Home to about 1,300 residents, Surry today is a vibrant town boasting an active, creative, and diverse citizenry, many of whom are involved in service organizations such as the Surry Community Improvement Association, the Surry Garden Club, the Arbutus Grange, and the Surry Historical Society. Residents include a mixture of lifelong residents with roots reaching back generations, retirees drawn to the town's rural character and seaside scenery, and families who appreciate the town's rural nature and easy access to nearby Ellsworth and Blue Hill. A smattering of writers, artists, and musicians seek their muses in this idyllic setting. A few people strive to subsist off the land by growing their own food or by wreathmaking, clamming, and blueberrying, while others work in both blue collar and white collar jobs in Ellsworth, Bangor and on Mount Desert Island.
Surry Elementary School, which was designated a National Title 1 Distinguished School in 2011, sponsors many annual community events such as Christmas caroling, food drives, and theatrical events. Many volunteers and an active parent-teacher group support the school.
Surry Elementary School Today
A strong sense of stewardship characterizes Surry's Friends of Morgan Bay who have worked tirelessly with the Blue Hill Heritage Trust to conserve 23 acres at the head of Morgan Bay. Now known as the Carter Nature Preserve, this panoramic vista includes tidal pools, cobble beach and ledges shadowed by fields and a mixed wood forest. The preserve contains three miles of public walking trails. Above Surry Village 41 more acres have been conserved on Patten Stream, land which also features a small walking trail.
Still a “happy home of hundreds,” today the little town of Surry retains much of its original charm, communal pride and spirit. As F.L. Hayward noted in his Centennial address, “Note the thoroughness of today's celebration and rally and who asks for more to prophesy her future as bright and glorious? She is bound to be heard from and to have no small place. The past of a nation or municipality tells largely for its future. Surry's past, Surry's present go to ensure a future that ought to be delightful for her citizens to contemplate.”