Maine Granite Industry Museum

Located at the heart of Mount Desert Island, The Maine Granite Industry Historical Society was officially founded in 2009 by President, Steven Haynes.  For the past 30+ years, Steve has dedicated his time presenting to communities and individuals far and wide, by sharing his love and knowledge of everything granite. 

In the very beginning, he would travel throughout New England to provide educational slide shows to public schools and groups interested in learning about this important piece of our country's history.  With the help of his long time partner and Secretary of MGIHS, Juanita Sprague, they have both created a space to share their collection of artifacts and research for the public to learn about the granite industry of Maine, how it is such a crucial part of the history of our country, and also help patrons find ancestors who were a part of this once thriving industry.  Currently, Steve is the full-time museum curator, spending all of his time providing tours to visitors, as well as educational presentations to local school groups; mean-while, Juanita assists with presentations, while also adding new pieces of research and photographs to the walls of the museum. 

Being a non-profit organization, the museum relies heavily on donations and grants from the public who visit their museum.  To help the museum continue to thrive and provide their services to the public, daughters Liz Manno and Abby Damon have worked together to create gifts for visitors to take home.  With Abby's artistic talent and eye for detail, she has created one-of-a-kind designs, capturing the beautiful colors of granite that has been quarried in various parts of Mount Desert Island and surrounding areas of Maine.  Liz has created and manages this online shop where MGIHS visitors can order a memento of their time spent exploring the museum and experiencing Steve's genuine and enthusiastic passion for Maine's granite industry history and everything to do with geology.
All profits made from purchases of items featured as part of the Maine Granite Industry Historical Society are donated directly to the Museum.

Thank you for your loyalty and contribution to our efforts in keeping this piece of history available to the world.