Shameless Plug: Matinicus

Matinicus is an island about 22 miles off of Rockland.  It’s remote to the point of frequent inaccessibility and the climate is brutal, unless 60-knot winds and 20-foot seas are your thing.  Only a few dozen residents have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out year-round. 

The place has quite a reputation.  It’s been in the news most recently because of a flare-up of lobster wars.

Eva Murray went out there in 1987 on a one-year teaching contract and has lived there ever since. 

(It is said there are two things which never come back from Matinicus:  a piece of lumber and a woman.)

For a number of years, Ms. Murray’s columns about life on Matinicus (everything except the lobster wars) have appeared in local publications.  She is insightful, sometimes blunt, frequently funny, and always honest. 

A lot of her writing gently prods this dichotomy:  In order to survive in a place as isolated and harsh as Matinicus, the same people who drill holes in each others’ lobster boats also have to pull together and work (sometimes literally shoulder to shoulder) for the good of the community. 

It’s fascinating.

Ms. Murray has (finally) published a collection of her columns (Well Out to Sea:  Year Round on Matinicus Island).  It’s a candid look at what is required, mostly behind the scenes, of everyone who lives out there.  Read it, and be prepared to feel inadequate and just a teensy bit spoiled.