past the grounds and down the hill through thick woods is Jonathan and Bonnie Dietz’s year-round waterside home, a residence with no connection to the Army base but surprising roots of its own.

In 1994, Life magazine commissioned nationally recognized architect and Shingle Style aficionado Robert A.M. Stern to design a “Dream House.” The house and plans that Stern’s New York City firm created harkened back to the architectural traditions of the era prior to World War II—an appropriate fit for Diamond Cove.

As the daughter of a builder, Bonnie knew her way around home construction. After Jonathan taught himself how to use CAD Design software, the couple customized Stern’s house plans to fit the needs of their own lifestyle. The Dietzes say their great luck was finding Jamie Goduti of Goduti Building Company to execute their vision. Though the house was Goduti’s first on Diamond Cove, the quality of his work and positive word-of-mouth recommendations led to nearly six years of consistent employment on the island. “You can’t work in a more scenic area,” says Goduti.

Just to be safe, the decidedly simple island home was built to hurricane standards, with double-sealed doors and windows. The interior includes hardwood floors and custom molding and millwork throughout. The nine-foot-high ceilings add an air of grandeur, as do the seven-and-a-half-foot doorways. “This house is full of traditional favorites that you don’t always find in homes today,” says Goduti. He points out the beadboard pantry, Vermont Soapstone counters in the Kennebec Company designed kitchen, and split Dutch door at the front entry from A.E. Sampson & Son.

The exterior details include deep overhangs, oversized window boxes, and subtle wave patterns in the shingles. A stunning, thirty-foot porch dominates the home’s ocean-facing side, offering views across the water to Falmouth.

Since construction was completed in July 2001, the island home has been the Dietzes year-round residence. It is a quiet life. Seasonally, Jonathan commutes to work on his lobster boat, which is moored just outside the bedroom window. “You have to think a bit more and keep organized,” says Bonnie of island life. “It takes a bit more planning, but it’s worth it.” She pauses for a moment, and the air fills with the gentlessounds of leaves rustling and waves lapping the shore below.

Beyond Diamond Cove, a full six miles out to sea (about a forty-five-minute ferry ride) is Long Island—so named because it is just one mile wide and three miles long. It is a place where time has seemingly stood still. While Peaks has danced with the idea of secession over the years, Long Island won its independence from the City of Portland in 1993, making it Maine’s first new town in nearly seventy years. The independence has allowed Long Islanders to control their destiny—and their own taxes.

The island is home to just 250 year-round residents, but the tide of summer folk swells the population to more than 1,000. Day-trippers are drawn to South Beach, where the extremely fine sand “sings” as you shuffle your feet. While the island is a popular jaunt for tourists, Peter Thornton, an associate at Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, points out that Long Island’s rugged though peaceful character is derived from the many hard-working island families who continue to this day to make their living from the sea.

Thornton has spent the past sixty-two summers of his life on Long Island. “Since I was 3 years old,” reflects the Portland native. His family home on the island, built in the late 1800s, has been passed down through several generations. “I grew up playing here in the summer,” he says, “and now my grandchildren do.” The Thornton family home sits on the desirable west end of the island where the high crest of land meets the exceptional summer sun.

The community values, says Thornton, are particularly strong on Long Island. “We just raised $850,000 to build a new library out here,” he marvels. The “small town” quality has heightened Thornton’s attention to detail in his real-estate practices: “You work hard not to make a mistake,” he jokes, “because you run into everyone on the ferry!” Over his thirty years in the business, Thornton has made island properties his specialty.

No matter whether it is on Peaks Island, Diamond Cove, or Long Island, one certainty is that they are not making any more land in Maine, which has made the islands of Casco Bay particularly precious to the families who live on them. The homes are never sold willy-nilly, and many are handed down from generation to generation.

Island life seems to unfold in a suspension of time. The constantly lapping waves seem to buoy the islands up. The sea birds skim the water and remind us of life’s precious balance. The sun feels, if not stronger, just a little bit brighter. And yes, the salt wind is a salve for the soul.