Mount Desert IslandGeographyLocationCoordinatesAreaHighest elevationHighest pointAdministrationStateCountyLargest settlementDemographicsPopulationPop. densityEthnic groups
Some residents stress the second syllable (/dɪˈzɜːrt/dih-ZURT) in the French fashion, while others pronounce it like the English common noundesert(/ˈdɛzərt/DEZ-ərt). French explorerSamuel de Champlain's observation that the summits of the island's mountains were free of vegetation as seen from the sea led him to call the islandL’Isle des Monts-déserts(meaningisland of barren mountains).[7]
Deep shell heaps indicateAmerican Indianencampments dating back 6,000 years in Acadia National Park, but prehistoric data is scant. The first written descriptions of Maine coast Indians, recorded 100 years after European trade contacts began, describe American Indians who lived off the land by hunting, fishing, collectingshellfish, and gathering plants and berries. TheWabanaki Indiansknew Mount Desert Island as Pemetic, "the sloping land". They built bark-covered conical shelters, and traveled in exquisitely designedbirch barkcanoes. Historical notes record that the Wabanaki wintered in interior forests and spent their summers near the coast. Archeological evidence suggests the opposite pattern; in order to avoid harsh inland winters and to take advantage ofsalmonruns upstream, American Indians wintered on the coast and summered inland.[9]
The first meeting between the people of Pemetic and the Europeans is a matter of conjecture, but it was a Frenchman,Samuel de Champlain, who made the first important contribution to the historical record of Mount Desert Island. Champlain led an expedition from theSt. Croix Settlement. He was tasked with exploring the coast in apatachewith twelve sailors and two American Indian guides. They were in search of a mythical walled and wealthy American Indian city namedNorumbega. On September 6, 1604 the expedition crossedFrenchman Bayand sailed towards Otter Creek, where smoke could be seen rising from an American Indian encampment. During high tide the ship hit a ledge off Otter Cliff and while repairing a hole two American Indians boarded the ship as guides.[10]
It is not clear whether Champlain sailed around the Island or was informed by the guides, but on that day, he wrote in his journal, "Le sommet de la plus part d’icelles est desgarny d’arbres parceque ce ne sont que roches. Je l’ay nommée l’Isle des Monts-déserts", which translates to "The mountain summits are all bare and rocky. I name it Isles des Monts Desert."[11]
In 1613, FrenchJesuits, welcomed by Indians, established the first French mission in America—Saint Sauveur Mission—on what is now Fernald Point, near the entrance toSomes Sound. Saint Sauveur Mountain, overlooking the point, still bears the name of the mission.
The French missionaries began to build a fort, plant their corn, and baptize the natives. Two months later, on July 2, 1613, CaptainSamuel Argallof theColony of Virginiaarrived on board theTreasurerand destroyed their mission.[12]Three of the missionaries were killed and three were wounded. The rest of the company, some twenty in all, were taken prisoner. Argall took many of the prisoners toJamestown. He eventually returned to Saint-Sauveur and cut down the cross the Jesuits had planted, replacing it with a Protestant version. He then set fire to the few buildings that were there.[13]He then went on to burn the remaining French buildings onSaint Croix IslandandPort Royal, Nova Scotia.[13]
The English raid at Fernald Point signaled the dispute over the boundary between the French colony ofAcadiato the north and the English colony ofNew Englandto the south. There is evidence thatClaude de La Tourimmediately challenged the English action by re-establishing a fur-trading post in the nearby village ofCastinein the wake of Argall's raid.[14]
There was a brief period when it seemed Mount Desert would again become a center of French activity. In 1688,Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, an ambitious young man who had immigrated to New France and bestowed upon himself the titlesieur de Cadillac, asked for and received 100,000 acres (400 km2) of land along the Maine coast, including all of Mount Desert. Cadillac's hopes of establishing a feudal estate in the New World, however, were short-lived. Although he and his bride resided here for a time, they soon abandoned their enterprise. Cadillac later gained lasting recognition as the founder ofDetroit. The island's highest point, at 1,528 feet (466 m) the highest point on the eastern seaboard of theUnited States, bears the nameCadillac Mountain, and is notable for the fact that its summit is among the first points in the United States touched by the rays of the rising sun.[15]
During much of the seventeenth century, nearbyCastinewas the most southern settlement of Acadia. (Bristol, Maine, was the most northern New England settlement.) No one settled in this contested territory, and for the next 150 years Mount Desert Island's importance was primarily its use as a landmark for seamen, as for example whenJohn Winthrop, first governor of theMassachusetts Bay Colony, sketched the island's mountains on his voyage to the New World.
