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Harold Vinal was born in Vinalhaven to George and Evie Lane Vinal. Until he was 30 years old he was widely known as a pianist and teacher. Having an epiphany, he experienced, "a second and mystical birth." He became a poet and subsequently founded, Voices, a long distinguished magazine of poetry. Vinal later became secretary of the Poet Society of America and a member of the Craftsman Group. Many of his poems are about the sea and Vinalhaven. Perhaps his most famous poem (at least locally), is Hurricane, a long narrative poem about the then abandoned granite quarry on nearby Hurricane Island. Vinal lived in a house on Lane's Island known as the Moors. Upon retirement he moved to a house on Roun the Mountain Road. He died at age 73 in a his beloved island home.
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"I saw a star flame in the sky,
I heard a wild bird sing,
and down where all the forest stirred,
another answering.
All suddenly I felt the gleam that made my heart revive:
Ah, God, it take such simple things to keep the soul alive."
-Harold Vinal
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