Chris Payne of Cumberland is a graduate student at the University of New England.

Commercial fishing in Maine is breaking the people who sustain it.

Four out of five fishermen report overuse injuries — torn shoulders, damaged knees, chronic back pain — from work that hasn’t fundamentally changed in generations. Most don’t retire from the job. Their bodies give out first.

We know how to reduce that damage. What’s missing is consistent federal support. This isn’t an abstract policy debate — it’s being decided right now in the federal budget process.

Maine already has organizations doing the work. Groups like the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association and Fishing Partnership Support Services provide injury prevention training, early access to physical therapy and practical equipment changes that reduce strain before injuries become permanent. They also address mental health and addiction — a critical need in a profession where chronic pain often leads to self-medication.

These programs are not theoretical. They are working. But they operate in a funding gap that federal policy has long promised to close and repeatedly failed to.

The urgency is growing. The administration’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget would eliminate Maine Sea Grant and cut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by roughly one-third. That comes just months after the administration abruptly terminated Maine’s Sea Grant program in January 2025 — later partially reversed after intense pushback — following a political dispute that had nothing to do with fisheries, safety or workforce development.

Programs like Sea Grant do more than fund research. They support the training, safety systems and local partnerships that keep fishermen on the water longer and in better health. In 2023, Maine Sea Grant generated roughly $15 in economic activity for every federal dollar invested. Eliminating it is not cost savings. It is economic contraction.

Congress already has tools to address this. The FISH Wellness Act would expand existing fishing safety grants, add behavioral health support and remove cost-match requirements that currently exclude many small operators. These are practical, bipartisan solutions built on programs that already exist.

What they lack is stable funding and sustained attention.

That instability has real consequences. Without consistent investment in training and safety, fishermen enter one of the most physically demanding jobs in America without the support systems common in other industries. Injuries accumulate. Careers shorten. Knowledge leaves the water faster than it can be replaced.

This is not a niche issue. Commercial fishing is a cornerstone of Maine’s coastal economy and identity. The people doing that work are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for the same basic infrastructure other industries expect as standard: training, health support and a viable path into the profession that does not depend on physical sacrifice.

Maine’s congressional delegation has shown it can fight when funding is threatened. It helped restore Sea Grant once. But reacting after the fact is not enough.

In the months ahead, Congress will decide whether programs like Sea Grant survive and whether legislation like the FISH Wellness Act moves forward. Those decisions will determine whether fishermen get the training, health support and safety infrastructure that other industries expect as standard — or continue working until their bodies give out.

That makes this a test of priorities. Will Maine’s delegation push for sustained funding for fishing safety and workforce development before more cuts take hold? And will candidates seeking to represent Maine commit to making that funding permanent, not discretionary?

Fishing communities cannot rebuild their workforce or protect their health one budget fight at a time. If Maine wants a future on the water, Congress needs to fund it — deliberately and as policy.

Massachusetts wears its history on every storefront, steeple, and weathered shingle. This is a state where you can sip coffee inside a 1700s tavern or wander past a witch trial-era home with a roof so steep it looks like it is still scowling at you. You will find Gothic chapels next to Gilded Age greenhouses, candy-colored downtowns, and lighthouses that have been guiding boats home since before your great-great-grandparents were born. These nine towns are the ones where the architecture really steals the show. Pack a camera, wear comfortable shoes, and prepare to crane your neck a lot, because in Massachusetts, the buildings have stories they are not shy to tell.

Newburyport

Newburyport sits on the northern coast of Massachusetts not far from the New Hampshire line, and with about 19,000 residents it splits the difference between small town and small city in a way that works in its favor. The architecture is classic New England through and through. Aged brick buildings line most of the town center, sharing the streets with locally run shops and restaurants that have grown roots over the decades. Market Square is the natural place to start exploring, and you can easily spend an afternoon there without checking your watch once.

The Newburyport Harbor Rear Range Light is a stop worth making, and it doubles as one of the more unusual dinner reservations in the state. Through the Lighthouse Preservation Society, parties can rent the tower and dine at the top with the harbor spread out below. The lighthouse has been a fixture of the town’s identity for generations, and it carries the kind of character that does not need any embellishment.

Rockport

Rockport sits at the northeastern tip of Cape Ann, north of Boston, and the harbor and wharves come alive once the warm weather arrives. Visitors browse the waterfront shops, watch the fishing boats unload, and grab a seat for fresh seafood with a view. The town hits every note you would expect from a New England fishing village, with a slow, easy pace reflected in the well-kept old buildings and homes scattered across the landscape.

