Bar Harbor: A Resort is Born by Richard A. Savage In the spring of 1844 the famed Cole and Pratt. They proceeded to Hudson River artist Thomas Cole the sparsely populated eastern lost a close friend to a fatal illness. shore of the island. There they Suddenly New York City pressed in found lodging at the rustic "Lynam upon him, and Cole knew that he Homestead" on ruggedly beautiful must get away from the studio, the Schooner Head near the hamlet of crowded streets, the noise. He Bar Harbor. John Lynam's family needed to find some faraway place home seems to have been the only where he could gather his thoughts "boarding house" near Bar Harbor in relative peace and tranquility. He in the mid-1840's, the Lynams hav- no doubt considered the White ing found it worthwhile to supple- Mountains of New Hampshire, for ment their meagre income by "ta- he had been there often to sketch kin' in" what few resorters mean- and paint, sometimes with his dered past. As far as Cole and Pratt friend and colleague Henry Pratt, a were concerned, the Lynams did Maine native. Cole now sought out their job well. Pratt, and the two men at length Cole was captivated by the charm decided to journey to what was for and beauty of Mount Desert. Not Cole virgin territory, the Maine only at Schooner Head but coast. More specifically, their desti- elsewhere in and around Bar Har- nation was Mount Desert Island bor he found a variety of scenes to which for several years had been an sketch in pen and pencil. A few of out-of-the-way summer resort for a these sketches soon became widely few hardy Bostonians. It was a exhibited oils, and it was through happy choice. these paintings that Bar Harbor Vacationing Bostonians generally first came to public notice. Thomas boarded at Southwest Harbor, Cole had, in the language of re- Mount Desert's largest town, but sorts, "discovered" Bar Harbor, even Southwest Harbor, with its and through his work this "discov- few shops, yachts, and fishing ves- ery" was unveiled to New England sels, was too busy a place to suit and the nation. 11 Panorama of the mountains at Bar Harbor, C. 1900. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor Historical Society. The talented Cole was popular Cole produced his best Bar Har- throughout the East, notably in bor oil "Frenchman's Bay, Mount Boston: his patrons included Desert Island, Maine" in 1845, the such prominent New Yorkers as year following his visit, and he fin- Luman Reed and William P. van ished several other noteworthy Rensselaer. The artist also was a works. Soon other artists close friend of the influential poet, followed-Thomas Doughty, Ben- publisher, and journalist William jamin Campney, John Kensett, and Cullen Bryant, who did what he the noted marine artist Fitz Hugh could to further Cole's career. With Lane, among others. Lane's "View the major cities of the Northeast of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert engaged in a race for cultural Mountains " (1850) was yet an- hegemony and with "art unions" other testimonial to the attractions and "artist fund societies" cropping of the island's eastern shore. up in every urban center, it was a Cole's prize pupil Frederic Edwin good time to be an artist. The Church visited Mount Desert in popularizing influence of artists 1850 and liked it SO much that he never was greater. As many as a returned at least six times during a half-million people viewed Cole's busy career. Church, the most canvasses at the New York Art popular artist of the day (Cole had Union, a substantial audience. died in 1848), produced numerous 12 Main Street in the early 1880's, Rodick House at far left. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor His- torical Society. successful oils that further pub- 1853 Professor Alexander Bache, licized Bar Harbor and Mount Des- Director of the United States Coast ert. Perhaps the two most effective Survey, selected Green Mountain were serene "Oil Sketch of Bar (now Cadillac) near Bar Harbor as a Harbor" and his powerful "Storm triangulation point for the coast at Mount Desert." survey project. As useful as was the Church in turn was followed to national exposure Bar Harbor re- Bar Harbor by Charles Temple Dix ceived through the very existence and later by Albert Bierstadt, of the survey, even more important Church's major artistic rival in the was Bache's association with the 1860's. If one assumes its resort de- project. A grandson of Benjamin velopment as "good" rather than Franklin, Philadelphian Bache was "bad," Bar Harbor was fortunate to as prominent socially as he was re- have such talented men as its first nowned among his fellow scientists. publicists. As early as 1850 the first Thus a good many eminent steady trickle of visitors to the village Philadelphians soon came to know had begun, though there were as of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert, yet no hotels or even full-fledged making it clear that the Bostonians boarding houses to receive them. soon