Story & Clark Organ Returns to Hurricane Island after 100 Years
Hurricane Island Updates
In 2012, on Bear Island in the northern part of Penobscot Bay, John McLeod and Steve Kredell, two architects from Middlebury, Vermont, gave light to an idea that had been percolating between them for many years. They had visited the island many years before with Jonathan Marvel, an architect from New York City who’s family owned it over the years. Bear Island already has a rich history of architecture and design, having been the summer home of Buckminster Fuller, an American architect, designer, and inventor who is best know for his geodesic domes and “Spaceship Earth”. Somewhere in the years that passed between their visit to this small Maine island, years that took them from a large firm in NYC and brought them together to form their own firm in Middlebury (McLeod Kredell Architects) and to begin teaching at local colleges, they decided to make this idea something real. The idea: to bring a group of students, architects, educators and builders together in a remote place, to live-design, build and install a community based project. With that, in 2012 the Bear Island Design Assembly (BIDA) was formed. In concept, it’s a design-build program, but the outcome, both in form, function, and at the core of the experiences, is something much more.
During the first year of the program in 2012, students designed and built benches for Bear Island and spent a day on Hurricane Island visiting a former Middlebury student and now former Hurricane Island Foundation employee, Addison Godine. The group helped in the early stages of design renovation of the Hurricane Galley and office space: demolition. It was through Addison that I became involved and, in 2013, was fortunate enough spend the latter part of the week during the construction phase of the project. It was there on Bear Island that I became intrigued and captured by the concept and execution of this program. As the program evolved a theme emerged of designing and building structures for year-round Maine island schools that had some agricultural connection. The projects in 2013 and 2014 were in the community of Islesboro Island for the Islesboro Central School, where a farm stand and two variations on chicken tractors were built. In 2015, the program moved further south down the bay to North Haven Island for a composting project, the result was the “Compost Commons”, or in relation to the form, the “compost towers”.
Throughout those first few years of the program many conversations took place between participants and instructors to look at the purpose, vision and mission of the program and to look forward at what it could become, as each year the program began to form and evolve and, as in architecture and design, the form and function work symbiotically together. In the late fall of 2015, John and Steve decided to move the program away from Bear Island to Hurricane Island. With the move they decided to change the name to the Island Design Assembly (IDA), a change that perhaps will allow the program to continually be nimble and innovative and to not be limited by geography or place.
On the final day of August, the group of 12 participants and 4 instructors took the Maine State Ferry to Vinalhaven Island to do a site visit at the Vinalhaven School and to meet with the superintendent of the school, Bruce Mailloux, and the Alan Koenig, the Facilities Manager to get an understanding of the project parameters, site location, and to get an sense of the island and school community. This year the purpose of the project was to create a “greenhouse” for the school that would provide both functional growing capabilities but also would serve as an educational space. As with all the projects to date, there is a direct connection between the a representative of the project and the instructors ahead of time to gain an understanding of the need of the project, how it is intended to be used, and what the ideal outcome would be. However, by intention there is no discussion about what the final product will be as that is the purpose of the program, to allow the design process the opportunity to develop something that is unique and that perhaps defies custom and convention.
From Vinalhaven, the group was transported to Hurricane to settle in and to begin to immerse themselves in the process of the Island Design Assembly. The classroom on Hurricane was transformed into a design studio where, over the course of the first 24 hours, the group dove into the design process where they discussed and developed a collective understanding of the project parameters and began forming concepts into scaled models to present and discuss, modify and change into a final design scheme that the collective agreed upon. The next stage is to break the design down into individual components, not only to create a material list, but also with the understanding that whatever is built within the project must be transported off Hurricane to Vinalhaven.
On day 4 the materials were delivered from Viking Lumber on Vinalhaven, transported to Hurricane and the building began. Under the direction of master builder Alex Carver (co-owner of Northern Timbers Construction), participants learned how to safely use hand and power tools and then divided into groups to start construction of the greenhouse structure and the “planterns.” The days were long, but the group found time to explore the island, take frequent swims in the Sound, and to get to know Hurricane.
The final day involved loading the component parts of the structure onto Hurricane’s boat, the Eastern Flyer and 5th Generation, to be transported to Carver’s Harbor on Vinalhaven. From there, the pieces were brought to school and assembled on location amidst the elementary school recess. Immediately there were students that were exploring the greenhouse and asking lots of questions with great excitement about starting garden clubs and planting seeds in the spring.
We are delighted to be able to support the Island Design Assembly on Hurricane and to continue to support the exciting and innovative design process that ultimately helps support the year round island communities and schools of Penobscot Bay. We are already looking forward to IDA 2017!
Like clockwork, the early days of September greeted us with the first cold northerly breeze of the season, a canary sign of the winter that lies ahead. We felt so fortunate to have had a wonderful fall season of programs on Hurricane, with busy days of students exploring the island and the sense of community that gives a certain sense of purpose and meaning to the island. But as October came around, the last of the students boarded M/V Equinox and it became time to start putting the island to bed for the winter.
There is a bitter-sweet feeling that comes with closing down the island as it marks the end of the season. It is a time for reflection and contemplation, for putting things in order and taking stock, and also a time to look ahead and assess and contemplate what the future may hold. It is a process that perhaps mimics the natural world, that we can observe in the species around us, a necessary preparation as the island too needs her time to rest and reflect over the long, cold months ahead.
The every mysterious "Bacon Brothers" make their yearly visit to the island, bringing bacon grease and joy with them. Little known fact: bacon grease and wigs are incredibly helpful when hauling floats.
