Tag Archives: Beverly McAloon

“Maritime Women on Swan’s Island” – Swan’s Island honors women who fished

Betsy Philbrook’s grandmother, Melita Staples, was up for anything except cooking and housecleaning. “She used to bait tubs when she was younger,” said Philbrook. “She was much happier driving a dumptruck or working on a dock than staying home.” As a child, Philbrook, whose family goes back on Swan’s Island to its first settlement, learned how to set lobster traps from her grandmother. She went on to become a sternman for her father, went off to college, bought her first little lobsterboat in 2001, and has been sterning for Dwight Colbeth since 2006. >click to read<13:48