Island skeletons

‘‘Tumblehome,’’ by Peter Ralston, a Rockport, Maine-based photographer and gallery owner.

“It was the first time I had walked that end of the island {Matinicus} and I was deeply moved by the old fishing camps up there. No cellar holes, just decaying remnants of what was once a thriving little seasonal community. 

“The place reeked of the past and I wandered in a reverie, surrounded by the evidence of so many lives lived and, now, gone.

“I beheld this particular juxtaposition of buildings and that was that.’’

Matinicus Isle Harbor in about 1908. The island is about 20 miles off the mainland. With an official population of 53, it’s the farthest out inhabited land off the U.S. East Coast, and is both a year-round community and a summer colony.