It is no small undertaking to prepare the buildings and systems for the winter, but much work was done in a short amount of time with the help of the solid Hurricane crew of Josie, Chloe, Phoebe, Jenn, and, of course, Oakley and Silas (rumored to be part of the band of "Bacon Brothers", these suspicions have not been substantiated). Buildings were secured for the winter, wall tents dismantled and stored away, spaces were cleaned and organized, boats and floats hauled, and finally the water system drained and winterized. Much thanks goes to the Cabot Lyman and Chip Bauer of our Infrastructure Committee who have been vigilant and thoughtful about designing the systems to be simple yet robust to minimize, as much as possible, the daily and annual maintenance that is necessary to keep the island running. And much thanks to the staff for developing systems and procedures that make close-down smoother and smoother every year. It is comforting on the blustery winter nights to know that that Hurricane has been properly secured for the winter, and that the when we open the island back up in the Spring that everything will be ready to roll.
We still plan to visit island throughout the next few months to check on things as we move through the winter. Spending time on Hurricane in the winter is a wonderful experience and one of strong contrast to the days of July and August. Although the quiet and solitude of days on the island in the winter are beautiful in their own way, the busy days full of activity and students and programs are very much missed. It is a good reminder and inspiration to continue to develop the mission of this organization and to continue to build the community on Hurricane Island.
We are pleased to have received a grant from The Hopey’s Heart Foundation AED Grant Program for an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) that is currently in place on Hurricane.
Josie Gates, Oakley Jackson, Silas Rogers and Boomer. Hurricane Island Safety Squad
The Hopey’s Heart Foundation was formed in memory of Tina Charles’ late aunt Maureen “Hopey” Vaz, who died of multiple organ failure in 2013. Hopey was known for having a very giving heart and when her own heart failed it was a tragic loss to her family. The Hopey’s Heart Foundation was founded to prevent Sudden Cardiac Arrest from claiming the lives of promising student athletes and it is committed to providing AEDs nationally for the prevention of heart and other injuries in student and amateur athletes through the provision of health education and medical equipment in schools, community and recreational centers.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death in the United States, with nearly 383,000 out of hospital SCA’s occurring annually. Having an AED close by, especially in a remote environment like Hurricane, can mean the difference between life and death for a victim of SCA. Many victims appear healthy with no known heart disease or other risk factors. SCA is indiscriminate towards race, age & gender. With every minute that goes by, survival rates without AED and other medical intervention drop up to 10 percent. The American Heart Association has reported survival rates of 40-50% where AED programs have been successfully implemented.
We are committed to safety of our participants and the visitors who come to Hurricane Island and are extremely grateful to the Hopey’s Heart Foundation for providing us with this life saving resource that will be added to our rescue and medical equipment on the island. The majority of our staff has been trained in Wilderness First Aid, as Wilderness First Responders or as Wilderness EMT’s. We hope to never have to use the AED, but are grateful to have it as a resource in the event of an unfortunate emergency.
Thank you again to The Hopey’s Heart Foundation for providing this amazing and life saving opportunity.
Yesterday, Thursday, April 10, Sam and I finished installing the solar panels on the roof of the boathouse! The full array can generate 6 KW, and it powers our kitchen, galley, and the boathouse. This array will help us continue to operate with minimal fossil fuel dependency. It was a beautiful, sunny day on Hurricane, and we are excited to continue to prepare the island for our upcoming season.
Walt and Jason Day start the pile burning
On Sunday, the 9th of February, 2014, many years of debris that had been appropriately piled along the south end of the island was finally burned! The debris ran the gamut from endless hours of volunteer trail maintenance to old pallets and cast away material from many of the renovations that have occured as we update our facilities on the island. The weather was ideal, with light breezes out of the north and snow forecasted overnight. With the help of Jason, Walt, and Alex Day, Mike Mesko, Owen Williams, Barney, Maddie, and Sam Hallowell, Alice Anderson, Hannah Tannebring, and Ben Hoops the large pile swiftly vanished to expose the magical views from the south end. It is our hope to use this space to continue establishing vegetable gardens on the island using straw bales as our growing medium.
A view of the blaze from the cliffs above the quarry
The remains of the burn pile show a new vista from Hurricane!
In the fall of 2013 we continued to develop our power system by moving the solar panels from a portable rack-mounted system to a permanent roof-mounted array on the south-facing roof of the boathouse. This will allow us to maintain access to energy production year-round and provide us with opportunities to develop other systems and programs that rely on the power that is produced in every month of the year.
In early October 2013, a construction crew from Harbor Builders Associates put a new roof on the boathouse in preparation for the solar panel mounting rack and began renovating a room in the boathouse that became the “control center” for the power system. The control center is intended not only as a functional space for monitoring and maintaining the system components, but also as an educational resource to teach others about how this system works.
Later in October, Hurricane Island staff Sam Hallowell, with the expertise of Trevor Reiff from Lyman Technologies and with the help of Ben Hoops, installed the roof-mounted rack and began installing and wiring the solar panels. We expect that the system will be functional by the time that we open the island early in the spring 2014.
We recently finished a five-day sailing expedition for six new apprentices at the Apprenticeshop along with two current apprentices, Apprenticeshop staff, Hurricane staffer Sam Halowell, and Sarah Nutt. Participants sailed The Twins (two identical 28-foot lapstrake plank on frame boats designed by Nigel Irens of Scotland that are outfitted with multiple dagger boards and modern, interchangeable carbon-fiber sailing rigs) as an orientation expedition that focused on teamwork, community building, sailing, navigation, and seamanship. This orientation marked the beginning of a nine-month Core Apprenticeshop program focused on concepts of boatbuilding. The expedition started on Hurricane Island and finished at the Apprenticeshop in Rockland, Maine.