As a boy, Hugh French would ride the five nautical miles between his hometown of Eastport and St. Andrews, New Brunswick, on the mail boat, the Rex IV. It took 10 minutes, and when his grandmother went over to pick up weaving supplies, he’d often join her for lunch.

Today, the trip isn’t quite as leisurely. When French and his wife, Kristin McKinlay, led the annual Quoddy Sail to St. Andrews in August, homeland security concerns almost stranded the group at shore. It took two boats, two stops at Deer Island, two trips through customs (Canadian and U.S.) and a load of creativity to make the trip happen.

But French, 47, and McKinlay, 31, have plenty of creativity. And they weren’t about to let a few headaches get in the way of their mission. As founders of The Tides Institute and Museum of Art, the couple have worked tirelessly for the past two years to develop historical and cultural links on both sides of the border.

It’s an unlikely story for a man who had no plans of returning to his hometown. French went back once, after graduating from Williams College with a degree in history, and he figured that was it.

“I think I sort of came back to give back a little bit,” French said. “The project I was involved with was waterfront [revitalization] and history, oral history recordings with former sardine factory workers. I had interviewed them all, the waterfront was wrapping up, and it was time to leave.”

So he headed south, and in the meantime, he spent nearly 20 years as the associate director of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland. There, he met McKinlay, who worked as an archivist and gallery manager. They married four years ago in Eastport, in the library across the street from what is now the Tides Institute. But even then, French had no plans of returning.

Gradually, that changed. McKinlay, a Chicago native who studied art at Bowdoin College, went back to school to study accounting. Then she decided she’d rather teach. French began to reflect on the mass of Eastport artifacts that had accumulated in their home. And when the couple went to visit his family, they saw a subtle shift in Eastport.

The older residents, who knew the history and the traditions of the region, were beginning to pass away, and the ones who were still alive didn’t have much of an audience for their stories. Nor was there much demand for the day-to-day artifacts of the area – sardine cans, advertisements, china and the like.

“If there wasn’t someone up here they felt comfortable with, many of these memories and items might end up elsewhere,” French said.

“Or lost,” McKinlay added.

So they started working on the project little by little from Portland, but they realized that in order to do it well, they’d need to move to the area.

“Personally, we were ready to take the leap and change gears,” McKinlay said. “It’s not a project you start in retirement.”

“There was also the sense that if we want to do it, we wanted to get in at the ground level, as opposed to five years in, when it would be impossible to buy the building,” French added.

So they took the plunge and bought the former Eastport Savings Bank building, a stately brick giant in the heart of downtown. Though they ripped out plenty of wood paneling and built moveable walls to showcase art exhibits, they delayed physical improvements until their comprehensive Web site – with its historical, photographic and cartographic resources – was running.

“The Web site was a way to overcome some of the geographic problems,” French said. “We look at Campobello Island every day, but it takes an hour to get over there.”

Though their home base is downtown Eastport, their focus reaches far beyond Water Street to encompass the entire Quoddy region, along with its people, architecture, heritage and artistic traditions.

“We could not just be an architecture place. We could not just be a single town. We had to combine a number of things,” French said. “It was important to be of this region, but at the same time transcend this region.”

And one of the best ways to do that, they found, is through art – whether it’s a whimsical watercolor of a couple snuggling in a sardine can or a sweeping seascape of Grand Manan. Much of the work that was produced in or depicts the region lives elsewhere. French and McKinlay are on a mission to bring it home.

“That’s been one of our goals, to build a pretty strong collection of art and photographs,” French said, sitting in the gallery not 10 feet away from a John Marin painting and a George Daniell photograph of a local fisherman. “We felt this area has never had that kind of collection, so it’s been left out of the picture when discussing art in Maine or art on the coast of Maine.”

That has started to change. Last spring, French became the only Washington County delegate on the Maine Arts Commission. McKinlay brushed off an etching press from the Tides’ collection and started a popular series of printmaking and monotype workshops. Aucocisco Gallery in Portland lent French a series of Berenice Abbott photographs for a recent show. And the local community has increasingly looked to the Tides Institute as a resource and a model.

