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In North Haven, residents battle to save the boatyard
at the center of almost everything. Read the story here.

Emily Lewis looks out at destroyed docks on the ferry ride into North Haven on Friday. Lewis, her daughter and son-in-law came out for the day to check how their homes fared the week’s earlier storm.
Kim Alexander walks down the dock toward Brown’s Boatyard on Friday. Brown’s Boatyard, a North Haven waterfront institution for more than a century, was in danger of losing their boat shop to the sea in Saturday’s storm. The building, built in 1855, was significantly damaged in a storm earlier in the week.
Friends, community members and family work on removing debris from around the boat shop Friday at Brown’s Boatyard.
Kim Alexander points out where the water was up to inside of the boat shop during Wednesday’s storm at Brown’s Boatyard. The high waterline from big storms in the 1970s and 1990s can be seen below.
Ira Warren, who lives on Vinalhaven, works on stabilizing the boat shop at Brown’s Boatyard on Friday, before the next day’s storm. Warren said Foy Brown has been working on his lobster boat for 40 years. “Anything I can do to help them,” he said.
Volunteer Josh Ryan hoists a beam in the boat shop through the large crack between the floor and wall Friday. Family members, former employees, and community members worked Friday and Saturday morning trying to stabilize the building to withstand the high waters and wind.
A group of men from the community works on stabilizing the boat shop Friday at Brown’s Boatyard before the next day’s storm. Brown family founded the company in 1888 and they moved into the boat shop in 1901. The building itself is about 150 years old, before it became the boat shop it was a clamming factory.
Kim Alexander looks at the photos of the boatyard crew over the last 124 years inside the office at Brown’s Boatyard before the next day’s storm.
A child climbs back up a ladder to the dock at Brown’s Boatyard on Friday.
A volunteer helps work on stabilizing the floor inside the boat shop Friday at Brown’s Boatyard.
Alex Barbour, left, and Matt Hayes work on stabilizing the boat shop floor from underneath the building at low tide Friday at Brown’s Boatyard. Both Hayes and Barbour live in Portland now but spent many years working at the boat yard. They decided to come back to the island to help try to secure the boat shop before Saturday’s storm.
The last light of the day shines into the boat shop at Brown’s Boatyard on Friday.
Sierra Jolly, right, and Joseph Racz say goodbye to Adam Alexander, far left, after spending the day helping prepare for the following day’s storm at Brown’s Boatyard on Friday. Jolly moved to the island from South Carolina and works at the boat yard.
Connor O’Neil records video from the Brown’s Boatyard dock on North Haven during the storm Saturday.
Hannah White helps carry out wood from the boat shop before it floods at high tide.
Hannah White, who is a sixth-generation Brown family member, right, and Foy E. Brown, second from right, a fifth-generation family member known as Little Foy, along with other volunteers, haul things to weigh down the floor inside the boat shop before high tide at noon Saturday.
Foy W. Brown sits inside the boat shop two and a half hours before the high tide during the storm on Saturday. Brown, along with his family and community members, had just finished up securing and stabilizing the boat shop the best they could and removing anything valuable. Brown had his last look at the shop then went to wait out the high tide at home.
Volunteers from the community leave to wait out the high tide at home after spending the morning helping the Brown family in the boat shop during the storm on Saturday.
Rachael Brown watches the tide creep up from a window in their store during the storm on Saturday.
Community members sit in their vehicles in the ferry lot as they watch the boat shop weather the storm at high tide on Saturday.
Community members look at the flooding around Brown’s Boatyard at high tide during the storm on Saturday.
Foy W. Brown watches as the flooding around his family’s boat yard at high tide during the storm on Saturday.
Foy W. Brown surveys the damage after the tide receded during Saturday’s storm. The shop, where Foy has spent most of his 77 years, survived the storm.
Adam Alexander, left, his mother, Kim Alexander, right, and his son Sigmund Alexander, 11, walk past debris left behind from the flooding around the boatyard.
Kim Alexander, center, talks to her grandson Sigmund Alexander, 11, inside of the boat shop on Saturday. The shop survived the second storm of the week. Sigmund, who is part of the sixth generation of the family, will start officially working at the boat yard this coming summer.
Karen Cooper, right, hugs her aunt Kim Alexander as they greet each other at the boatyard after the flooding receded from Saturday’s storm.

Brianna was born and raised in Nebraska and became interested in photography in elementary school when her art teacher gave her a camera to document their fifth grade class. After college she interned...

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