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==History== The name Monhegan is a corruption of ''Monchiggon'', the [[Abenaki language]] term for "out-to-sea island"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nestor |first=Sandy |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/908634818 |title=Indian placenames in America |date=2012 |isbn=978-0-7864-9339-5 |location=Jefferson, N.C. |pages=76 |oclc=908634818}}</ref> used by [[Samoset]], an [[Abenaki]] [[Sagamore (title)|sagamore]] and the first [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] to make contact with the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] of [[Plymouth Colony]], in his early contacts with the English.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Society |first=American Antiquarian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6F5IAAAAYAAJ&dq=Monchiggon&pg=PA315 |title=Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society |date=1922 |publisher=American Antiquarian Society. |language=en}}</ref> European explorers [[Martin Pring]] visited in 1603, [[Samuel de Champlain]] in 1604, [[George Weymouth]] in 1605 and [[John Smith (explorer)|Captain John Smith]] in 1614. The island got its start as a British fishing camp prior to settlement of the Plymouth Colony. [[Cod]] was harvested from the rich fishing grounds of the [[Gulf of Maine]], then dried on [[fish preservation|fish flakes]] before shipment to Europe. A [[trading post]] was built to conduct business with the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indians]], particularly in the lucrative [[fur trading|fur trade]].<ref name=Coolidge>{{Cite book | last = Coolidge | first = Austin J.|author2=John B. Mansfield | title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge | year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n245 211]–212| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859. }}</ref> It was Monhegan traders who taught English to Samoset, the chieftain who in 1621 startled the Pilgrims by boldly walking into their new village at Plymouth and saying: "Welcome, Englishmen."<ref name=Porter>{{Cite book | last = Porter | first = Joseph W.| title = The Bangor Historical Magazine | volume=4| year = 1888–1889| location = Bangor, Maine| pages = 81–83| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0PY7AAAAIAAJ&q=Monhegan%20Maine%20Samoset%20Welcome%20Englishmen&pg=PA81}}</ref> On 28 January 1623 the [[Council for New England]] issued a commission for seizing the "Island of Mannahigan". Settlement by William Vengham and William Pomfret in 1623 caused [[William Bradford (governor)|William Bradford]] to include Monhegan among places that experienced "scattered beginnings" that year.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Robert Charles |year=2024 |title=1623 |journal=American Ancestors |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=40–45 |publisher=American Ancestors }}</ref> On April 29, 1717, Monhegan was visited by the ''Anne'', a small square-rigged [[Snow (ship)|snow]] crewed by [[pirate]]s. She had originally been captured off the [[Virginia Capes]] in April by the pirate [[Samuel Bellamy]] in the ''[[Whydah Gally|Whydah]]'', which wrecked in a storm on the night of April 26, 1717, off Cape Cod. The ''Anne'' made it through the storm with another captured vessel, the ''Fisher'' (which was soon abandoned and the pirates aboard her transferred to the ''Anne''). The pirates, led by [[Richard Noland]],<ref name="Sandler">{{cite book|last1=Sandler|first1=Martin W.|title=The Whydah: a Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, and Found|date=2017|publisher=Candlewick Press|location=Somerville MA|isbn=9780763680336|pages=44–79|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gf_0vQAACAAJ&q=noland|access-date=16 July 2017|language=en}}</ref> arrived at Monhegan on April 29, and waited for the ''Whydah'', for the pirates had not seen or heard about the ''Whydah'' wrecking in the storm of the night of April 26. The pirates eventually realized the ''Whydah'' was lost, and proceeded to attack vessels at [[Matinicus Isle, Maine|Matinicus Island]] and [[Bristol, Maine|Pemaquid (now Bristol)]]. They outfitted for their own uses a small 25-ton [[sloop]] belonging to Colonel Stephen Minot they had captured off Matinicus. They abandoned all the other captured vessels (including the ''Anne'') and most of their prisoners at Matinicus on or about May 9, 1717, on Minot's sloop.<ref>"Deposition of Ralph Merry and Samuel Roberts" Boston. May 11, May 16, 1717. in Jameson, John Franklin. "Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents." New York: Macmillan Company, 1923, pp. 301-302; "John Newman to Governor Shute" Gloucester. May 12, 1717. Massachusetts Archives 51:290</ref> Despite success as a fishing and trade center, Monhegan would be caught in the conflict between [[New England]] and [[New France]] for control of the region. During [[King Philip's War]] (1675-1678), dispossessed English settlers from the mainland sought refuge on the island before being relocated elsewhere along the coast. During [[King William's War]] (1688-1697), the island was captured for the [[Kingdom of France]] in 1689 by [[Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin|Baron de Saint-Castin]]. He destroyed the fishing fleet and burned the buildings, with many inhabitants escaping to [[Massachusetts]]. But even during periods when Monhegan was abandoned, its convenient offshore harbor remained a stopover destination for ships. The end of the [[French and Indian War]] in 1763 brought peace to the area, and on September 4, 1839, Mohegan—again under English Colonial control—was incorporated as an island plantation.