Deer Isle | Places We Visit in Maine
Deer Isle, remarkably, is home to 12 nature conservancies protecting a wide diversity of habitats. The year-round population is only 3,000, and it is a harmonious combination of artists, lobster fishermen, workers in the granite quarries, small business owners and more. In his book Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck wrote “All I knew about Deer Isle was that there was nothing you could say about it, but if I didn't go, I was crazy.” People come from around the world to take classes at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and many visiting art instructors have found it too hard to leave this evocative place and have taken up residence on the island over the years. The granite quarries on the island were also the source of the stones that were used for John F. Kennedy’s tombstone at Arlington Cemetery.
