out and about: monhegan island.

August 25, 2015

out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leavesThe islands off the coast of Maine have always intriqued me. After finishing graduate school I seriously considered moving to an island off midcoast Maine. And even though circumstances were such that I made my way to an island of a slightly more urban persuasion, those pine laden rocks has always appealed  to my romantic side.

James spotted Mongehan on a map while we were planning our trip to Maine and on closer investigation we realized it was the magical place that my parents had spent a few days visiting last summer. The island is ten miles offshore and just pure magic, as every single person visiting will tell you. In our three-day stay nearly everyone who we met—and you do meet just about everyone on Monhegan—told us that they were repeat visitors, some of them coming year after year for decades. We’re delighted to report we might have also been bitten by the bug.

Here are a few of our favorite stops from our first trip:
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves GETTING THERE: 
Boats leave from a number of different spots along midcoast Maine. We left our rental car behind and took the Monhegan Boat Line from Port Clyde.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves
GETTING AROUND:
The only traffic you’ll find on Monhegan is an occassional flock of chickens crossing the road. There are no cars on the island, save a fleet of island pickup trucks, so be prepared to be carless for a few days and do plenty of walking. The carlessness is one of the very best parts of Monhegan and signals a slower pace right from the minute you set foot on the island.

PLACES TO VISIT:

Hiking: On an island that’s only about a square mile, you can explore practically every inch without over-extending yourself. We spent most of our time hiking around. Faye took “hiking naps,” strapped into the carrier while we scrambled around on the island’s hiking trails.

You can pick up a trail map when you get to the island and make your way along all of the shady, beautiful trails maintained by the Monhegan Association. Trail #1 takes you along the craggy coastline. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to take Faye along with us on that hike, but there were only a few spots that we decided to turn back and take slightly less steep trails. If fairy houses are your thing (and I hope they are) you can see the best ones on the Cathedral Woods (#11) trail.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves
Monhegan Brewing Company: We made two stops into the tiny and delightfully delicious brewery on the island. We tried a sampling of their beers, but I returned for the seasonal Berliner Weisse served with blueberry syrup.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves
Monhegan Light Station & Monhegan MuseumThere’s a small museum inside the Mongehan lighthouse that’s worth a stop even if you don’t have a soft-spot for scrappy local history museums like I do. Head back up to the lighthouse at sunset for a beautiful view of the sun setting across the water. $5 entry fee to museum.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves Fish Beach & Swim Beach: The names of these beaches are literal—at least for anyone brave enough to brave the chilly water or cast a line. A walk down fish beach will get you fresh fish and lobster to bring home for dinner—or eat beachside. There’s lots of good seaglass hunting to be done, too. Swim Beach was packed with warm-blooded humans in the under-ten set every day that we were there. Faye delighted in the cold water. I nearly got frostbite.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves Gallery Hopping:
We were too busy hiking on this visit to duck into many galleries, but there are small artist studios—and tons of plein air artists—all over the island. A vibrant community board has notices on just about anything you might want to do, from visiting galleries to taking a yoga class to visiting the adjacent teeny-tiny Manana Island.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves Aimless Rambles: Monhegan is a place to explore. We made our way up and down every dusty dirt road that we could find. I have a new-found love of cosmos and black-sashed windows after our trip to the island.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves PLACES TO STAY:


The Island InnThere are a bunch of places to stay on Mongehan, but we really enjoyed our stay at the historic hotel, The Island Inn. It’s a rambly old hotel that sits on a bluff overlooking the harbor. The accomodations themselves were simple and clean. We had a room with a shared bathroom for part of our stay, and it was a slightly more affordable and totally pleasant way to stay at the inn. A delightful breakfast is included in the cost of the room and every morning I indulged in lobster scrambled eggs, blueberry french toast, and peppery roasted potatoes in the beautiful, sunny dining room.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves
PLACES TO EAT:
Since we were staying at the hotel, we enjoyed dinners out for the three nights that we spent on Monhegan. (We brought our trusty basket with a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly for daytime lunching.) For such a tiny place, the dining options are really terrific. The restaurants on the island are all BYOB, so either pack a bottle or two of wine and bring it over or buy at one of the shops on island and tote it along with you to dinner.

