Josh Johnson, of Biddeford, had a front row seat to the start of Instagram. It begins, as it probably should, with a phone call from the two Instagram founders who were still figuring out what they had built. Josh Johnson had been posting every day—quietly, methodically—on an app that had barely introduced itself to the world. Three days after it launched, he downloaded it because someone on a podcast said it made photos look better. There were no hashtags yet, no search, no

Frank Coletti, owner of Coletti's Pizza in Biddeford, Maine, owns one of the most popular pizza shops in the state of Maine. At five years old, Frank lived through the 1980 earthquake in Naples, Italy. His family spent the next five years in temporary housing. I’ve been gone a long time. Twenty-five years. Most of that time was in Orlando, where the pizza restaurants tend to feel interchangeable after a while—Ferrara's, Nona Street, Flame, Blaze—different names, same menus,

Tori and Abby opened Bird Bones Tattoo Studio on Elm Street in Biddeford in 2024. The Entrance Tori, left, and Abby in the lobby of Bird Bones Tattoo Studio. The door opens into something that doesn’t feel like a waiting room. A desk sits just inside, but it’s surrounded—framed, stacked, layered. A mounted muskrat looks out from the wall to the left. Above it, turkey wings. Behind the desk, shelves hold objects that feel collected over time, not ordered all at once. The wall

Michael Macomber and Katie Pinard outside Elements on a cold March morning in Biddeford. Inside, the shop has been a gathering place on Main Street for 13 years. On the second day of March, winter in Biddeford feels less certain. The cold is still sharp enough to stiffen your fingers, but the light has changed. It comes in clearer now, a brighter blue stretched over Main Street. Snowbanks along the curb have thinned and grayed at the edges. Meltwater runs in narrow ribbons to

Peter McPheeters, of Biddeford Pool, rows his boat around Wood Island Lighthouse during sunrise on February 22, 2025. Photo by Cy Cyr/ BrickTides.com The flagpole snapped in the dark. The wind came hard through Biddeford Pool on Monday — snow moving sideways, drifts building against the harbor-facing buildings, the kind of February storm that reminds you who owns the coastline. By Tuesday morning the blizzard had moved offshore. The sky was hard blue. The Pool lay exposed at

April Laverriere, of Kennebunkport, started competing on her bike after a foot injury sidelined her running career. It was five degrees when we met, the kind of clear January morning in Biddeford where the light is sharp and the cold doesn’t pretend otherwise. We were inside a small studio near The Lincoln, catching up after a long gap, talking easily in that way that only happens when you’ve known someone since before life got complicated. April Laverriere and I graduated

Driving through Biddeford, you can tell something about a house by how close it sits to the road. The older the house, the less it seems to care about being polite. Steve’s house sits so near the intersection it feels like the road had to adjust its plans. Not the other way around. Steve's house was constructed when the 8th US President was serving, Martin Van Buren. Subscribe to BrickTides.com. The workshop is not where you expect it. To reach it, you have to step outside a

From President Bush at Cape Arundel to mornings on the Atlantic, a family’s life on the land Greg, left, and Bob Searle on the first hole at Abenakee Club. If you arrive before sunrise at the Abenakee Club in Biddeford Pool, you can watch the world brighten in layers. The ocean moves first, catching a strip of pink before anything else. Wood Island Lighthouse glows white long before the neighborhoods wake up. And then, at a certain angle that only appears in spring and fall,

Michelle and John Corgan outside Bell Farm Shops. They purchased the property in 2017 and have transformed it into one of the most beloved shopping destinations on the Seacoast. Bell Farm Shops in York has a presence that stops people in their tracks. The tall red barn at 244 US Route 1 looks like it could be the set of a movie. The cupola rises above the rooftops with a horse weathervane. The morning sun rests on the shingles and the red picket fence. Wind chimes move on the

Melissa Colley at Saco Scoop in Saco, Maine. A Door That’s Always Open It’s a Monday afternoon on Main Street in Saco, Maine, and the Saco Scoop shop smells like hot fudge and waffle cones. Behind the counter,  Melissa Colley  greets every customer by name — or, if she doesn’t know it yet, simply as “my friend.” “Because that’s the way it always was,” she says, glancing at the handwritten menu above her shoulder. “And don’t change what’s not broken.” At 209 Main Street, next

Kathleen "Pidge" Pigeon, owner of Lucky Pigeon Brewing in Biddeford, Maine. Biddeford, Maine — The hum of a canning line cuts through the stillness of an afternoon brew day. Inside a restored brick building off Laconia Street, sunlight pools across the floor, the air rich with the earthy sweetness of fermenting grain. A group of regulars trade stories at the bar while a brewer wipes condensation from a stainless-steel tank. Behind the counter, greeting everyone by name, stand

Katie and Cody Sherer, owners of Mainely Blooms at 1903 Portland Road in Arundel, Maine. Photo by Cy Cyr. Three Generations on the Same Patch of Maine Soil Here on a long, humming stretch of Route 1 in Arundel, a family’s land has been put to work for three generations—and three entirely different businesses. That continuity is the quiet power behind Mainely Blooms , the perennial nursery and flower farm owned by Cody and Katie Sherer at 1903 Portland Road in Arundel, Maine

The Pemigewasset Overlook, left and the Graham Overlook, right along the Kancamangus Highway on Sunday, September 28, 2025. For southern...

Mike Norcia, owner of Sternlines and Forewind Golf

Ethan Roubo at Ledgewood Pass Disc Golf Course in Maine

Video of striped bass off the coast of Biddeford, Maine

A boat tour around Wood Island Lighthouse in Biddeford, Maine