The Merry Barn Writer’s Retreat founder Stephanie McSherry sits in front of the historic barn, which she converted into a literacy and arts center in 2019. The center closed at the end of 2024. In the Midcoast, McSherry said, community members value creativity, art, and freedom of thought, making the environment a welcoming one for the center. (Photo courtesy Stephanie McSherry)
For six years, Stephanie McSherry brought a vision of creativity, literacy, and creative joy to life at Edgecomb’s Merry Barn. Though The Merry Barn Writers’ Retreat shut its doors for good at the end of 2024, McSherry hopes the impact of the literacy and arts center will persist throughout the creative community.
“I hope that people continue to take what they’ve experienced and the way they tapped into their own creativity in whatever form, that they continue that, and that they find a community where they can do that,” she said on Monday, Dec. 30. “Having a barn is awesome, but you don’t have to have that to be able to make that (creative) practice.”
Since opening its doors in 2019, The Merry Barn Writers’ Retreat has offered literacy and arts programming to people of all ages, from students attending the barn’s popular summer camp sessions to adult learners and educators seeking professional education courses.
As a devoted literacy educator, McSherry believes that storytelling, communication, and creativity are essential skills for people of all ages.
“‘Literacy’ encompasses reading, writing, thinking, speaking, (and) listening,” she said. “It’s how we connect with each other … It’s the backbone of all learning.”
The literacy and arts center, where McSherry helped students cultivate those skills, originated with her long-held dream of offering summertime “writing adventures” to children.
When McSherry discovered Edgecomb’s historic Merry Barn and purchased the property in 2015, she could immediately see its future as a literacy and arts hub.
“When I bought the barn, I knew that my dream had found the perfect home,” she said.
The historic building – once a dance hall, then a workshop – needed some renovations before it could be used for that purpose, however. McSherry shared her vision with contractor Neal Groton, of Boothbay Harbor’s Groton Construction Co., who helped her bring it to life.
Renovating was “joyful,” McSherry said. “It’s another act of creativity in itself to take this palette and be able to build something. That is a dream.”
McSherry and Groton imagined the barn as a welcoming, safe space that would facilitate creative freedom. They also shared a commitment to preserving the historic character of the barn, for which they were granted an Honor Award from Maine Preservation in 2019.
The history and character of the building, said McSherry, made it particularly well suited to its use as an arts hub. She said the welcoming nature of the barn seemed to have a large part to do with the Merry Barn’s success.
“I really do honestly believe there’s something magical about that building,” she said. “It had this really welcoming energy even before we renovated it.”
At the barn, McSherry hosted children aged 6-14 for summer camp sessions, which she referred to as “adventures in creativity.” The sessions included instruction in writing, reading, and art-making, as well as lightly structured time for students to indulge their creativity. Musicians, authors, and artists also made regular appearances at the camp to speak with the children.
During the summer of 2023, camper Graham Burke made a documentary called “One Week at The Merry Barn” to capture the camper experience. In the film, Burke asked his co-campers what they liked about The Merry Barn.
“To me, The Merry Barn is just a very calm place,” said camper Margaret Boe. “I love all the writing that we do, all the reading that we do, and all the drawing that we do; you just learn so much about being creative.
Other campers similarly said The Merry Barn made them feel free.
“It’s very open,” said Grace Waller. “You can do what you want with your creative mind.”
Campers Fina Record (left), Finn Sullivan (center), and Charlie Record exercise their creativity at The Merry Barn Writer’s Retreat’s summer adventures in creativity camp. The barn’s use as a literacy and arts center ended this winter after six years. “Kids need opportunities to be kids,” said former owner Stephanie McSherry, describing her vision for the barn. “They need to create and have choices and understand the power and the joy in that.” (Photo courtesy Stephanie McSherry)
The barn also hosted a variety of other events, from writing workshops for community members led by The Merry Barn Writers’ Retreat Community Outreach and Program Development Coordinator Kelsy Hartley to monthly free community literacy events that drew whole families.
“It was just a joyful way to celebrate literacy,” McSherry said.
Eventually, writers of all ages attended Merry Barn events. McSherry said she was pleasantly surprised by how many community members wanted to lead classes and workshops or help out.
“That sort of collaboration and community feel was something beyond – I mean, I hoped, but it was beyond what I could have expected,” she said.
Another development was McSherry’s Tidal River Writers group, which she led at The Lincoln Home assisted living center. The group wrote together on topics from memories to the meaning of home, McSherry said, and seeing group members gain confidence in writing and storytelling was a thrill.
The decision to close the center, McSherry said, brought mixed emotions and accompanies her decision to move to southern Maine to be closer to friends and family. McSherry sold the historic building this fall, drawing another chapter in its storied history to a close.
“It was not an easy decision to walk away from the barn and this very special corner of the world,” she said.
McSherry will continue to work as a literacy coach and educator. This spring, she will be instructing education undergraduates at the University of Southern Maine in methods of teaching writing.
“I’m super excited to work with a new generation of teachers,” she said.
While McSherry is moving on, The Merry Barn will leave a lasting impact on the creative scene in Lincoln County. The Tidal River Writers will continue to meet, she said, and other traditions begun at the barn – including a workshop for local authors called The Sounding Board – seem poised to continue, she said.
McSherry also hopes her past campers will carry what they learned at The Merry Barn forward through their lives and creative pursuits.
“I hope that they just always believe in themselves and their own power, and that they can use words and creativity to make a positive impact on the world going forward. They’re just amazing human beings,” she said.
