Our labyrinth was built on September 17, 2001.  It was built as a result of a promise I had made after my very first labyrinth walk several years ago.

Growing up as an Episcopalian and later entering seminary to become a Roman Catholic priest, I had never heard of a labyrinth except in legend. After leaving the seminary, I returned to the Episcopal Church and not long after came across the word “labyrinth” in a church bulletin. I was intrigued as to what it meant. I researched it and read my first book on labyrinths, called EXPLORING THE LABYRINTH: A GUIDE FOR HEALING AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH by Melissa Gayle West. Soon after finishing the book, I found a labyrinth in my area and went to walk it. When I first entered, I thought to myself, “this is silly”, but I decided to give it a chance. I arrived at the center and remember feeling a sense of peace, but nothing extraordinary. As I walked back out, I had the temptation of leaving the path and calling it quits. However, something compelled me to stay on the path and so I did. About halfway out of the labyrinth, I remembered my dad and the pain of his death (he committed suicide in 1994) and thought about the journey we make through life through all of its ups and downs, twists and turns. The labyrinth was allowing me to hold a mirror up to myself and reflect on the steps I had taken and the possible steps I would take in the path ahead. My father's death was indeed very painful and difficult, yet in the labyrinth something had strengthened and renewed me to continue my journey with faith and courage. That was one of the most powerful experiences of my life and not to be forgotten. I turned and faced the labyrinth and bowed in reverence and made a promise that if I ever had land of my own, I would build a labyrinth in thanksgiving for that experience.

After moving to Maine in June of 2001, I finally had space to build my promise. I began to clear the area in August and then September 11th came and I, like so many others, was devastated and became very upset by the events. I had been reading a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, the well-known Buddhist author and he wrote about confronting negative feelings and doing something “constructive” with them. I realized that being depressed was getting me nowhere, so I went outside on September 17th and started collecting stones and building the labyrinth. With the help of a friend that day and the next and a second friend on the last day, we were able to build the labyrinth in just three days.

After the labyrinth was built, it was too amazing to keep to myself.  So I launched a web site and started inviting the public to come and experience it.  To date we have built six labyrinths, five of them in the Mid-Coast area of Maine.