The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-07-17
SOUTHWEST HARsoR.
Was 1t Once the Resort of the Ancient
Notthmen-An Ancient Spring and
an Ancient Skeleton = Beautiful
Drives and Scenes.
Correspondence Of the Press.l

| Inc phenomenal growth OF the latter as a
watering place, the persistent advertising
which 1t has received from the railway and
| steamboat lines, the push and
| foresight of its inhabitants. coup
| led with its own great natural ad-
vantages, have enabled it to largely over
shadow its sister resorts and to retard their
development But there are many places
outside of Bar Harbor which may fairly
dispute with her the palm of beauty and ad-
vantage. Year by year these places are COM
ing more and more to the front, and soon we
may with reason expect to see Bar Harbor
repeated ON an equal scale at several other
points on the Mt. Desert coast. Southwest
Harbor and Northeast Harbor have both
come into prominence within a few years,
and already attract large number of visit
ors. Islesford, situated on Little Cranberry
Island, is the latest claimant for popularity,
and present indications are that it will have
prosperous future.
Probably no place on the Maine coast pre-
sents so attractive picture from the sea-
ward side as does Southwest Harbor. APP
preaching the harbor from the west the
steamer passes first Long Ledge, over which
the surf is nearly always breaking, its far
thest extremity marked by a bell buoy.
Night and day, year in and year out, the
restless waves keep up an .incessant tolling,
and 7when heard after nightfall. as the
steamer glides by, it has weird and SOL
emn sound as Of ''passing bell" Leaving
the Ledge we glide by the famous "Sea
Man," an immense rampant OF rocks built up
by the resstless force of the waves. Here
stones varying from few pounds 10 a toms
weight have been rolled over and over till
they have become nearly as round as can
non ball and carried inland by mighty storms
from the southeast till they have at length
formed huge dixie beyond which the waves
cannot go. As soon as the Ledge is rounded
the hills begin to open up like q panorama,
and with every yard Of advance there Is a
change In the scene. And herein lies much
OF the charm of Mt. Desert scenery. 1t is
never monotonous, IL is never tame. 1t is
sometimes majestic, 0ftentimes beautiful
and always interesting. One has but to
change his point of view little to get an
entirely different view. IL, after studying
the landscape till thoroughly familiar from
the shore, one sails out into the harbor the
picture changes as completely as though the
curtain had been rung up for an entirely
new scene. Facing the entrance to the har-
Dor Is that long, narrow ribbon OF
water known as Somes's Sound, which near
ly cuts Mount Desert in halves. The noun
tains coming down on either side of the
Sound remind one at once of some scenes
among the highlands Of the Hudson. This
bright bit OF water, with the somhre back
ground Of hills, black with forests of spruce
and pine or brown with naked, barren rook,
the low wooded shores of Greening's Island,
the village circling the harbor, and the hand
some hotels and villas on the Northeast
Harbor shore, make up a picture nowhere
surpassed on the coast of Maine.
The drives about South West Harbor are
among the finest on the island, and the own
ers Of buckboards do thriving business
during the height of the season. One of the
most beautiful trips u that to Somesville,
along the shore of Echo Lake and return by
the Beech M0untaja road. The order Is some
times reversed, but the former Is better.
Echo Lake lies IN the gorge between Carroll |
Mountain and Beech Mountain, and the road |
at times approaches within few feet Of the |
lake. At oae point the situation of the cliffs |
is such that a shout is echoed from one 10
the Other several times with startling dis |
tinctness. The lake itself Is a beautiful |
sheet OF water, cloer and cold, and abound
ing y in the bsaoIgh gidda dIhey are usually very
winter and in spring the fisherman
often has the good fortune to hrinc /
n0me trout weighing two or three ponnds |
aifts iCfts The The return fsS grand view Of
Somes's Sound and the mountains on the
east, and OF Western Mountain, Blue hll
bay and an immense oxpanse OF country on
southern slope Of Beech Mountain the view
of the ocean and islands to the south and
east Is magnificent Every moment the scene
varies like the pictures in kaleidoscope.
The view from some other points on the ISL
and may be more extended; none can DO
more BEAUTIFUL.
Perhaps Southwest Harb0r is the site OF
the earliest settlement by Europeans on the
coast of Maine. The reverend o. Ii. Fer
nald, who has been diligent student OF all
that pertains to the early history OF Mount
Desert, believes that the Northmen once had
a settlement in the vicinity of Fernald's
Point. A fine spring Of water, situated
just above high water on the point,
has Sways sD9Sg E0O%n sO%e relics Of 'ns
fashion thought to beNorse have been found
in the vicinity, and the exhuming Of gigan-
tic skeleton OF European type few years
ago seemed to him TO lend color TO the
theory. 1t is not at all impossible that the
Mortimer may at one time have had a
settlement here. Indeed, II they
ever did skirt along our coast. as Is now be-
lieved, it is more than probable that they en-
tered this harbor, as the surrounding
islands, the sound, and the mountains, with
their beetling cliffs could not have failed to
remind them of the fiords and erags OF their
native Norway. But while it may be ar
gued that they naturally would have been
attracted to this spot, the evidences that
they actually did make settlement here are
That the French settled at Valley Cove as
early as the year 1913 hardly admits OF
doubt. The sheltered position OF the valley
protected on the east, north and west by
mountains, the nearness to the sea, and the
| abundance of pure water supplied by q
| spring. now known as the "Jesuits Spring,
would at once have recommended 1t as mt
| site for settlement. Here they evidently
| erected cabins, as traces Of shallow cellars
can still be seen, and broken bits of brick
| and pottery could be fond up to- within a
| few years. In searching for the sites OF the
| French cabins one is likely to be mislead by
| excavations ia the earth of much later date.
| These were made several years ago by sgir-
| itualists in search Of Kidd's treasure. The
| spirits directed them to dig in certain spots
| in the valley and they dag with no other re-
suits than that of taking some very vigorous
| open air exercise at midnight.
| The road from Fernald's Point to South
| west Harbor village, winds around beauti-
| full little indentation at high water, known
/ as Norwood's Cove. The southern shore is
high and woody, and on the ridge beyond
are hotels, cottages and church. 1t Is a
very pretty, peaceful, rural picture now, but
it was once the scene of brief, but bloody
conflict. In the war of 1912 two British wal
vessels. the Dolphin and the Tened0s, chased
an American schooner into Southwest Har-
Dor. Not being acquainted with the waters,
| the frigates dared not follow, but anchored
Just outside Of Greening's Island, while the
schooner sought refuge in Norwood's Cove
behind the forest-crowned ridge. The Brit
ish despatched two barges with nearly one
hundred men, to capture the schooner, COM
pelling an American seaman to act as pilot
In the meantime large band OF hshermen
and farmers had secreted themselves In the
woods on the southern shore. When the
barges had approached within musket snot,
the pilot sprang to his feet, shouting 'Siye
it to 'em, boys; don't mind met upon waicn @
the Americans opened a murderous nre,
which soon compelled the British to retreat
with the loss Of almost the entire crew Of
one of the barges. No further attempt was
made on the American vessel. Fhis affair Il
known in local history as the battle OF Nor
woods Cove. Il.