One of the more underrated stops in Rockport is the Shalin Liu Performance Center. Its exterior leans into a colonial-era opera house aesthetic, while the inside is fitted out as a modern concert venue with a stage that frames a wall of windows looking out over the ocean. It is the kind of detail that sticks with you.

Williamstown

Williamstown sits in the far northwestern corner of the state. The population is only a few thousand, but the town punches well above its weight thanks to Williams College and a handful of architectural standouts that draw visitors year after year.

The range here is the appeal. Williams College anchors town with the Gothic stonework of Thompson Memorial Chapel, while just down the way the white clapboard First Congregational Church on Main Street offers the cleaner, more austere New England look. Both are easy to admire from the sidewalk and worth a closer look. When you have soaked up enough architecture, the Appalachian Trail and the renowned Clark Art Institute are right there to round out the day.

Northampton

Northampton is a town of about 30,000 sitting along the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts, and despite its modest size it carries one of the most active arts scenes in the state. The architectural standout is the Smith College Botanic Garden, a near two-story greenhouse built almost entirely of glass that throws back to the conservatory style of the late 19th century. It is striking from the outside and even better from within.

Smith College itself is hard to walk past without slowing down. The redbrick buildings trimmed in white feel definitively New England, and the Smith College Museum of Art has a Picasso in the collection for anyone who counts museum visits as part of the trip.

Pittsfield

Pittsfield is the largest city in the Berkshires, the long stretch of countryside running north to south through western Massachusetts and into Connecticut. The region is known for its rural beauty, especially in the fall, when the surrounding forests put on the kind of color show that books a hotel for you.

The town center is the right place to start if you want to take in the architecture. North Street holds a particularly good cluster of old theaters and art galleries that turn a casual stroll into a proper outing.

Make time for Hancock Shaker Village too. The living-history museum preserves a Shaker community that was founded in 1790 and remained active all the way to 1960, with original buildings, demonstrations, and exhibits that bring the lifestyle into focus.

New Bedford

Once a major center of the global whaling industry, New Bedford remains one of the most important fishing ports in the United States. Herman Melville shipped out from here on a whaling voyage in 1841, and the city’s maritime streets and landmarks ended up shaping the New Bedford scenes in Moby-Dick.

That long history is still etched into the cobblestone streets, gas lamps, and brick buildings, all of which wear their years without apology. The New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park is the obvious place to dig into the city’s past, with multiple sites and exhibits packed into a walkable downtown stretch.

For something a little less obvious, swing by St. Anthony of Padua Church. The Catholic parish is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, and a strong contender for the prettiest in the state.

Amherst

Amherst sits in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts and gets pegged as a college town more often than it deserves. Yes, it is a college town, but it is also full of the kind of history and architectural personality that has nothing to do with the campus crowd.

Amherst College is the obvious anchor. The campus dates back to the early 1800s and the architecture wears those years openly, leaning into a New England academic style that has aged remarkably well.

For a different angle on the town’s character, head over to the Emily Dickinson Museum. The poet’s childhood home is now a guided-tour attraction, and walking through the rooms and grounds delivers that quiet sense of slipping back into a slower era. It is small in scale but big on atmosphere.

Salem

Salem is best known for its role in the 1692 witch trials, when 20 people, men and women, were executed after being accused of witchcraft. The town has long since leaned into that legacy and now wraps it into a full Halloween season of festivals and events that build through October.

The downtown is more colorful than the dark reputation might suggest. Wooden storefronts get painted in whites, pinks, and reds, lifting the mood of the streets and giving the historic core a cheerful vibe.

For a deeper dose of the architecture, head to the Witch House (the Jonathan Corwin House, run by the City of Salem) and to the Custom House at Salem Maritime National Historical Park. The Witch House stands out from its colorful neighbors with its dark exterior, severely steep roof, and an overall look that does its job a little too well.

Chatham

Each summer, locals pour into Chatham to swap city noise for the town’s slower pace and a long stretch of beaches. Out on Cape Cod, Chatham holds up year-round, but it really hits its stride in warm weather.

The two main architectural draws are the Chatham Lighthouse and the Atwood Museum. The lighthouse stands tall and white along the town’s expansive beachfront, still guiding ships into safe waters and giving Chatham a steady piece of its identity.

The Atwood Museum is built around the Atwood House, a gambrel-roofed home from 1752 that has stayed largely intact, with electricity being the rare modern concession. Walking through gives you a real glimpse of what daily life looked like in rural New England all those generations ago.

Final Thoughts

New England, and especially Massachusetts, is one of the most history-rich parts of the United States. Its distinctly European style of architecture shows up in the brick buildings and landmarks across the state, giving it a charming and eclectic vibe that is hard to find anywhere else in the country.