Virginia M. Wright

Camden

Freelance Features Writer and Editor at Freelance

Contributing Editor at Down East Magazine

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Articles

In Farmingdale, a Verdant Spectacle Plays Out for Passing Motorists

1 week ago | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright

Ellen Jackson lives on a busy road in Farmingdale, but her home seems to float above the din, tucked behind a curtain of lilac, mock orange, and sour-cherry blossoms. Like many first-time visitors, I breezed past her driveway, realizing I missed it when I caught a flash of white picket fence between the flower-laden branches.
How Ski Bums Bucked State Control and Founded the Town of Carrabassett Valley

Dec 23, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright

To the untrained eye, the town of Carrabassett Valley might not look like much of a town at all, author Virginia M. Wright points out at the start of A Town Built by Ski Bums: The Story of Carrabassett Valley, Maine. There’s Sugarloaf, of course, the state’s tallest ski mountain and the reason that the local population of fewer than 700 swells to some 10,000 on prime snowy weekends.
Tall, Wispy Blooms Create a Meadow-Like Backyard in South Portland

Sep 20, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright |come September

James McCain’s garden reaches its final, glorious crescendo in September. Raspberry and deep-blue spikes of mountain fleece and lobelia poke through a meadowy tangle of yellow daisy-like sneezeweeds, purple and white coneflowers, and mauve dwarf Joe Pye weeds. Shrubby clusters of violet-blue October Sky asters are paced like stanchions along the borders’ edge as if to hold back the ebullient crowd. Bees and butterflies enjoy their last hurrah too.
A New Bangor Vintage Shop Stitches Together a Collaborative Approach to Thrifting

Sep 18, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright

Jess Stuart is a self-confessed “over-buyer.” Her wardrobe recently included more than 250 pairs of jeans. Josey Bornstein, by contrast, has sworn off purchasing new apparel on account of the environmental damage wreaked by billions of pounds of clothing discarded in the U.S. each year.
100 Years of the Portland Symphony Orchestra

Sep 4, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright

To kick off the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s 100th anniversary this month, music director Eckart Preu will conduct Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony alongside his longest-serving predecessors: Bruce Hangen and Robert Moody, who each led the orchestra for 10 years, and Toshi Shimada, who directed for 20 years. “Each of us will conduct a movement, and it’ll be interesting to see how each shapes the orchestra,” says Preu, who’s held the baton since 2019.
Is This the Maine-iest Bite Ever?

Aug 9, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright |in Boothbay

Since Shannon’s Unshelled seafood shack opened a decade ago, customers have been able to wash down their lobster rolls with Maine’s official state soft drink: bitter, gentian-root–flavored Moxie, sold in arresting orange-labeled cans. Now, they can savor the love-it-or-hate-it soda atop their sandwiches too, in the form of a Moxie glaze. Shannon’s, a small shack in Boothbay, built its reputation on a signature offering: undressed lobster overflowing a griddled hot-dog bun.
Eric Darling Untangles How to Turn Old Lobstering Lines into Vivid Landscapes

Aug 6, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright

Eric Darling used to paint a surreal black-and-white world populated by “the Skullys,” a grim clan equipped with expressionless, oversized skulls on otherwise ordinary bodies. When he moved to the midcoast from New Hampshire, 13 years ago, Darling told a friend that Maine wouldn’t influence his art. “No way,” he insisted.
H. Allen Fernald's Favorite Maine Place

Jul 29, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright

H. Allen and Sally Fernald didn’t care for the magazine Sally’s father gifted them when they moved to the New York suburbs in the 1960s. A young publication heavy on folksy ruminations and schooner histories, Down East didn’t reflect the Maine lives they’d lived — Allen as a summer resident of Kezar Lake since childhood, Sally as a native of Southwest Harbor, and both as University of Maine grads. They let their subscription expire.
In Augusta, This Wooded Backyard Hosts Some of the Most Unusual Plants Around

Jul 29, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright

Thirteen years ago, Laura Boyett stepped onto the deck of a house for sale on Augusta’s Howard Hill, and her gaze settled upon the grove of hemlocks, maples, and ashes at the foot of the steeply sloping backyard. “I’d been under a lot of stress, and I felt the tension lift away,” she recalls.
In Hampden, Gardener Erin Clark Has Created a Fantasyland

Jul 8, 2024 | downeast.com | Virginia M. Wright

Erin Clark’s patio garden emphasizes layered mounds of soft colors and John Davis roses, a hardy climbing variety with delicate pink blossoms and a cascading habit. Clark took divisions from this garden to line the gravel path to “Sweet Pea Cottage,” her art studio, garden library, tea house, and rainy-day retreat. Erin Clark doesn’t know much about carpentry, but she has a green thumb and a knack for laying out a garden.