Selected Works
From the Ground Up (1976)
Striper: The Story of Fish and Man (1978/1989)
Amaranth, from the Past for the Future (1979)
Cityside Countryside: A Journey to Two Places (1980):
Sun Reflections: Images for the New Solar Age (1981)
Breaking New Ground (1986)
Fishing Came First: A Memoir (1989/1991/1997)
Tarpon Quest (1991/1998)
Claremont Hotel, Southwest Harbor, Maine: A Landmark’s Narrative History (1994)
Away All Boats: A Personal Guide for the Small-Boat Owner (1994)
Fish of My Years (1995)
West of Key West (1996))
Life List: Remembering the Birds of My Years (1997)
Maine Trivia (1998)
Fly Fishing for Saltwater’s Finest: How to Catch the 10 Best Sport Fish at Premier Inshore Sites (2000)
(1923-2003 ) grew up on Long Island, New York, served with the Army Air Corps during World War II, graduated from Yale, and worked in Manhattan before moving to Maine in 1958, to become editor of the Kennebunk Star. He lived in Maine thereafter, apart from a 6-year interlude in Key West. Cole lived in Brunswick in his later years.
John Cole was well known in Maine, especially for his role as the founding editor in 1968, with Peter Cox, of the now defunct Maine Times, a weekly, statewide, alternative newspaper that ceased publication in 2002.
His positions on political and environmental issues were well known. His From the Ground Up contains detailed plans for ecologically friendly home projects; written in cooperation with the Shelter Institute, a “build your own environmentally friendly house” resource. He was editor of Maine In Print, the newspaper of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.
Besides writing a number of books, he published essays and articles widely, including in Atlantic Monthly, Field & Stream, Country Journal, Harper’s, Esquire, Portland Magazine, and Maine Biz. He’s also taught journalism classes at Bowdoin.
Cole also wrote the introduction to Salmon (1984) and the foreword to Brad Burns’ LL Bean Fly-Fishing for Striped Bass Handbook (1998). Until just before he died, he wrote a nature column for the Times Record in Brunswick, a newspaper at which he had worked before leaving to launch the Maine Times. The January 17, 2003 edition contained many touching tributes the the man “from away” who loved Maine dearly.
Additional resources
Cobb, Nathan. Cityside/Countryside: a Journey to Two Places. Brattleboro, Vt. S. Greene Press. c1980.
Cole, John N. First Rite. Camden, Me. Down East Books. c2004.
Cole, John N. Life List: Remembering the Birds of My Years. Camden, Me. Down East Books. c1997.
Cole, John N. Tarpon Quest. New York Lyons & Burford. c1991.
Robitaille, Jeremy. Interview with John Cole. 2001. [The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College.]
Times Record, January 17, 203, p. 19.