A Possible Next evolution of Monhegan Commons When announced that my involvement in Monhegan Commons was coming to an end, I received a lot of lovely notes of what a fine thing it was and what a wonderful job I had done….but not a long lineup of volunteers to take it over.  Actually not a […]

First Contact, Lifetime Impact I first sailed into Monhegan when I was 17. It was 1965. I saw a man walk out of a shelter made of driftwood followed by goats. I saw a white hotel on the other island and no one was there. I heard a car engine and then it stopped. It […]

My first experience of Monhegan was summed up in a sonnet I wrote which starts : “we came last summer, just the day, an impulse ticket out of Boothbay Harbour, and the Island hidden, clouded, veiled in rain…” Someone had declared a poetry night at the Library and I wrote two sonnets in an afternoon […]

I have been really enjoying all the responses to Experiencing Monhegan (for the first time or again).  Monhegan seems, based on so many of these descriptions, to be a true wellspring to many people – a place to be renewed in whatever way each needs to be.  That is amazing.  My own first experience of […]

(This isn’t MY (Thais Faller Gloor’s) memory, but the response of a friend that brings to mind many things.) Last summer a first-time visiting friend of mine commented after a couple of days on how “immersed in the earth” she felt while on the island. I loved the way she put it, and totally agreed […]

I’m a newcomer and a one-timer (so far, anyway). My wife and I came to celebrate our 25th anniversary this past August. Neither of us are “artists,” per se, although we both play instruments and sing in choirs and I like to write poetry. But we both were seeking a “place away from the pace.” […]

I first came to Monhegan in the late 90’s. My friend Frank told me about this remote island that was fun to paint, so a few of us artists went up from Connecticut in September. I had not painted landscape very much, but I thought it would be a fun time with friends no matter […]

Experiencing Monhegan As with all of this site, Experiencing Monhegan is also experimental.  If sufficient numbers use it… it stays (or getting improved).  If not, we’ll try something else. So here’s the deal.  What did you feel when you first came in contact with the Island? Please, no full length novels.  About 500 words, maybe.  […]