The Island Inn: We tried to get in as much Maine seafood as possible on this trip. I had amazing Maine scallops here with potatoes and kale that was crisped to perfection. And James and I shared local mussels. Faye stayed in her highchair for all of ten minutes, which felt like a triumph.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves Monhegan House: The dining room at this old inn is gorgeous in its simplicity. James and I both opted for lobster and it did not disappoint. Fresh-from-oven bread stole the show.

The Novelty: To break up the fine dining, we opted for pizza at The Novelty on our second night. It was delicious, affordable, and inventive. This is also the island ice cream spot.

The Barnacle: The Island Inn runs this small shop where you can pick up a bottle of wine before dinner or scones for a quick breakfast.
out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves out and about: monhegan island | reading my tea leaves Reservations at restaurants on the island end on the early side, so don’t plan for anything too late in the evening. But you won’t want to be inside at that hour anyway. We enjoyed beautiful dusky walks around the island after dinner every night. (It gets a little blustery on Monhegan in the evening, so we were glad that we made the last-minute decision to bring along sneaks in addition to our sandals.)

More about our trip to Mount Desert Island, HERE.

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15 Comments

  • Reply Aja Lake August 25, 2015 at 11:44 am

    Beautiful. And scrappy local history museums are my fave! xx

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  • Reply Ursula August 25, 2015 at 1:56 pm

    Monhegan is magical! So glad you enjoyed your stay.

  • Reply Alie August 25, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    Looks magical and so peaceful! Putting it on the travel wishlist 🙂

  • Reply Hannah August 25, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    My parents spent their honeymoon at the island inn. My grandmother lives in Cushing Maine so it was fun to follow your trip to places I know very well (a trip to Rockland is going "uptown" for us). I didn't make it to Monhegan this summer but you've got me itching to go next year!

  • Reply Anonymous August 25, 2015 at 7:23 pm

    Edward Hopper painted on Monhegan Island for several years, Bowdoin College has several pretty examples on their museum website.

    1
  • Reply Monica Mulhern August 25, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    Gorgeous spot, I think I caught the bug to visit. Also, your daughter has the most beautiful hair color, complete swoon. Thank you for sharing the beautiful island.

  • Reply Sarah By The Sea August 25, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    Beautiful shots! What a dreamy looking island.
    If I ever get a chance to visit the states again, I'd always hoped to visit Maine but the islands make it even more appealing! Those trees and those houses are incredible. So different from what we have in Rainy Ole England 😛 This gives me a strong case of the wanderlust! ^_^

    Sarah xxo | thesaltyseablog.blogspot.co.uk

  • Reply elizabeth August 25, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    ok – i looked at your blog on one of my breaks at school – and this is pretty cool!
    today we started a letter-writing project. i teach in a two-room school and we are writing letters to other schools to find out what they are like. as i was looking at this post, i wondered if there is a school on a Monhegan Island – there is! my 6th grade daughter will be writing to the students at the one-room island school! what a neat way to find a connection!
    happy day to you!

  • Reply Ashley Pitts August 26, 2015 at 1:37 am

    Monhegan looks so beautiful. I've been dreaming of visiting Maine for awhile now!

    http://www.ashleylaurenpitts.com

  • Reply John Trocke August 26, 2015 at 3:24 pm

    Looks great. If you could only go to the island for a day trip, would you say it is still worth the $100 or so it would take to make the round trip for two adults and a child? We are going to Maine this fall and want to maximize our experience (but also our money). Thanks.

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  • Reply Laura September 5, 2015 at 10:23 pm

    What a beautiful place! It must be amazing to live there. Thanks for sharing with us.
    blessings
    ~*~

  • Reply justine September 8, 2015 at 6:01 pm

    Gorgeous photos!

  • Reply Clare October 3, 2015 at 9:05 am

    Thank you for the review, it’s beautiful!

  • Reply Jaime January 12, 2016 at 5:31 pm

    Brough back beautiful memories thank you …I could live there too

  • Reply Jaime January 12, 2016 at 5:32 pm

    Lovely ! Brough back beautiful memories thank you …I could live there too

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