In 1759, after a century and a half of conflict, British troops triumphed inQuebec, ending French dominion inAcadia. With Indians scattered and thefleur-de-lisbanished, lands along the Maine coast opened for English settlement. GovernorFrancis Bernardof Massachusetts obtained a royal land grant on Mount Desert Island.[citation needed]In 1760, Bernard attempted to secure his claim by offering free land to settlers.Abraham Somesand James Richardson accepted the offer and settled their families at what is now Somesville.[citation needed]
The onset of theAmerican Revolutionary Warended Bernard's plans for Mount Desert Island. In its aftermath, Bernard, who had sided with the British government, lost his claim. Massachusetts, now free of British rule, granted the western half of Mount Desert Island to John Bernard, son of the governor, who, unlike his father, sided with the rebels. The eastern half of the island was granted to Marie Therese de Gregoire, granddaughter of Cadillac. Bernard and de Gregoire soon sold their landholdings to nonresident landlords.
Their real estate transactions probably made very little difference to the increasing number of settlers homesteading on Mount Desert Island. By 1820, when Maine separated from Massachusetts and became a separate state, farming and lumbering vied with fishing and shipbuilding as major occupations. Settlers converted hundreds of acres of trees into wood products ranging fromschoonersand barns to baby cribs and hand tools. Farmers harvested wheat, rye, corn, and potatoes. By 1850, the familiar sights of fishermen and sailors, fish racks andshipyards, revealed a way of life linked to the sea.Quarryingofgranite, which could be cut from hills close to deep water anchorage for shipment to major cities on the east coast, was also a major industry.
It was the outsiders, artists, and journalists, who revealed and popularized this island to the world in the mid 19th century. Painters of theHudson River School, includingThomas ColeandFrederic Church, glorified Mount Desert Island with their brushstrokes, inspiring patrons and friends to flock here. These were the "rusticators". Undaunted by crude accommodations and simple food, they sought out local fishermen and farmers to put them up for a modest fee. Summer after summer, the rusticators returned to renew friendships with local islanders and, most of all, to savor the fresh salt air, scenery, and relaxed pace. Soon the villagers' cottages and fishermen's huts filled to overflowing, and by 1880, 30 hotels competed for vacationers' dollars. Tourism was becoming the major industry.
For a select handful of Americans, the 1880s and the "Gay Nineties" meant affluence on a scale without precedent. Mount Desert, still remote from the cities of the East, became a retreat for prominent people of the time. TheRockefellers,Morgans,Fords,Vanderbilts,Carnegies, andAstorschose to spend their summers here. Not content with the simple lodgings then available, these families transformed the landscape of Mount Desert Island with elegant estates, called "cottages". The landscape architectBeatrix Farrand, at the Cadwalder Rawle - Rhinelander Jones family summer homeReef Point Estate, designed the gardens for many of these people. Projects included the Chinese-inspired garden at "The Eyrie" forAbby Aldrich RockefelleratSeal Harbor(1926–35), and the planting plans for subtle roads atAcadia National Parksponsored byJohn D. Rockefeller, Jr.(c.1930).[17]Luxury, refinement, and ostentatious gatherings replaced buckboard rides, picnics, and day-long hikes of an earlier era. Some rusticators also formed "Village Improvement Societies" which constructed hiking trails and walking paths connecting the Island's villages to its interior mountains. For over 40 years, the wealthy held sway at Mount Desert, but theGreat DepressionandWorld War IImarked the end of such extravagance. The final blow came in 1947 when a fire of monumental proportions consumed many of the great estates.
In 1901,George B. Dorr, disturbed by the growing development of the Bar Harbor area and the dangers he foresaw in the newly invented gasoline-powered portable sawmill, established along with others the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations. The corporation, whose sole purpose was to preserve land for the perpetual use of the public, acquired 6,000 acres (24 km2) by 1913. Dorr offered the land to the federal government, and in 1916, President Wilson announced the creation of Sieur de Monts National Monument. Dorr continued to acquire property and renewed his efforts to obtain full national park status for his beloved preserve. In 1919, PresidentWoodrow Wilsonsigned the act establishing Lafayette National Park, the first national park east of theMississippi. Dorr, whose labors constituted "the greatest of one-man shows in the history of land conservation", became the first park superintendent. In 1929, the park name was changed toAcadia National Park.
John D. Rockefeller Jr.endowed the park with much of its land area. Like many rusticators, Rockefeller, whose family fortune was derived from the petroleum industry, wanted to keep the island free of automobiles, but local governments allowed the entry of automobiles on the island's roads. Rockefeller constructed about 50 miles (80 km) of carriage roads around the eastern half of the island. These roads were closed to automobiles and included several vistas and stone bridges. About 40 miles (64 km) of these roads are within Acadia National Park and open only to hikers, bicyclists, horseback riders, horse-drawn carriages and cross country skiers.
In 1950,Marguerite YourcenarandGrace Frickbought a house, "Petite Plaisance", inNortheast Harboron the island. Yourcenar wrote a large part of her novelMemoires d'Hadrienon the island, and she died there in 1987.[18]Their house is now a museum. Both ladies were cremated and their ashes are buried in the Brookside Cemetery inSomesville.
In 1969,College of the Atlantic, the island's first and only institution of higher education, was established in Bar Harbor.
In 1986,Friends of Acadia, the nonprofit organization that directs private philanthropy and volunteerism for the benefit of Acadia National Park, was founded.
