Millard Wardwell: a Maine Trapper

Heading toward Stonington along back roads Friday afternoon, I spotted a garage laden with fourteen pairs of antlers and an American Flag. I asked my dad to stop and grabbed my Canon to take a better look. While framing the shot through my view finder, I heard a deep voice with a a Maine accent as thick as maple syrup pipe up, "There used to be a lot more of those (white-tailed deer) around here before the coyotes got out of control."

Startled, I looked over to the deck and spotted a man sitting in a chair wearing a camouflage shirt drinking and cup of coffee. I walked over to the deck and started talking about the one thing that I knew the American flag wearing sportsman would like to talk about, guns. "What did you get those caribou with?" I chimed.

The man's eyes lit up and he opened up in the way only an isolated backwoodsman can. We struck up a conversation that lasted forty five minutes and ranged from the current prices of martin pelts, Maine hunting and trapping legislation, and ethanol's effect on his truck's MPG.

Millard Wardwell has lived in Penobscot Maine for the last eighty years. His sister lives across the street. His three sons live within a 10 minute walk and his daughter lives on the adjoining property across the field. For thirty eight years Millard worked the night shift at the local paper mill. This left him to spend his days enjoying the Maine outdoors. Millard loves his LL Bean Real Tree shirt and Wrangler International jeans.

His Lacrosse Safety Toe Rubber Boots work in the mud and snow.

Millard served in the US Navy following VJ Day on a converted Destroyer sweeping for mines in the South Pacific.

Millard's well-loved Leatherman PST II. He has used it for the last fifteen years.

Millard showed us his trapping gear, including a demonstration of a Conibear 120, but that is another post.

Here are some more links,
The Man Behind Wardwell's Nuisance Animal Removal (Picasa),
A Pipe, a Remington Shotgun, and Man Named Butch (ART).

Maine Lobster Gear

When I first arrived in Maine in the fall of 2006, Colby played up the Maine aesthetic with an "all-you-can-eat" lobster and Gifford's ice cream cookout. I have never been a big fan of lobster itself and I found the whole spectacle grossly excessive environmentally speaking. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for Lobster, I am interested in the process and phenomena surrounding the "Maine Lobster," and its role in defining an identity for the state of Maine. When most people think of lobster gear they think of a bib, a nut cracker and melted butter, not hundreds of neon yellow cages, blaze orange rope and black and green buoys. I spotted this gear last weekend on the side of the road near Brunswick Maine, was moved by its vibrant colors and its often over looked importance.

The bright colors of this lobster gear contrast sharply with the gray water and white waves where they earn their keep.

Maine lobster men weather the elements year round to fish for lobster and this gear has to handle the punishments.

I love the blues and the reds, all we need is some white .

The finished project of Maine, a 1.5 pound lobster.

Here are some more links,
Lobster Gear (Picasa),

An Abandoned Boat on the Maine Coast

I spotted this boat lying in a field next to a deserted house in Harpswell Maine.

The house looked like it had been deserted awhile. Note the two abandoned Saabs.

I love how the leaves gathered in the eddies.

I wonder how old this dingy is? I am sure countless kids learned to sail in this dingy in the numerous protected bays along the Maine Coast.

This gaping hole once housed the boat's centerboard.

The cracks in yellow and white paint expose the boat's past colors.

If only this boat could tell its story.

Here are some more links,
A Boat in a Field in Harpswell Maine (Picasa),
Maine Coast (Winter) (Picasa).

Spring in Harpswell Maine

The snow is melting on the Maine shoreline. No longer do ice blocks litter the beaches like driftwood. Early Saturday morning, I walked around taking photos of Harpswell, a small, stereotypical Maine community centered around lobster fishing and tourism.

This shed has seen numerous Nor'easters, cold -22° winter storms, and hot Maine summers. The paint shows it.

Fog lying on Pole Island. If Rogues Gallery were a Maine fisherman, this is where he would live.

The modern Maine College preppy look; Vineyard Vines Tote, Jcrew sweatshirt and Madewell Jeans.

Maine Lobster boats.

Here are some more links,
Spring in Harpswell Maine (Picasa),
Maine Coast (in the Winter) (Picasa).