“It’s quite unique in a town this small to have something of that stature happening,” Jean Wilhelm, the vice president of both Eastport Arts Center and Stage East, said. “I think the huge contribution is just in what they’re doing in terms of affecting the tone of the town. It makes Eastport a more interesting place to visit and live in.”

As the Tides Institute has gained recognition statewide, nationally and internationally, it has become easier for French and McKinlay to track down artistic and historical assets.

“Instead of thinking we’re this fledgling outfit in podunk Maine, we have people saying, ‘This is exactly where this piece of art should be. We’ll give you six months and knock a third off the price,'” French said.

“We’re finding [art] in other parts of the country. We want to be reflective of this area, but we also want to connect this area to the rest of the country and Canada.”

They’re succeeding. The Tides Institute has a growing collection of art and a rich trove of artifacts, maps and historical accounts, both written and oral, from the greater Passamaquoddy Bay and St. Croix River area. McKinlay and French also have the expertise of scholars and professionals from the North Atlantic Cultural Council at their disposal.

“The Tides Institute is, I think, the best thing that’s happened in town,” said Rand Castile of Eastport, the director emeritus of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and a member of the council. “It’s extraordinary to see an institution which serves the binational community. This whole area is as much Canadian as it is American.”

That binational aspect resonated with the Maine Arts Commission, which recently awarded the Tides Institute a discovery research grant.

French and McKinlay have partnered with eight other organizations in Maine and New Brunswick to catalog and develop the region’s cultural assets on both sides of border. Though other Maine entities, such as the Center for Cultural Exchange in Portland, work to bridge international boundaries, the Tides approach is a bit different.

“It’s unique in that they’re working with cultural entities on the other side of the border,” Keith Ludden, the discovery research coordinator for the arts commission, said. “I’m very interested in how this progresses. I have great hopes for it.”

Ludden also has high hopes for downtown Eastport. Many of the vacant storefronts have seen new life in recent years, and many of its buildings have been rejuvenated. The city is now home to a gallery and arts center, a theater troupe, quirky gift shops, several restaurants, and a few artisans’ studios.

“You walk down the street and you can see some of the impact of artists moving into the area,” Ludden said. “You can see a potter over there, a quilt-maker up the street. It’s just wonderful to watch.”

And more improvements are under way. Eastport for Pride, a nonprofit dedicated to downtown revitalization, recently received a Community Development Block Grant to install brick sidewalks and old-fashioned street lamps downtown. The Tides Institute figured heavily in the grant-writing process.

This fall, the Tides Institute will undergo a transformation of its own, as its exterior restoration begins. Interior plans call for a first-floor main entrance and art gallery, a research library, an archive, a photo lab and a printmaking co-op. French has worked closely with state preservation groups, contractors and architects.

“They’re really striving to be a model for historic restoration,” Lora Whelan, director of Eastport for Pride, said. “It will be a wonderful learning experience for all of us.”

For French and McKinlay, the right way is the only way. They consider the building as much a work of art as anything that hangs on the walls inside. But they knew they needed to start with the collection first. They had a choice – buy three good photographs or paintings, or a bunch of cheap, bad art. It’s no surprise which option they chose.

“If we could build collections of enough significance, we felt we could justify pouring a lot of money into the building,” French said. “With a stronger collection, people come in and get what we’re trying to do.”

“That we’re not fly-by-night,” McKinlay said.

“That we’re serious.” French added.

Visitors from both sides of the border – and a few from overseas – are starting to get it. And while the couple may not be able to make the trip to St. Andrews any shorter, they have already made a difference in the region.

“Having the ability to acquire things that might otherwise never come back here,” French said, “if we can bring things that really should be here back to this area, it would be a good thing to do.”

The Tides Institute is located at 43 Water St. in Eastport. For information, visit www.tidesinstitute.org, or call 853-4047. Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.