Port Clyde’s pier, a key tie to Monhegan Island, will get $4M upgrade

A $3.9 million federal grant to St. George will help repair and expand the Port Clyde landing pier — a project that’s expected to boost the local tourism industry.

Port Clyde is a village in the peninsula town of St. George, on the midcoast, and is a home port to the Monhegan Boat Line.

The money comes from the American Rescue Plan through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. The grant will be matched with $962,771 in local funds and is expected to create 15 jobs and retain 151 jobs, according to grantee estimates.

In 2021, the value of the commercial harvest in the port was over $11 million.

“Port Clyde has long been a vital commercial fishing port and tourist destinations,” said Gov. Janet Mills. “This investment will not only help only create jobs, but it will also support the improvement and expansion of infrastructure critical to the economy and continued prosperity of this vital Maine port and region.”

The state expects construction of the modern commercial pier infrastructure to expand access for fishing, boating and tourism activities, as well as to the region’s other businesses.

Port Clyde’s rich history

Port Clyde has a rich history, with an ice industry, maritime commerce and seafood canning operations. 

The village history also includes the arts. Painter and illustrator N.C. Wyeth, father of Andrew Wyeth and grandfather of Jamie Wyeth, owned a house within a stone’s throw of the pier, known as Eight Bells. 

Today, the Port Clyde General Store, which is owned by Linda Bean and is adjacent to the pier, is a hub of activity, selling coffee, lobsters, prepared food, the DeLorme Gazetteer, Maine-made products and the like. 

Port Clyde is one of two places (along with New Harbor) you can get a passenger boat to Monhegan, an island with its own rich history in both fisheries and the arts. In the summer, the Monhegan Boat Line makes three round-trip runs a day to the island, which is 10 miles from the mainland. 

Monhegan was once well known for its wintertime lobstering season, which traditionally started Jan. 1, and was written up in 1959 by National Geographic and in 1963 by the Atlantic magazine. 

Since the early 1900s, Monhegan has been known as a home for painters like Rockwell Kent, who also built three houses on the island, and Jamie Wyeth, who owns a house Kent built.

The shipwrecked D.T. Sheridan tugboat on the island’s south shore is a frequent subject of paintings and, more recently, Instagram posts.