Yesterday

The town of Tremont, as perhaps in no other place on Mount Desert Island, has managed to maintain its traditional relationship with the sea.

Fishing is in decline and a new economy is emerging, fueled by the onslaught of development and rising real estate prices. Despite these changes, the character of the community remains—a vibrant portrait of a way of life that demanded an independent spirit and resourceful habits.

Tremont was created in 1848 by a division from the town of Mount Desert. It was named for the mountains—Western Mountain, with West and East peaks, and Beach Mountain. Tremont included Southwest Harbor and Manset, communities that were later incorporated as the town of Southwest Harbor in 1905.

Settlements in Tremont today include Bass Harbor, Bernard, West Tremont and Seal Cove.

Tremont shared many family and commercial ties with Swan’s Island, Long Island, Great Gott Island and other 19th century communities. Their common tie was the sea, using the resources at hand to gain economic security. Family alliances in business, fishing and in a myriad of other activities provided the labor and capital necessary for any enterprise. In times of tragedy and hardship, these relationships sustained families, granting comfort for the day and hope for the future.

In 1850, the principal occupations in these settlements were as fishermen, mariners or ship/boat builders. The fishermen were involved in the cod fisheries off Grand Banks, Labrador and Banquereau Bank. Others were involved in the mackerel fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the herring fisheries off Magdalene Islands. Crews for these vessels tended to be members of an extended family, with the owners often being among the crew. Mariners worked local coasters and sometimes on bluewater vessels, bringing cargoes to market or to local merchants and businessmen.

Shipbuilding centers were located at Southwest Harbor, Manset and Bass Harbor. At least 41 schooners, two brigs, and one bark were built at these places between 1829 and 1902.

Boat building for those vessels working the waters of Penobscot Bay also flourished. Francis Gilley is listed as a boat builder in 1850. A.B. Eaton, L.F. Gott and F.W. Lunt were listed as boat builders in 1891, with W.P. Sawyer as shipbuilder. L.F. Gott was still in business in 1907, along with William H. Lunt and Frank Eaton. Albert Bartlett is listed as a sailmaker in 1850, and Frank McMullen at McKinley, in 1907.

In 1880, Tremont had a hotel, the Tremont House, and a summer boarding home at Bass Harbor. Dr. William A. Spear served as the local physician and John G. Wilson as shoemaker, first selectman and treasurer of the Tremont Savings Bank.

Listed as commanders of vessels at Seal Cove, West Tremont and Boston were captains Stephen Billings, Benjamin B. Benson, N.A. Reed and A. Lopaus.

By 1907, the town could boast of a billiard parlor, a library, a telephone, an undertaker, and numerous stores and shops. Dr. Thomas S. Tapley, living at McKinley, was the town physician in 1907. Tremont was also was served by two steamship lines and a stagecoach.

Traditional patterns of industry were changing in the 1880s with the advent of canning factories at Southwest Harbor and Bass Harbor. The Underwood & Co. Cannery at Bass Harbor was in business by 1891—canning lobsters, clams, and sardines. These factories employed many people and provided the fishermen with a ready market for their products.

Lobster fishing was also becoming an important part of the community, not only in connection with the canneries but also as an export to the Boston market. There were still those who dried fish on the beaches, and these also found a ready market in the suburbs of Boston or the lumbering camps of Maine.

Some of the men who settled with their families at Tremont were Joshua and William Norwood, Abraham and Thomas Richardson, Peter and Daniel Gott, Benjamin Benson, Enoch Wentworth and William Nutter. They helped to create tight knit communities that reached outward toward the islands of Penobscot Bay.

The land was their home, the sea their working environment. Many sons and fathers would be lost at sea, and a monument to their memory stands today at Bass Harbor.