Courtesy / Amazon
This still from the video shows part of the 1-square-mile island.
November 30, 2022
Special deliveries: Monhegan Island highlighted in Amazon video
Courtesy / Amazon
The mail carrier Laura B is a lifeline for Monhegan Island.
Monhegan Island was the subject of a three-minute documentary shot last summer by Amazon to highlight the logistics and importance of deliveries to the island 10 miles off the Maine coast.
About 70 people live on Monhegan year-round. In the late spring and summer, the numbers swell with hundreds of visitors a day. There are no paved roads or car ferries. Most get around the 1-square-mile island on foot or by golf cart.
Filming began at Port Clyde with packages loading onto the World War II-era Laura B. The ferry and mail service boat run by Monhegan Boat Line has provided year-round ferry and mail service to Monhegan Island for nearly 100 years. During the summer, the Laura B and Elizabeth Ann offer three daily trips along with sightseeing tours.
For the past half century, the Laura B has been ferrying passengers, freight and mail between Port Clyde and Monhegan Island. Deliveries are facilitated by an interconnected logistics network and third-party carrier partnerships.
After Monhegan residents’ packages make their way through an Amazon sort center, a third-party carrier picks them up and delivers them to Port Clyde, where Monhegan Boat Line owner Andy Barstow and his team load packages onto the Laura B. His family has owned Monhegan Boat Line since 1976.
“We’ve taken backhoes, goats, pigs, cows, water, fuel, building materials, TVs,” said Barstow. “You name it, we deliver it — everything but babies! That’s what my dad always said.”
Built in 1943, the 65-foot Laura B is rigged as a heavy-duty work boat. Originally designated a U.S. Army T-57, it spent World War II in the Pacific, serving as a patrol boat and carrying troops and supplies. This rugged vessel was brought to Maine in 1946, and spent the next few years transporting lobsters from Vinalhaven to Boston and New York City. The Laura B has sailed to Monhegan since 1953 and still has 90% of its original wood planking and frames.
Once the Laura B arrives at the dock in Monhegan, Angela Iannicelli, the island's mail carrier, loads packages into her pickup truck for delivery.
Before Amazon began delivering to Monhegan, residents would make the round trip ferry ride to the mainland to pick up basic items. The trips could often take days, depending on the boat schedule, their shopping list and the weather.
Residents said their lifestyle takes a bit of hardiness that’s eased by package delivery not just to the loading dock but to their doorstep, thanks to Iannacelli.
“The Laura B is part of a lifeline for us,” said Iannacelli.
In return for access, Amazon said it donated $25,000 to the Monhegan Island Sustainability Community Association, which provides affordable housing so people can live and work on the island year-round.
To view the video, click here.
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