Bar Harbor Overlook

Spread out before you is the town of Bar Harbor, located on the northeast shore of Mount Desert Island. Settled in 1763, Bar Harbor was originally a fishing, lumbering, and shipbuilding town. In the 1840s, Bar Harbor was discovered by landscape artists of the Hudson River School who found inspiration in the area's rugged, picturesque coastline. Paintings by artists like Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church helped bring some of America's first tourists to Bar Harbor, and grand hotels were built to accommodate visitors arriving by steamship, ferry, and train. Many of America's richest families also built lavish summer cottages here as they had in Newport, R.I., which Bar Harbor eventually eclipsed as a playground for the rich. A 1947 fire destroyed many of the hotels and opulent homes, but some still remain along Mount Desert Street in downtown Bar Harbor's historic district.