Our Story
So reading about a new arts center is not going to blow your socks off, make your jaw drop or even get your undies in a bunch like my not so classy husband might say. But this is not like any performing arts center, non profit with “bored” of directors, or fancily renovated city hall. This is a humble 200 seat timber frame music hall nestled in the foothills of the White Mountains in little Brownfield Maine… Brownfield that literally burned to the ground in the forties…Brownfield that has a post office and a corner store filled with snowmobilers or canoers depending on what time of year it is …Brownfield where artists like Brandi Carlisle, Marty Stuart, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Béla Fleck, and Mavis Staples might pass a trailer, a few cows, or the occasional loose horse on their way up the hill. Up the hill to the Stone Mountain Arts Center, behind our over 200 year old farmhouse amid the pines and the owls.
“Waltzing is For Dreamers”
There are no businesses nearby … barely a sign … just mountain views, country roads, and simple neighbors who are in walking distance to see a show. But they are not the only ones coming. The word has gotten out. People are driving three hours to see an artist here. Why?
I dunno … there is something here bigger than me that drives this train. It’s in them dar hills or something like that. There is just something about this neighborhood … the “Blake neighborhood”, named in the 18oo’s for the first people settling here. The audience feels it, and so do the artists … they all want to come back. I felt it the first time I came up to see our 200 year old farmhouse that sits in front of this big red barn … .a barn that was literally picked up, moved, and plopped onto a new foundation, to eventually block the view of my kitchen window.
When it was moved half the town was here, to hold a line in the rain as it was lifted up and guided to its new home like a Macy’s Day balloon.
The Stone Mountain Arts Center was opened less than a year later, by myself, a road weary musician, and my husband a commercial fishing net builder. We are unlikely but yet uniquely qualified to take on this task. He built it, and they DID come … even in January.
They said it would never fly, no one would come, we were crazy….but ask any performer or audience member alike, and they will tell you there is something special here. The big name artists love the idea of connecting with a small audience again. With a purposeful 21 inch high stage, there is no great distance from the audience to the performer. For most of them it is how they began, for the lesser known artists, it is where they are most comfortable.
There is a story here….a story about a town allowing us to do this in my own backyard. A story about a couple reinventing themselves as they approached their fifties …but the most important story is about how rural people create their own worlds where they live, and the quality of those worlds. It is about the people. If you have read this far, it means maybe you’re interested in these people. Join us and be part of that story.
My best,
Carol and Jeff
Update June 2026
We are twenty years old and counting, survived Covid, a recession, and all the obvious challenges of a year round venue in the country. Take a moment to read about our 20th Anniversary Celebration coming up on August 1, 2026.