Mount Desert Island is rich in geological history dating back about 550 million years. The earliest formation on the island is the Ellsworth Schist Formation, which was a sea-floor mud deposit created during theCambrianperiod by volcanic ash. During theOrdovicianperiod, theAcadian orogeny— the collision ofLaurentia,Gondwanaland, andAvalonia— caused the formation to fold, thrust, and lift above sea level, where later layers were eroded away and the schist was exposed. The Bar Harbor Formation, which is made up predominantly of sands and silts, and Cranberry Island Formation, made up from volcanic ash and magmatic debris, occurred under similar circumstances in theSilurianandDevonianperiods, and were deposited on top of the Ellsworth Schist. However, due to less tectonic activity at that time, their deformation was less severe.[19]
Quarrying of granite was historically an important industry.Orogenicactivity during the Devonian period gave Mount Desert Island threegraniteunits: the Cadillac Mountain granite, the fine-grained Somesville granite, and the medium-grained Somesville granite. Surrounding these granites (labeled "DCg" on geologic maps) is a zone ofbrecciatedmaterial, known as DSz (Devonian Shatter Zone).[20]
Most recently, Mount Desert Island was host to theLaurentide Ice Sheetas it extended and receded during thePleistoceneepoch. The glacier left visible marks upon the landscape, such as Bubble Rock, aglacial erraticcarried 19 miles (31 km) by the ice sheet from a Lucerne granite outcrop and deposited precariously on the side of South Bubble Mountain inAcadia National Park. Other examples are themorainesdeposited at the southern ends of many of the glacier-carved valleys on the Island such as the Jordan Pond valley, indicating the extent of the glacier; and the beach sediments in a regressional sequence beneath and around Jordan Pond, indicating the rebound of the continent after the glacier's recession about 25,000 years ago.[21]
Excavations of old Indian sites in the Mount Desert Island region have yielded remains of the native mammals. Bones of wolf,North American beaver(Castor canadensis), deer, elk,gray seal(Halichoerus grypus), theIndian dog, andsea mink(Neovison macrodon) have been uncovered, as well as large numbers of raccoon, lynx, muskrat, and deer.[22]Although beaver were trapped to extinction on the island, two pairs of beaver that were released in 1920 by George B. Dorr at the brook between Bubble Pond and Eagle Lake have repopulated it. A large fire in 1947 cleared the eastern half of the island of its coniferous trees and permitted the growth of aspen, birch, alder, maple and other deciduous trees which enabled the beaver to thrive.[23]
TheFar Harboradd-onfor the 2015 video gameFallout 4is set on a post-apocalyptic Mount Desert Island, with Far Harbor being in the same location as Bar Harbor.[24]
Asticou's Island Domain: Wabanaki Peoples at Mount Desert Island 1500–2000, by Harald E.L. Prins and Bunny McBride (National Park Service, 2007).NPS.gov
^Stewart, George(1945).Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States. New York: Random House. pp. 29, 30.
^Acadia National Park, Maine: Significance of St. Sauveur Mission, Established 1613, Mount Desert Island. Washington, D.C.: Office of History and Historic Architecture, Eastern Service Center, National Park Service, November 1970.
^"Katahdin, Maine".Peakbagger.com. RetrievedJune 16,2010.Analysis by Blanton C. Wiggin, published in the January 1972 issue ofYankeemagazine, determined that the first sunrise in the U.S. occurs atCadillac Mountainin the fall and winter, from October 7 to March 6.
^Benjamin Church, Thomas Church, Samuel Gardner Drake.The history of King Philip's war ; also of expeditions against the French and Indians in its Eastern parts of New England, in the years 1689, 1692, i696 AND 1704. With some account of the divine providence towards Col. Benjamin Church.p. 261
^Nolan, David,Beatrix. The Gardening Life of Beatrix Farrand, 1872–1959. Viking, Penguin Group, 1995.ISBN0-670-83217-0. pp. 208
^Gilman, R.A., Chapman, C.A., Lowell, T.V., and Borns, H.W., 1988, Summary of the Bedrock Geologic History of Mount Desert Island,inThe geology of Mount Desert Island: Augusta, Maine Geological Survey Bulletin 38.
^Wiebe, R.A.: "Silicic magma chambers as traps for basaltic magmas: the Cadillac Mountain Intrusive Complex, Mount Desert Island",Journal of Geology, 1994.
^Gilman, R.A., Chapman, C.A., Lowell, T.V., and Borns, H.W., 1988, "Shaping of the Landscape by Glacial Erosion",The Geology of Mount Desert Island. Augusta: Maine Geological Survey Bulletin 38.
^Richard H. Manville (November 1941). "Notes on the Mammals of Mount Desert Island, Maine".Journal of Mammalogy.23(4): 391–398.doi:10.2307/1375049.JSTOR1375049.
^D. Muller-Schwarze, Susan Heckman (1980). "The Role of Scent Marking in Beaver".Journal of Chemical Ecology.6: 81–95.doi:10.1007/BF00987529.