<ref name="Coolidge"/> In 1824, a conical stone [[lighthouse]] was built on the island by order of [[United States Congress|Congress]] and [[James Monroe|President James Monroe]]. Damaged by storms, it was replaced in 1850 by the present 48 foot (14.6 m) [[granite]] tower, with a [[fog]] bell station built in 1855 on nearby Manana Island. The island's {{convert|1,000|acre|ha}} of good land encouraged [[agriculture]], with [[potato]]es the chief crop. But fishing was always the most important industry, whether locally or at the [[Grand Banks]]. Today, it still dominates Monhegan's economy.<ref>{{Citation | last = Varney | first = George J. | title = Gazetteer of the state of Maine. Monhegan | place = Boston | publisher = Russell | year = 1886 | url = http://history.rays-place.com/me/monhegan-plan-me.htm | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130201060705/http://history.rays-place.com/me/monhegan-plan-me.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = February 1, 2013 }}</ref> From October 1 through June, [[lobster fishing|fishermen]] harvest [[American lobster|lobsters]] from the only lobster [[conservation area]] in the state of Maine.<ref>{{cite web | last = 123rd Maine State Legislature | title = An Act To Provide Flexibility within the Monhegan Lobster Conservation Area and To Strengthen the Eligibility Requirements for a Student Lobster Fishing License | work = HP1302, LR 2618, item 1 | publisher = PUBLIC Law, Chapter 219 LD 1870, item 1 | date = 2007-06-04 | url = http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_123rd/chappdfs/PUBLIC219.pdf | access-date = 2012-07-24 | archive-date = 2016-03-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305205026/http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_123rd/chappdfs/PUBLIC219.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> Henry Trefethen was one of the original purchasers of Monhegan Island. The Trefethen House, the oldest house on Monhegan Island, served as a hotel for island visitors, and remains standing today.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monhegan Island, ca. 1940 |url=https://www.mainememory.net/artifact/56735 |access-date=2022-03-11 |website=Maine Memory Network |language=en |archive-date=2022-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311142251/https://www.mainememory.net/artifact/56735 |url-status=live }}</ref> ===Artist colony=== The beginnings of the [[art colony]] on Monhegan date to the mid-19th century; by 1890, it was firmly established. Two of the early artists in residence from the 1890s, William Henry Singer (1868–1943) and Martin Borgord (1869–1935), left Monhegan to study at the [[Académie Julian]] in 1901. Among many early members who found inspiration on the island were summer visitors from the [[New York School of Art]] and the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]], such as [[Robert Henri]], [[Frederick Judd Waugh]], [[George Bellows]], [[Edward Hopper]] and [[Rockwell Kent]]. Later members of the artist colony have included [[Jay Hall Connaway]], [[Abraham Bogdanove]], [[Andrew Winter (artist)|Andrew Winter]], [[Reuben Tam]], [[Frances Kornbluth]], [[Elena Jahn]], [[Lynne Drexler]], [[Edward H. Betts|Edward Betts]], and [[Jamie Wyeth]].<ref> {{cite book | last = Chambers | first = Bruce W. | title = Maine: A Legacy in Painting, 1830 to the Present | publisher = Spanierman Gallery, LLC. | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-945936-73-2 }} </ref> The 150-foot (50 m) northside cliffs at Blackhead have drawn the interest of Monhegan artists, including Kent,<ref>{{cite web | title = A Painter of Monhegan | work = Rockwell Kent on Monhegan | publisher = Monhegan Museum | date = 1998 | url = http://scottrferris.com/Essays/monhegan.html | access-date = 2015-02-16 | archive-date = 2015-02-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150216220655/http://scottrferris.com/Essays/monhegan.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> Hopper,<ref>{{cite magazine | last = Beem | first = Edgar Allen | title = Edward Hopper in Maine | magazine = Yankee Magazine | date = 2011 | url = http://www.yankeemagazine.com/art-reviews/edward-hopper-in-maine#_ | access-date = 2015-02-16 | archive-date = 2015-02-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150216220740/http://www.yankeemagazine.com/art-reviews/edward-hopper-in-maine#_ | url-status = live }}</ref> and Kornbluth.<ref>{{cite web | last = Kornbluth | first = Frances | author-link = Frances Kornbluth | title = Ocean: A View of Blackhead | publisher = franceskornbluth.com | date = 1985 | url = http://franceskornbluth.com/images/collection/ocean.jpg | access-date = 2015-02-16 | archive-date = 2015-02-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150216003640/http://franceskornbluth.com/images/collection/ocean.jpg | url-status = live }}</ref> The Monhegan Museum celebrated more the continuing draw of the island for artists in a 2014 exhibit entitled, "The Famous and the Forgotten: Revisiting Monhegan's Celebrated 1914 Art Exhibition."<ref name=1914Exhibition>{{cite web | last = Keyes | first = Bob | title = Monhegan celebrates century of art, 400 years of settlement—An art show at the island museum re-creates a famous 1914 exhibition. | work = Lifestyle | publisher = Portland Press Herald | date = July 13, 2014 | url = http://www.pressherald.com/2014/07/13/monhegan-celebrates-a-century-of-art-and-400-years-of-settlement/ | access-date = 2015-02-16 | archive-date = 2015-02-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150216221704/http://www.pressherald.com/2014/07/13/monhegan-celebrates-a-century-of-art-and-400-years-of-settlement/ | url-status = live }}</ref> <gallery mode="packed" heights="200"> File:Gallagher (in white hat) painting on Monhegan Island, Maine.jpg|Artist painting fisherman ''[[en plein air]]'' at Fish Beach. Photo by Warner Taylor. File:George Bellows - The Gulls, Monhegan.jpg|''The Gulls, Monhegan'' by George Bellows File:Broadway, Monhegan.jpg|1940s view of the main track in town by Sears Gallagher File:N. Roerich - Monhegan. Maine - Google Art Project.jpg|''Monhegan. Maine'' (1922) by [[Nicholas Roerich]] ([[Google Art Project]]) </gallery>
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