Down East magazine, has been publishing since August 1954, and continues as one of Maine's most prominent monthly magazines. Their web site's history page provides the following description:

"The goal of Down East has always been to hold a mirror up to Maine — its storied past and lively present — and to celebrate its flinty, independent character and unhurried way of life. As Maine has changed with the times, however, so has Down East. Today the state has come to embrace its future as well as its past. Accordingly, the magazine now focuses more on contemporary Maine life and what the future might bring and less on historical background and quaint rusticity. Booming circulation and advertising gains demonstrate the wisdom of this editorial shift."

Portland Public Library's collection of Down East is complete, and begins with the first issue, August 1954. The hard copies are available in the Portland Room.

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Submissions from 1993

Hibbert's Gore, located in the upper righthand corner of Lincoln County, is one, Richard Shew

In 1895, publisher Joseph Pulitzer purchased Chatwold in Bar Harbor from Mrs. Lo, G W. Helfrich

Irrepressible Maine painter, the late Waldo Peirce, created a robust North Woods, Martha Severens

James Browning Wyeth, 46, owns both a 300-acre island between Monhegan and the m, Beth Crichlow

John S. Blank III was 14 years old when he started working for the Eastern Steam, John S. Blank

Jonesport and Beals Island high school basketball teams started winning champion, Michael Brosnan

Joseph Peavey invented the peavey, a log-driving tool, in 1858, but what cheated, Elizabeth Peavey

Lynn Butler, whose photographs have appeared in Life magazine and featured in ex, Beth Crichlow

Maine author Franklin F. Gould recalls his first glimpse of the "outside world", Franklin F. Gould

Maine fishermen soon will be able to buy their live bait from vending machines.

Maine has 27 licensed whitewater rafting companies operating on the Kennebec, Pe, Beth Crichlow

Maine's most visible wild rose is Rosa rugosa, but the state is home to other sp, Jane Lamb

Maine's venerable summer camp tradition continues to flourish on the state's riv, Jeff Clark

Master gardener Eliot Coleman of Cape Rosier is the author of two best-selling b, Jeff Clark

MBNA America Bank, the nation's second-largest bank credit card company, recentl, Jeff Clark

Michael Gagne has been chef-manager of the Osprey restaurant in Georgetown for s, Beth Crichlow

Mount Blue State Park, with 5,000 acres on the shores of Lake Webb and miles of, Sarah Scott

Nearly 30 years ago, Harry Foote left his editor's job at the Portland Press Her, Jeff Shula

"North by East" piece reporting that Maine has 600 more miles of coastline than

On August 6, 1893, the stone facing inside the Portland Water Company's Munjoy R, William David Barry

Over the past century, Bar Harbor, once one of the great watering holes for Amer, Nan Lincoln

Pamela and Peter Plumb, who came to Portland in 1969, expecting to stay only bri, Beth Crichlow

People for People, a volunteer Christmas project begun in 1987 by Chris Greene a, Jeff Clark

Picture essay showing spring's arrival in the town of Appleton., Richard Procopio

Profile of author B.J. Morrison of Bar Harbor, plus a review of her most recent, Andy Newman

Profile of Charlie Jones, proprieter of Penobscot Air Service from 1984 until he, Margot Brown McWilliams

Profile of Dorothy E. Stevens, 69, longtime Democratic selectwoman of Kennebunk., Christine Kukka

Profile of Forest Hart, 49, of Hampden, who is internationally acclaimed for his, Audrey Minutolo

Profile of Harbor Farm Inc. of Little Deer Isle, the offbeat mail-order company, Jeff Clark

Profile of H.G. Walls and Son Flower Shop in Northeast Harbor., Deborah Dalfonso

Profile of Roger Majorowicz, 61, of North Whitefield, who turns raw metal and pi, Andrew Vietze

Profile of the Penobscot School in Rockland, an innovative center for foreign la, Sarah Scott

Profile of the Samoset Resort in Rockport, with a focus on its golf course, whic, Michael Brosnan

Profile of William Thon, 87, of Port Clyde, an artist who has won almost every p, Margot Brown McWilliams

Profiles of some of Maine's abandoned houses, including a Greek Revival homestea

Related articles on the Children's Museum of Maine, which has moved into a new f, Jeff Clark

Review of Penobscot River Renaissance by James E. Butler and Arthur Taylor., Gene Letourneau

Review of "The Hard Way," by Alexander B. Brook., Jay Davis

Seven rare antique protraits by Maine photographer Chansonetta Stanley Emmons ar

Sir Harry Oakes, a native of Sangerville, was found dead in his palatial oceanfr, Jeff Clark

Snow and Nealley, established in 1864 in Bangor by Charles Snow and Edward Bowdo, James P. Brown

Special section on Maine real estate by the editors of Down East with the Maine

The A-1 Diner in Gardiner, owned by Michael Giberson, 41, and Neil Anderson, 31,, Michael Brosnan

The Arrows restaurant in Ogunquit is a four-star favorite among discerning diner, Beth Crichlow

The author, a summer resident of Cark Island, recounts his adventures on a 1944, Albert L. Nickerson

The beaver, brought to the verge of extinction in the last century because of th, Sarah Scott

The Breakwater estate on Mount Desert Island was built in 1904 by John Innes Kan, Nan Lincoln

The great covered bridge that spanned the Kennebec River between Madison and Ans, Ellen MacDonald Ward

The heyday of granite quarrying on Maine islands came and went late in the ninet, Nicols Fox

The magnificent Sparhawk Hall, now only a memory, was built in 1742 by Sir Willi, Ellen MacDonald Ward