| CLIFF ISLAND, Maine - The slender dirt road circles Libra Cusack's home, hugs the beach of the nearby cove and wanders off in search of the ferry landing.
"One of my real pleasures is watching Taylor ride down that road to school in the morning," Cusack, 39, says as she waits for her son to dress for school. "I don't think there are many other places in the nation where you can let a 7-year-old do that. Sometimes as I watch him go, I get tears in my eyes."
Two months ago, Jeff and Libra Cusack left their Connecticut beachfront house in Branford, high-paying jobs, credit cards, new cars, cable television and convenience for a better life.
During the Labor Day weekend, they officially took up residence on this idyllic 425-acre isle located 8 miles as the gull flies, and 90 minutes as the ferry meanders, from Portland.
Here they have found a place where there is no crime, no fear, no locks, no paranoia, no strangers.
Here they have found a place where one income can cut it, the house does not own the occupant, moms stay home, the school is responsive, the village raises the child, and the day is passed at a decaf pace.
Here they have found life the way it used to be or perhaps the way we remember it used to be -or, most probably, the way we want it to be.
But have they found the answer?
To understand the choice the Cusacks have made, it is important to know something of the Brave New World to which they have migrated
Cliff island was called "Crotch Island" (don't ask) until 1892. It got electricity via a cable in 1937, though not everyone was happy about it. The first phone rang in 1962.
Today, the island has 117 habitable structures, 65 year-round residents and a summer population that peaks at about 400.A ferry arrives four times daily and costs $5.75 round-trip.
The island has a post office, a library, a Community Hall, a fire station and a public works employee.
Once there was a stop sign near the ferry wharf, but it is missing, and no one is quite sure where it went.
There are several streets but no street signs, and there are no numbers on the houses Column 2
| All the islanders gather at the Community Hall, for Thanksgiving dinner, and at Christmas there is a hay ride/carol sing.
Cliff Island's 15 minutes of fame came 10 years ago, when the movie "The Whales of August" was filmed here. The locals really liked Lillian Gish, Ann Sothern and Vincent Price. Bette Davis was more of an acquired taste.
Larry Gagne is the law. As constable, he is paid $1,700 a year. He is not overworked. Ask islanders about crime, and many immediately bring up a burglary in which some antiques were stolen. They don't mention that it occurred about 10 years ago. There has never been a murder.
Several emergency medical technicians live on the island, and an emergency fireboat from the mainland can be here in less than 15 minutes.
If there is a public enemy on Cliff Island, it is the Browntail Moth. Hairs from the moth blow about and cause skin rashes similar to poison ivy. This is not a selling point, which is why on "Browntail Moth Day" each March, islanders search out and destroy nests.
The mail comes on the noon boat and almost always draws a crowd. Chester Pettengill, whose great-great-great something or other bought 80 acres on the island for $150 in 1813, collects the mail and brings it to the post office.
Chester also serves as the local cabbie. He asks $2 or $3, but most people give him $5.
The average island auto looks as it's been in a demolition derby. When mufflers go, they are not replaced. License-plates appear to be optional.
The Fisherman's Cove Store is in a building the size of a one-car garage. It sells basics, including regular gasoline, which goes for $1.90 a gallon. Many people only fill up three or four times a year. Owner Sue Rieth sometimes refers to her establishment as "The Cliff Island Mall."
A group called the Cliff Island Association speaks for the residents but has no power. The city of Portland claims jurisdiction and calls the shots.
Four years ago, residents were looking for tea to dump in the harbor when property taxes skyrocketed after revaluation.
David Crowley, president of the Cliff Island Association, points out that Portland rakes in about $500,000 in tax revenue annually from the island and Column 3
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returns about $200,000 in services. Most residents don't like the math.
These are not the only numbers that concern locals. At one time, there were more than 300 year-round communities on Maine's coastal islands. Today there are just 14.
Two years ago, the Future of Cliff Island Committee was formed with the intention of finding ways to avert extinction. It concluded that a key was to keep the one-room school open so it could attract families with young children.
To entice such families, the committee began advertising two years ago, including over the Internet. A flier at the Portland ferry terminal first lured the Cusacks.
Making the move
"When I saw the notice, I thought it looked interesting," Jeff says. "So I wrote a letter to see what it was all about."
Jeff, 42, had been fantasizing about moving to Maine since the family bought a second home on Sebago Lake in 1989. Motivating the Cusacks was a realization that they had not so much captured the American Dream as been imprisoned by it.
"We both had high incomes in Connecticut [$95,000 combined]," Libra says, "but we also had high bills, so there was not a lot of cash on hand. And we had no time to enjoy anything."
Another major factor was Taylor, who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
"We felt very pressured by the Branford school system to keep him on medication," Jeff says. "They wanted the kid to be a zombie. We thought a place like Cliff Island might give him a better chance."
In October 1995, they came to Cliff Island and met with Roger Berle, chairman of the future committee.
"It was pouring rain and fog," Jeff says, "but I knew immediately this is where I wanted to be. I saw the beauty of the island beyond the weather."
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