would have to share their re- Resorters stayed at John Lynam's treat. humble "homestead," or at the Bar Bache also was the intimate Harbor home of Albert Higgins, a friend of Louis Agassiz, Harvard's prominent member of one of the famed geologist, and the two men hamlet's pioneering families. took several professional trips Bar Harbor's resort development along the New England coast on was given further impetus when in Coast Survey vessels. Agassiz de- 13 veloped an interest in Maine rock artists, in part by the handiwork of formations and was eager to tour the Creator, and, one must assume, the coast later at a more leisurely in part by the cooking and general pace. Mount Desert was among the good cheer of Mrs. Lynam and Mrs. places that impressed him. Higgins. It may be that Roberts' Throughout the 1850's the shabby white wooden structure, number of Bar Harbor resorters situated by the sea on a treeless rapidly increased, putting a severe plot of rocky ground, was not de- strain on local facilities. By the serving of the appellation "hotel"; mid-fifties Higgins, Lynam (and per- but the Agamont was meant to be a haps one or two others) no longer hotel in the best sense of the word could accommodate the grow- and this is what is important. The ing number of people who sought vital first step toward building a re- lodging at Bar Harbor. Church ex- sort had been taken, and while the pressed bewilderment that "some accommodations admittedly were shrewd Bostonian" had not yet rec- crude, this mattered little to the ognized the hamlet's resort poten- early resorters. tial. But apparently none had. Most Three years after Roberts had resorters were compelled to stay at opened the now busy Agamont, Southwest Harbor and travel to Bar Robert Carter, the New York Harbor and its environs by Tribune's Washington correspon- buckboard (for the scenery of dent, visited Bar Harbor aboard the course), a long and uncomfortable chartered sloop Helen. Carter's trip. Southwest Harbor had become party stopped first at Southwest a moderately successful resort be- Harbor (' the place of most re- cause a few families had seen the sort on the island"), thence to Bar economic potential of resort enter- Harbor (" to be near the finest prise, and it was left for Bar Har- scenery"). They stayed at the borites to learn from this example. Agamont where we found ex- The first crisis in the growth of a cellent quarters." resort was at hand. Upon his return to New York, This initial challenge was met in Carter wrote about his trip for the 1855 when Tobias Roberts, a prom- Tribune. A few years later the arti- inent villager, opened the Agamont cles were published in book form: House, Bar Harbor's first hotel. His for the first time Bar Harbor re- foresight in building the hotel was a ceived notice in a popular narra- key to Bar Harbor's future de- tive. Like the artists before him, velopment. Someone had to take Carter was impressed, though not advantage of the opportunity made uncritically, by the beauties of possible in part by the work of the Mount Desert: 14 Newport House, 1881. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor His- torical Society. HOUSE. BAR HARBOR.M Of late years, Mount Desert has become came primarily to study glacial a favorite resort for artists and for sea- formations, but also as a tonic for side summer loungers. But it needs the his health. Writing in the influential hand of cultivated taste for the full de- Atlantic Monthly, he compared the velopment of its matchless natural scenery of Mount Desert to that of beauties Half a century of judi- the Scandinavia he SO deeply loved. cious clearing would make this is- land a place of pilgrimage and ref- Since Agassiz was prominent in to all lovers of the beautiful and Boston society, his favorable pro- uge sublime in nature. nouncements had a positive effect on the resort's growth. One of There was an element of prophecy Agassiz's pupils Nathan Shaler also in Carter's words. visited the island and later wrote The summer of Carter's voyage, extensively on the island's geology. Ephraim Alley opened the His kind words did Bar Harbor and Mountain House, giving Bar Har- Mount Desert no harm. bor two hotels. Then Daniel Brewer Bar Harbor's traditional occupa- built the Green Mountain House on tions rapidly gave way to the resort the mountaintop near the Coast trades. Retired sea-captain James Survey headquarters. While the Hamor found it propitious to summit was some distance from abandon shipbuilding and erect the Bar Harbor village, Brewer had a Hamor House (1864), thus becom- steady business from resorters who ing the resort's fourth hotelier. Two had climbed the mountain and then years later David Rodick left his were either unable or unwilling to fishing business and, with his sons, make the long downward trek to built a boarding house in Bar Har- Bar Harbor at nightfall. They en- bor. There was more than enough joyed the Green Mountain House. business for all the early pro- In the fall of 1864 Agassiz at last prietors, even during the Civil War returned to Mount Desert. He years. 