History
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Mount Desert Island HistoryAcadia National Park and the city of Bar Harbor located on Mount Desert Island have a long and storied history as a vacation getaway. American Indians had been summering in the Acadia Park region for hundreds of years before the area was discovered by Champlain in 1604. By the mid 1800's Mount Desert Island became popularized through artist renderings of the island's beautiful mountains and seascapes. Then called Eden, Bar Harbor became the premier resort destination for Victorian men and women of wealth and influence.
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Tragically, on October 17, 1947 an island-wide fire which lasted more than four weeks destroyed 18,000 acres of countryside on the island. Many of the summer mansions were destroyed. The scarred landscape kept many visitors from returning to the Acadia region. But, in the years following this tragic event, Mount Desert Island began to rebuild and take on its current look as a summer vacation destination with many retail shops, restaurants, artisans and family activities.
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More than 50 years after the devastating fire, Mount Desert Island has regrown to such a beauty and natural splendor to make Acadia National Park the second most visited park in the U.S. You can still explore the many miles of carriage trails originally created by John D. Rockefeller back in the 1920's. Whether you drive, explore on foot, by bike or horse & carriage Acadia National Park offers a fantastic landscape of mountains, ocean and forest like no other. |
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