If you aren’t an artist before you touch down on small, rocky Monhegan Island, you may be one by the time you leave. Just one and a half square miles in area, the island demands adjectives like “mystical” and “idyllic.” Part of that is due to Monhegan’s vaunted natural beauty, which packs soaring pine trees, plunging 150-foot cliffs, 600 different species of wildflowers, and 100 types of birds into its microscopic area.

But Monhegan’s special character is just as much a frame of mind energetically projected (and carefully protected) by the island’s 100-or-so inhabitants and returning summer guests. Everyone who disembarks for the isle must agree to abide by 10 simple rules, most of which have to do with not disturbing the flora and fauna. You won’t find many cars or streetlights here, so the other rule worth abiding is the one about bringing a flashlight to transverse the dirt walking paths at night.

Monhegan’s name comes from a Micmac or Maliseet word meaning “out-to-sea” island; it must have seemed fitting when Captain John Smith happened upon the rocky base all by itself in 1614. He founded a small fishing community here, which was wiped out in the French and Indian Wars. The island was resettled after the Revolution, but it wasn’t until the turn of the 20th century that it really came into its own.

That’s when a clan of painters including Rockwell Kent, George Bellows, and Edward Hopper began basing studios here to capture the changing light on the rocks of what Kent called his “wonder island.” In the 1950s, a forward-thinking summer resident founded a nonprofit to protect most of the island’s land from development, keeping the few summer cottages gathered around the harbor.

Since then, generations of artists have been drawn by Monhegan’s siren song, and more than 30 of them have studios here often open to the public. It’s the slow pace and freedom that keep bringing summer guests back here year after year, however. Children run in the streets or play with communal beach toys left on the island’s one beach; adults linger over meals by kerosene lamp, rock on front porches of inns, or—if they are feeling inspired—pick up watercolor and brush to try and capture a bit of the island’s beauty themselves.

Events

For a true taste of the “real Maine,” head to Monhegan for the annual Trap Day (Oct. 1), the start of the lobstering season, in which the whole island turns out to help haul the traps, and the docks becoming a towering cityscape of wire and mesh. Don’t think you’ll go as a spectator, however—even visitors are pressed into service alongside lobstermen, -women, and -children.

Getting to Monhegan Island

Many private ferry boats make the trip to Monhegan from various points on the Midcoast. Monhegan Boat Line (207/372-8848, www.monheganboat.com) makes the trip year-round from Port Clyde. Balmy Days Cruises (207/633-2284 or 800/298-2284, www.balmydayscruises.com) runs a seasonal ferry from Boothbay Harbor; while Hardy Boat Cruises (207/677-2026 or 800/278-3346, www.hardyboat.com) makes the trip from New Harbor near Pemaquid Point. Most of these ferries leave in the morning and return in the evening, making a day trip a viable option. None of the island ferries accepts cars, and indeed there are few on the island. If you need transportation, however, several pickup trucks are available for hire. For walking around in town at night, a flashlight is essential.