Bar Harbour, Maine - Great Head from Ocean Drive - postcard c.1930s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Bar Harbour, Maine, USA - Great Head from Ocean Drive
• Publisher:  F. E. Sherman, Bar Harbour
• Postally used:  no - written but not posted
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (Salisbury Cove village). Bar Harbor is home to the largest parts of Acadia National Park, including Cadillac Mountain, the highest point within 25 miles (40 km) of the coastline of the Eastern United States.^[4]

The town of Bar Harbor was founded on the northeast shore of Mount Desert Island, which the Wabanaki Indians knew as Pemetic, meaning ""range of mountains"" or ""mountains seen at a distance."" The Wabanaki seasonally fished, hunted and gathered berries, clams, and other shellfish in the area. They spoke of Bar Harbor as Man-es-ayd'ik (""clam-gathering place"") or Ah-bays'auk (""clambake place""), leaving great piles of shells as evidence of this abundance. In early September 1604, French explorer Samuel de Champlain ran aground on a rock ledge believed to be just off Otter Cliffs, and when he came ashore to repair his boat he met local natives. Champlain named the island Isles des Monts Deserts, meaning ""island of barren mountains""—now called Mount Desert Island, the largest in Maine.^[5]

First settled by Europeans in 1763 by Israel Higgins and John Thomas, the community was incorporated on February 23, 1796 as Eden, after Sir Richard Eden, an English statesman. Early industries included fishing, lumbering and shipbuilding. With the best soil on Mount Desert Island, it also developed agriculture. In the 1840s, its rugged maritime scenery attracted the Hudson River School and Luminism artists Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church, William Hart and Fitz Henry Lane. Inspired by their paintings, journalists, sportsmen and ""rusticators"" followed. Agamont House, the first hotel in Eden, was established in 1855 by Tobias Roberts. Birch Point, the first summer estate, was built in 1868 by Alpheus Hardy.

By 1880, there were 30 hotels, including the Mira Monte Inn, a historic landmark that survived a massive fire in 1947. Tourists were arriving by train and ferry to the Gilded Age resort that would rival Newport, Rhode Island. The rich and famous tried to outdo each other with entertaining and estates, often hiring landscape gardener and landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, a resident at local Reef Point Estate, to design their gardens. A glimpse of their lifestyles was available from the Shore Path, a walkway skirting waterfront lawns. Yachting, garden parties at the Pot & Kettle Club, and carriage rides up Cadillac Mountain were popular diversions. Others enjoyed horse-racing at Robin Hood Park-Morrell Park. President William Howard Taft played golf in 1910 at the Kebo Valley Golf Club. On March 3, 1918, Eden was renamed Bar Harbor, after the sand and gravel bar, visible at low tide, which leads across to Bar Island and forms the rear of the harbor. The name would become synonymous with elite wealth. It was the birthplace of vice-president Nelson Rockefeller on July 8, 1908.

Bar Harbor was also used for naval practices during World War II. More specifically, Bald Porcupine Island was used to fire live torpedoes. On October 10, 1944 it was the submarine USS Piper firing 12 live torpedoes at the island. Of the 12 torpedoes fired, one failed to explode on the first attempt but was later detonated by the 12th torpedo. In 1996, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surveyed the island to make sure there were no active torpedoes and only found remains.^[6]

Many influential people call(ed) Bar Harbor home for at least part of the year. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., son of John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil Co., donated about one-third of the land in Acadia National Park and built the carriage roads that are used for hiking and biking. J. P. Morgan owned a house that is adjacent to Bar Harbor. Cornelius Vanderbilt built cottages in Bar Harbor. The Astor family owned hotels and cottages in Bar Harbor and the surrounding areas. William Howard Taft used to enjoy games of golf in Bar Harbor. The co-founder and CEO of Burt's Bees, Roxanne Quimby, has a home near Bar Harbor and is seen frequenting the downtown area. The star and creator of the TV show Martha Stewart has also been known to frequent Mount Desert Island and been seen in Bar Harbor. Movie star John Travolta has a home in nearby Ilesboro and has been seen many times in Bar Harbor. Architect Fred L. Savage started out on Mount Desert Island, moved, and then returned to design houses for many wealthy people in Bar Harbor.^[7]

In mid-October 1947, Maine experienced a severe drought. Sparks at a cranberry bog near Town Hill ignited a wildfire that would intensify over 10 days, and not be declared out until mid-November; this was one of several wildfires in the state that year. Nearly half the eastern side of Mount Desert Island burned, including 67 palatial summer houses on Millionaires' Row. Five historic grand hotels and 170 permanent homes were destroyed. Over 10,000 acres (40 km²) of Acadia National Park were destroyed. Fortunately, the town's business district was spared, including Mount Desert Street, where several former summer homes within a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places operate as inns.

Now, Bar Harbor is a destination for tourists from all over the world. Cruise ships are in the harbor from May through October (most often in September), with 23 ships planning to make 135 visits in 2013.^[8] Bar Harbor also hosts many long-distance cyclists, as it is the eastern terminus of the Adventure Cycling Association's Northern Tier Bicycle Route (which ends in Anacortes, Washington), and the northern terminus of its Atlantic Coast Bicycle Route (which ends in Key West, Florida).

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: rest of the world

sub-theme=north america

county/ country=usa

number of items=single

period=inter-war (1918 - 1939)

postage condition=unposted