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Just Cruise Down to Bar Harbor
Now more than ever,
those who go to Bar Harbor in summer arrive both by land and by sea.
This is the sign that greets drivers arriving on Route 3 from
Ellsworth. |
Those who have
driven on to Mount Desert Island know well the long lines of traffic
that hit at the height of the island’s tourism season, in July and
August.
Less known is the
fact that Bar Harbor has become a marquee port for cruise ships: As
many as 55 ships are scheduled to dock for the day this year. The
largest of them, which will arrive in Bar Harbor 12 times, carries
2,600 passengers.
That’s a serious
influx of tourists who will make their ways up Main Street in search
of T-shirts, trinkets and perhaps ice cream. More than ever before,
Bar Harbor has become a tourist draw for both shopping and
shorelines.
“You may have 2,600
tourists in town for the day,” said Jeff Dobbs, a former town
councilor who is trying for re-election on May 7. “But those 2,600
all come here without cars.”
Point well taken.
The only downside of Bar Harbor in summer is the driving. Which,
that aside, makes Bar Harbor a darn good place to pass through. More
than three million people do each year, in fact.
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Abbe Museum is now open year-round. |
“We are quaint,
safe and friendly,” said Clare Wood, CEO of the Bar Harbor Chamber
of Commerce. “We also have bald eagles, moose, whales—whatever you
are looking for.”
Such as lobsters,
or at least lobsters on the menu. There are 70 restaurants within
the town, and another 75 restaurants on Mount Desert Island, beyond
Bar Harbor.
For accommodation,
there are 3,500 hotel rooms in town, and hundreds more camping
spots. That makes Bar Harbor’s head count expand in summer about
four times its year-round population.
In spite of the
ever-expanding numbers of tourists, it never has been easier to get
around Bar Harbor. That’s due largely to the Island Explorer Shuttle
Bus system, now in its third season.
Not surprisingly,
the 35,000-acre Acadia National Park is the prime destination for
those who board the bus. The propane-powered, free-ride Island
Explorer goes along seven routes. Such a transportation system
recognizes that Acadia can accommodate more visitors, but not too
many more cars.
In town, it’s easy
to walk the Bar Harbor streets. One of the downtown’s treasures is
the Abbe Museum, dedicated to Maine Native American cultures,
history and archeology. Its move into its new building on Mount
Desert Street occurred last September, allowing for year-round
hours. Moreover, the move into the former YMCA building added 17,000
square feet of space to the 2,000 square feet in the original Abbe
Museum.
Founded by Dr.
Robert Abbe, a prominent New York surgeon who summered in Bar
Harbor, the Abbe opened in 1928 as a trailside museum at Acadia’s
Sieur de Monts Spring. Today its state-of-the-art storage area
houses the Abbe’s collections of 50,000 objects, spanning 10,000
years of Native life in Maine.
Two last Bar
Harbor treasures for those on foot. Jordan’s Restaurant is one of
the places to go for anything blueberry. But when it comes to
coffee, you can’t get a better price for a cup than at the West End
Drug Store on Main Street There, the oldtime atmosphere matches the
price: 20 cents for black, 25 cents for coffee with cream.
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