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Bar Harbor
Situated on the island of Mount
Desert Island, in Hancock County, Maine, Bar Harbor offers a
spectacular view of the Atlantic Ocean surrounding the many islands
that sit in Frenchman's Bay. It has been a port entry for the Bay
Ferries going from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and back; and has been a
famous summer colony in what is called, the "Down East" area of the
state of Maine. Home to the College of the Atlantic, Mount Desert
Island Biological Laboratory, and Jackson Laboratory, the town is
home to the biggest parts of the Acadia National Park that includes
Cadillac Mountain, highest peak within 25 miles of the coastline of
the eastern United States; and offshore, the Porcupine Islands. The
quaint village of Bar Harbor was started on the eastern side of the
island, which the Wabanaki Indians called Pemetic or "range of
mountains", or "mountains seen at a distance". These early Native
Americans came here to fish, hunt and gather berries, clams and
other types of shellfish like lobster and mussels. In 1604, the
French explorer Samuel de Champlain ran aground on a rocky ledge
that he believed to be around the Otter Cliffs, but when he went
ashore, he met the local natives and later called the island, Isles
des Monts Deserts, or "island of barren mountains", which has become
Mount Desert Island, the biggest one in Maine. The village was
settled in 1763, by Israel Higgins and John Thomas and incorporated
in 1796 as Eden, after Sir Richard Eden, an English statesman. Early
industries included shipbuilding, lumbering and fishing. In the
areas where the best soil was located, agriculture spring up, and in
1840, the rugged maritime scenery enticed the Hudson River School
and Luminism artists Fitz Henry Lane, Thomas Cole, William Hart and
Frederic Edwin Church. After viewing the magnificent paintings,
sportsmen, journalists and rusticators came to the area, and in
1855, the Agamont House was constructed as the first hotel. In 1868,
the first summer estate, called Birch Point, was constructed by
Alpheus Hardy. By the year 1880, the village had sprouted 30 hotels,
with tourists coming by train and ferry to the Gilded Age resort
that rivaled those of Newport, Rhode Island. The rich and famous
began to visit the area and soon there were rivalries between them
to see who could build the most fabulous estate. Beatrix Farrand was
brought in to do the landscaping designs, and their spectacular
estates could be seen by walking along Shore Path. Soon there were
enormous garden parties, yachting and carriage rides to Cadillac
Mountain and around the island. Horse racing came to the Robin Hood
Park-Morrell Park, and President William Howard Taft arrived in 1910
to play a round of golf at the Kebo Valley Golf Club. In 1918, March
3, the town was renamed Bar Harbor, after the fantastic gravel and
sand bar that led out to Bar Island when the tide was low. The
village was synonymous with the elite wealthy, and Vice-president
Nelson Rockefeller was born there July 8, 1908. Even today, the
Rockefeller estate is set in among the trees just on the edge of a
small cliff that looks out into the harbor area and is seen only in
the distance, since it is a private estate. Then, in mid-October of
1947, the state had a serious draught, and sparks began flying at a
cranberry bog by Town Hill, and started a wildfire that continued to
intensify over the next 10 days, and wasn't declared out until the
middle of November. Almost half the island had been destroyed
including 67 palatial summer estates on Millionaire's Row, 5
historic hotels, 170 permanent houses and more than 10,000 acres of
pristine forests in Acadia National Park. Even today, there are
numerous secluded areas in the park that still have the scares of
that terrible and destructive month. Luckily, the business district
was saved, including Mount Desert Street, where numerous summer
homes in the historic district were listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. Today, Bar Harbor is a world destination, with
tourists coming here from all over the world, in planes, boats,
ferries and autos. Cruise ships can be seen sitting in the harbor
from the end of May until October, but mostly in early September,
with 95 ships visiting in 2008. It is also the eastern end of the
Adventure Cycling Association's Northern Tier bicycle route that
ends in Anacortes, Washington and the northern end for the Atlantic
Coast Bicycle Route with other end at Key West, Florida.
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