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A Town of Many Villages
By Allyson Brehm and James J. Allen
Mount
Desert
is a town of many villages. Running east to west through the middle
half of Mount Desert Island, the town of Mount Desert has more nooks
and crannies than the Asticou Inn.
It seems that each
neighborhood is unique, boasting a natural wonder and a character
all its own.
Local historian
Robert Pyle describes the physical layout of the town “like a
ballroom dancer’s sash that goes across the island.”
The town of Mount
Desert was created by the Massachusetts General Court in 1789,
according to Pyle. At that time, it included the entire island and
some of the offshore islands.
After separate
“coherent entities” were established such as Bar Harbor, Tremont and
the Cranberry Islands, all that was left over—an awkward shaped
middle section, became the town of Mount Desert.
Five villages make
up the town.
“In the summer the
villages almost function as independent towns,” said Pyle.
For that reason
many summer visitors have a hard time understanding that Pretty
Marsh and
Seal Harbor are both
in the same town.
On the western
“quiet” side, the former farming village of Pretty Marsh encompasses
Bartlett Island and borders Blue Hill Bay.
Somesville, the
first village settled on MDI, also is home to the only fjord on the
East Coast.
Due south and
across the sound,
Northeast
Harbor is the largest village, a quick way to the Cranberry Isles
and the open
Atlantic.
Farthest east of
the town are
Seal
Harbor
and then Otter Creek, villages known for their spectacular
coastlines and the magnificent homes that line them.
Mount
Desert
can also claim the most diverse terrain on the island. Glaciers
receding across the island left their mark in the low wetlands of
Pretty Marsh and across to the east of the town, the most
mountainous part of whole island.
The town shares the
largest lake, Long Pond, with Southwest Harbor. It also contains the
popular freshwater destinations of Jordan Pond, Echo Lake and
several others.
Cutting north to
south through the middle of Mount Desert, Somes Sound is the most
distinctive natural landscape of the town.
Summer traffic in
Somesville slows to a crawl on sunny days when visitors stop to
stare over the sound to the looming mountains southeast of town.
Across the fjord,
those traveling on Sargent Drive learn to slow down as well; for
safety’s sake and in order to enjoy the view.
Pyle, who was a
reserve police officer for 25 years, commented on the town’s size.
Occasionally, he said, he would be near Bartlett’s Island and
receive a call to go to Otter Creek.
“I was tempted to
stop for lunch on the way,” he said. |
