They go to crunch on gravel paths, to smell the sea and the paint in artists' studios. Eventually, they do climb the hill to the granite-block lighthouse, gazing down at the storybook view of the village. While they're up there, they wander into the 11-room museum. Once inside, they might spend a happy hour or a rainy afternoon there, in the former lightkeeper's house built 125 years ago. The museum is a deep and dusty trunk thrown open, a communal grandma's attic.
Contents range from hard science to local mythology.
How Lobsters Are Caught,'' geological maps, and pictures of local birds and plants. Rooms are crammed with donated artifacts, harpoons and blubber cutters, feather dusters and parasols. The Monhegan Museum is 30 years old this year, and the site where it stands is more authentic than ever. Part of what we're trying to do is re-create the complex that was the Monhegan Light Station. The specific expansion plan came to Deci in a ''light bulb'' flash, inspired by one of the island's best-known artist alumni, appropriately enough.