New-York tribune., 1901-08-04

months Perhaps that is all that need be said for
the stamp approval which they have placed |
upon resort sufficient give it especial in
terest 70 the general public Bar Harbor rests
nesting the foot of Green Mountain, facing |
Frenchman's Bay one Of the most beautfu' /
stretches or water in this country surrounded by 1
deep pine forests and purple mountain ranges. /
with mornings OF sunlight aud freshness that seem
entirely different from what the city ever |
knows, with strange, wild beauties Of sea and /
country united that the place is forever mar
vel and a continual change. j is one of natures |
rareSt gems and fairly called the queen Of Ameri- |
can summer resorts. And those who gather here |
are not left TO insipid routine of gayety and |
friyolity. The charm % the surroundings offsets |
the WEAKNESS OF conventional life.
The history Of Mount Desert and Bar Harbor is |
quaint and interesting. Sieur de MOnts. a Hugue-
not. serving under King Henry ~ of France, came
sailing into the West early in the seventeenth CEN
tury. With him Baron de Poutrincourt
afterward founder of Port Royal, and Samuel de
Champain. A settlement for the purposes Of col
oniZation made island the mouth Of
the present ST. Crox River. short time after
ward Champlain. accompanied by twelve French
men and Indians. set along the coast upon
voyage Of discovery.
They finally made island twenty-five leagues
10 the westward Of the St Croix settlement. This
island Champlain speaks Of being some four
or five leagues long. From the sea It gives the
appearance Of a range Of seven eight mountains.
The SUBMITS are al bare and rocky. The slopes
are covered with pines frs and birches I named
2, Islc des Monts Desert"
HOW SETTLEMENT BEGAN
Ten years later an expedition set out from France
with the idea of establishing colony in the coun-
try nea. Nova Scotia which colony was 10 con-
firm by occupation the grant made by the French
King 10 one Nine. dc GuerchvITe OF all North
America. Lost in the fog of the Maine coast the
expedition found Itself fine morning close under
tire cliffs OF Mount Desert. and came TO anchor
near Bar Harbor. They did not intend remaining
bur being solicited by some Indians to help save
their chief who lay I'll shore. the missionaries
in the party responded. Their observation Of the
inland beauties impressed them that they per-
suaded the rest Of the colonists disembark and
70 settle or the island. This done but in a |
short time the little French colony living in peace
with the Indian tribes was attacked by English |
warship and completely destroyed. With the dis |
persion Of the Mount Desert colony the dream OF
Jesuit dominion tho coast vanished
A century and a half elapsed before the coming |
OF the first permanent English settlers Mount |
Desert, but the island does wholly disappear I
from history. The great hills landmarks that |
no sailor could miss. and many a voyager hailed
them from the lonely In the three years thar
followed the fall OF Quebec and the expulsion of i
the French from North America a tide of immi- |
grafton poured into Eastern Maine. bringing q |
hardy OF settlers into every bay and harbor 1
from Pemaqud to ST. Croix The pioneer on Mount |
Desert was Abraham Somes, who came IN the sum- |
ner OF l76l from Gloucester. and settled at what
Is now known as Somes Sound. He was soon fol- |
oMu ns otners IN snort time grist and lumber
s e %fe running houses had sprung up fisheries
OF Massachusetts, obtained the island as grant
ron n, the he Crown only TO have 1t taken from him
the Americans Half the island was subsequently
the Of the fe @ GH nencb he was ssss
The name of the French owner was Monsieur Bar
They lie buried in the quaint little graveyard at
BEAUTIES DISCOVERED.
The story Of the island for the next fifty wears
is uneventful. The population steadily increased
and was composed OF seafar1ng folk thrifty and
self-reliant IT not until 1860 that the charm
OF Mount Desert began to be talked about. Wan |
dertng artists parties OF college students on va
cation trips had discovered the beauty bays
and islands and the grandeur OF the desert noun
tains Whittier and Weiss sang of the island leg
ENDS and Of the rude yig9r Of the landscape while
Great Head or the ironbound and surfbeaten ISL |
amos amos OF FTsnehman's Bay; AT first Southwest Har
1855 the steamer Lewiston began making landings
backed BY the mountains and looking out on the
soon bay man ead t aeF&ss a TO the hills Of
home Of many 'westerners' as the local speech
and Philadelphia The first cottage TO be built
by AlPheus Hardy, IN 1857. It cost nearly $500 and
Other simple houses for summer occupation fol-
the rapid change from hotel cottage begun. Then
the value OF land rose by the hundredfold Fine
all kinds OF improvements followed. Clubs were
pastures and steep hlsides. Land Improvement
companies grew up by the score. Seeing the IN
rush 10 buy tracts OF land that thought
would bring fabulous prices. Many FORUM
dollars invested but there were also many fail
in the wild speculation that resulted.
STEADY AND RATIONAL GROWTH
When the excitement and abnormal condition had
passed away Bar Harbor began grow nationally
and steadily. Each year the arrival Of great
er and greater number Of wealthy persons who
bought land and built handsome summer homes.
Bar Harbor quickly passed through the evolution
OF one OF the most popular American summer re-
SORTS At first II was a primitive place. and those
who lived IN the hotels and boarding houses In
1865 had 10 exist largely on climate and scenery;
wooden shanties. the life Of the ''rusticators'
was altogether OF an out-of-door character-easy
and customs The Rodick became widely famous;
and the celebrated Fish Pond" was known and
F3ar Harbor has not yet reached the point OF us
utmost development AS summer resort II rs more
passed through varying phases OF eAlstehCe. ~
its beginning an odd ana picturesque corner oi
the world where arLlsIs ,. fro1o few rude
hshermen's huts and scattered camps eI a~uua.Is ~
grew up an enthusiasm Ior ne piSce iiI0e h
a few wealthy Boston ana new ORR Inen' W.
found here a peaceful isolation. They came mere
and lived in a rough and ready fashion There
were only a handful OF them, and the ne hes
led was a tollv wholesome They boated and
rode and pcnicked in fashion that seems strange
lV out of place to Bar Harbor as II now eAlsIs-
The beauty and charm OF the place coupled with
sketches that had been made by visiting artists
could not fail attract more people
So the summer population grew. and as the lines
~ steannboats and railroads converged upon the
place a group OF well known men saw here the
opportunity for a great real estate investment,
Tracts of land were purchased at low ngure, ana
Boston New-York and Philadelphia. In incred-
Iby short time people began 20 visit the resort In
,,n almost IN 2 year. land values went soaring.
hotels. mammoth for those times. were erected and