"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.
Submissions from 2023
Rescue Mission, Alix Morris and Tristan Spinski [photos]
Roads Less Traveled, Will Grunewald, Jesse Ellison, Sarah Stebbins, Kat Englishman, Adrienne Perron, K. E., Brian Kevin, and B. K.
Room With a View: An Everyday View, Mary Pols
Room With a View: A Wander in the Wetlands, Philip Conkling
Room With a View: Barter and Bread, Mary Pols
Room with a View: Cellarhole Melancholy, Philip Conkling
Room with a View: Family Tree, Mary Pols
Room With a View: Keeping it Working, Philip Conkling
Room with a View: Natives and Transplants, Philip Conkling
Room with a View: Still With Us, Philip Conkling
Room with a View: Swimming with Unease, Mary Pols
Room with a View: The Long Arc of Maine's Coastal Economy, Philip Conkling
Room with a View: Timber, Coal, Oil and Wind, Philip Conkling
Season Unseen, Ann Pollard Ranco
She Took to the Woods, Sara Anne Donnelly
Still Feisty, Brian Kevin
The Best of Maine, Down East staff writers
The Blue Hill Peninsula, Three Ways, Sarah Stebbins
The Islands Issue: A Perfect Weekend on Chebeague, Will Grunewald
The Islands Issue: A Perfect Weekend on Monhegan, Will Grunewald
The Islands Issue: A Perfect Weekend on North Haven, Adrienne Perron
The Islands Issue: A Perfect Weekend on Peaks Island, Adrienne Perron
The Islands Issue: Arriving at Esther and Emanuel, Florence Edwards
The Islands Issue: Boiling Point, Lindsay Crudele
The Islands Issue: Fall From Power?, Adrienne p
The Islands Issue [intro], Down East staff writers
The Islands Issue: Isle Have What He's Having, Will Grunewald
The Islands Issue: Raze the Roof, Jenny O'Connell
The Islands Issue: Rock of Ages, Laura Poppick
The Islands Issue: Scent Way Out to Sea, Kimberly Ridley
The Islands Issue: Self-Marooned on Sometimes Island, Brian Kevin
The Islands Issue: The Legend of Charlemagne, Mary Pols
The Islands Issue: The Maine Coast's Best Bar isn't a Bar At All, Brian Kevin
The Lost Island, Jaed Coffin
The New Maine Classics, Down East staff writers
The Phantom of the Allagash, Andrew Vietze
The State of Beer, Will Grunewald, Joel Crabtree, J. C., W. G., Kate McCarty, Joe Ricchio, and Down East staff writers
The Way Love Should Be?, Brian Kevin, Bridget M. Burns, and B. K.
The World Through Kaleidoscope Eyes, Will Grunewald
This Woman Wants to Destroy Your Lawn, Peter Andrey Smith
Tree for All, Virginia Wright
Two Mentors, One Rocky Start, Will Grunewald
Waterville Under the Bridge, Alexandra Hall
Wet, Hot Lakeside Summer, Jaed Coffin and Mat Trogner [photos]
What Was the Art Colony?, Brian Kevin
What We Talk About When We Talk About Character, Jesse Ellison
When Blue Hill Turns to Gold, Dave Waddell [photos] and Brian Kevin [text]
Where There's a Mill, is There a Way?, Kathryn Miles
Winter People, Adrienne Perron
Wonder Drugstore, Nick Thomas