The Portland daily press., 1879-09-11

explore; the village roads have been desig-
mated by sign-boards with ridiculous and in
appropriate names; and the chilling inscrip-
tion. .'Private Grounds has begun to make
its appearance on the old familiar spots.
1t is amusing to see the attempts to civilize
the place, one of whose great charms lay in its
rough wildness Picket fences begin to take
the places of their less pretentious country
cousins-the rattle of the citiied lawn-mower
has been heard in Bar Harbor-a fountain
plays dismally in the midst of stubbly grass
and rank weeds.
But the greatest improvement, and at the
same time, the chief peril to the place is to be
found in the private cottages, which are rap
idly multiplying. The caller ones were plain
and simple, but some of those built more re-
Gently are very elaborate and beautiful. Be-
ginning at Schooner Head, they are dotted
along the shore, at intervals, to the village,
and, beyond up the bay to Duck Brook. while
others are scattered all through the village.
Among the most beautiful of these may be
mentioned the cottage of Mr.. Chas I. How, Of
Boston, on the shore above the bar Mr.. Lyons
fine stone house and place near by, with its
elaborate waterfront and broad lawn; and the
Misses Shannons beautiful brown cottage
with its charming grounds, on the school house
road q scorn to call it by its new and unmean-
ing name, Philadelphia Avenue). But far the
most beautiful of all, in point of situation, Is
| the cottage of DR.. Charles ID. Homans of Bos-
I ton, above Anemone Gave; with wide piazza,
commanding q superb view towards Schooner
Head, Gouldsboro', and the ocean; and stand
ing so high that from the piazza one can pluck
the leaves from the upper branches of good
sized oak tree. The place contains some sixty
acres of land extending from the foot OF New
mort to the sea. Great Head is owned by the
McAulays of Philadelphia, and the interven-
ing estate, not yet built upon, is held by DR..
E. Hashet Derby, the eminent Boston oculist.
The "Bee Hive and the southerly end oil
Newport Mountain have been purchased by
Mr.. George Homans of Boston. On Schoon-
er Head stand three cottages, whose occupants
form little community, and which are owned
by Chief Justice Brigham, of Salem, George
S. Hall, Esq, of Boston, and other Boston gen.
| tlemen. Nearer the village stand the eeautl-
| full cottages built by the Ogdens of New York
| and Prentices of Bangor and others are about
| building Mr.. Saugefeldt, Miss Robbins, and
| one or two other artists have cunning little
studios; and very pretty Swiss ''chaIdh,' as a
| rather consequential and artistic visitor pro-
| nounced it, is perched high above Duck Brook
| on the 'Cockscrew Hill"
These cottages have said are at once an
| improvement and danger. For the time is
coming when nearly every desirable lot along
| the shore in the vicinity of Bar Harbor will be
| owned by summer residents and enclosed with
| neat fences and when cottages will be
| sprinkled so thickly that it will be impossible
| to 90 to the rocks without passing through
| handsome private grounds and by elegant
| houses. Then, lovely as the place must al
| ways remain, it will be finally spoiled for the
| visitors. For, let the owners of the cottages
| be never so polite and accommodating in OPEN
| ing their grounds to the public, the charm and
freedom of the place will be gone forever. 1t
will remain very delightful spot, full of ele-
CANT villas, through whose grounds one may
take decorous stroll, attired in the most
tasteful and elegant costumes: but it will not
| be the independent old rollicking place we
have known it. 1t will be Nahant, not Mt.
Desert.
The hotel accommodations this year are
| greater than ever befroe; but, in spite of that
| fact. the town has been packed so full that it
| has been almost impossible to get room, and
| it is only within a few days that the crowd has
begun to thin out. The greatest number OF
visitors of all sorts who have been here at any
one time during this season has been estimated
at 3OOO but $500 would be nearer the truth
The Grand Central and Rodicks' with their
several dependencies, have been erammed,
| had tyUO bnO1rp1
thirty, and the latter it is claimed, three hum
dred and fifty boarders. including those who
come to meals at the hotels from private cot
tages, and who are designated by the natives
as "mealers'' and "hauled mealers." The
latter rather mysterious term is applied to
those whose cottages are so remote that they
have to be brought or "hauled' from them to
| the hotels in wagons. One OF the inhabitants,
| It seems, being asked what his business was,
| replied that, in winter, he hauled logs, and N
1 the summer he hauled mealers. Hence the
| name.
A new and very picturesque hotel, the
ssWest End", has been built this year near the
bar. 1t is furnished very tastefully and has a
| fine piazza and magnificent dancing-hall. So
great has been the crowd that this house was
invaded and seized upon by party OF exeur-
sionists before it was ready for occupation and
while the rooms were largely unfurnished. On
his occasion every one was for himself (and
the great enemy of our race must have found it
difficult, with all his skill and practice to
catch the hindmost. y Every one laid hands on
whatever articles of furniture he could find and
carried them off in triumph to his own room.
| The managers, one of whom is Mr.. Hayward,
he well known proprietor of the Hayward House
here, have now brought order out OF chaos.
and the house has already taken its place with
these old established favorites, the Grand Gen.
trail and Rodick Houses, as one of the princi-
pal hotels of the place. Mr.. Desisle, (popularly
known at Bar Harbox as "Desizzle'O the post
master has also built new hotel a little be-
yond the Grand Central on the Schooner Head
road which is very well spoken OF and which
he has called by his own name with slight
variation in the spelling to guard against any
ignorant or malicious perversion thereof, "Ho-
tel des Ises.'
The company are gathered from various
| parts of the country; not lew come from
| Portland and Bangor, many come from Boston
| New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore; few
from Washington, Virginia. Savannah, Flori-
4
| da and the West. The people of the latte
section, however, seem scarcely as yet to un-
derstand the true character of the place, if they
are fairly represented by the Chicago lady who
this Spring announced that she had thought OF
taking her daughter to Mt. Desert but had
| given it up because it was nowhere near the
salt water, and there were no young people
| there!
| Among the visitors is Mrs. Clara Barnes
Martin, formerly of Portland, who is prepar-
ing a new and revised edition of her very pop
ular guide-book to the island.
The little Episcopal church, fifty called
"Saint Saviour, was consecrated last Thurs
day, Bishops Nealy of Maine and LittieJohn oil
Long Island officiating. The Rev. MIR. Leffing-
WELL formerly of Gardiner has accepted the
rectorship. He has taken cottage and in
| tends to remain here permanently, though
where he expects to find his winter congrega-
ton it is difficult to imagine. The church is a