| The Monhegan Museum |
It doesn’t get more historic or scenic than this if you’re looking for the founding sites of America. Captain John Smith had a very successful fishing season here on Monhegan in 1614, and his resulting map of New England drew the early Pilgrims to North America. The museum on Lighthouse Hill covers 400 years of Monhegan history.
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Monhegan Museum
1 Lighthouse Hill
Monhegan, ME 04852
Open daily July – August, reduced September hours.
Official Museum Web Site
Visitors all find their way to the Monhegan Museum simply by walking up the island’s highest point. We left the mainland at Port Clyfe and made a beeline for one of our favorite historic collections. The view from Lighthouse Hill takes in Manana Island. The museum is located in the old lighthouse keeper’s house, a fish house and the catwalk that leads to Monehgan Light. The first lighthouse was built here starting in 1822, rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century and occupied until 1956. It is now opened occasionally to visitors. The reconstructed building nearby includes an annual art exhibit in a modern attractive gallery.
This museum is run largely by volunteers. The Monhegan Historial and Cultural Museum Association formed in 1984 to expand and professionalize the original museum begun in the 1960s,
Inside the museum visitors wander through small rooms with a wide range of displays relating to island life – lobstering, fishing, domestic life, Indian culture and the early explorers. The walls are covered in paintings and photos drawn from decades of island artists. But the best thing about the museum is that, even when you leave, you are still on one of the most beautiful and historic spots in America. -- JDR
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Continue MONHEGAN MUSEUM photo tour
Monhegan Island historic Lighthouse Museum (continued)
Photos by J. Dennis Robinson. (c) SeacoastNH.com.