15 "Shore Acres," built for Dr. Hasket Derby, 1881. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor His- torical Society. The resorters who made such pleasant, healthful, uncrowded ventures both possible and neces- surroundings. They did not de- sary came from Boston, New York, mand luxury, fortunately, nor did Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., they seek the artificial trappings of New Haven, Providence, Peoria, more formal "Society." Primitive Chicago, and from as far away as Mount Desert filled their needs. Texas and California. These And if Bar Harbor was a bit back- visitors became important Bar ward, even by the rusticators' toler- Harbor "boosters"; although it is ant standards, progress was being difficult to measure with precision, made, thanks largely to Tobias word-of-mouth advertising clearly Roberts. Roberts exemplified a new has a profound impact on resort and adventuresome spirit that soon development. Good things were captured the imaginations of others being said about Bar Harbor, and / among the local inhabitants. He the resort fast was becoming a built a wharf at Bar Harbor, no popular success. By the mid-sixties doubt in hopes of attracting regular Bar Harbor was, without dispute, visits from the Mount Desert undergoing remarkable social and steamboat which still stopped only economic change. at Southwest Harbor; and by 1860 Bar Harbor was popular in its he had added bowling alleys and a formative years because it was "rus- "billiard saloon" to his other enter- tic." The artists and the intellectuals prises which included a fish market who followed them sought escape and general store. Roberts also lent from the stifling routine of Ameri- money to Bar Harborites as the ca's fast-growing cities. These resort- need arose, there being as yet no ers were in effect "going back to bank in town. nature." They called themselves Resort life at Mount Desert in the "rusticators," and they sought 1850's is vividly portrayed in the 16 Minot and Weld cottages, C. 1900. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor Historical Society. unpublished "log book" of New Streets were few in number, nar- York lawyer Charles Tracy, and this row, rutted, and, when it rained, picture would hold true at least became seas of mud. The "hand of through the late sixties. In 1855 cultivated taste," as Carter phrased Tracy had accompanied Church to it, was most conspicuous by its ab- Mount Desert, where the men sence. "Toby" Roberts and other hiked, daily climbed mountains, local entrepreneurs still had a long fished, picked blueberries and road to hoe. raspberries, and, on Sundays, at- At Somesville things were a bit tended church. Church services, livelier, thanks to Tracy. Before re- according to Tracy, were "in keep- turning to New York in late sum- ing with the Puritan tradition," that mer, the lawyer invited several is- is to say long, with a strategically land residents to a farewell party, placed intermission. Evenings were and such parties being few and far spent at home playing charades, between on Mount Desert, the dancing, fiddling, or singing to the turnout was predictably good. accompaniment of Tracy's piano Tracy proved an able host, offering which had been shipped by rail and an abundance of good food to steamer all the way from New York. complement the main course of Tracy, his family, and Church lobster salad. The customary home stayed at Somesville, a few miles entertainments were provided, and from Bar Harbor, but they jour- dancing continued well into the neyed to Bar Harbor on occasion, night. The last guests did not de- once staying overnight at the new part for Bar Harbor until the un- Agamont. Unfortunately the village heard of hour of two o'clock A.M. of Bar Harbor itself presented a The next day, presumably fully re- most unattractive visage in the covered from the festivities, Tracy mid-fifties, however beautiful the and family boarded the little surrounding countryside. The steamer Rockland at Southwest Agamont was unimpressive, and Harbor for the first leg of the re- there were no shops of significance. turn trip, leaving Mount Desert a 17 "Casa Par Niente," built for Wm. Rice, 1882. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor Historical Society. little less moribund than they had the East. Suffice it to say that the found it. And once back in the Em- early Mount Desert rusticators were pire State, the Tracys would tell a homogeneous group of artists, their friends and acquaintances of scholars, scientists, writers, and an that distant Maine island, while occasional merchant who loved the Church would again paint. beauty of coastal Maine. Tracy's young daughter Frances, The sixties brought few changes a minor figure in the "log book," in the basic social routine for most had an unbounded love for Mount resorters, but the groundwork Desert. She later became the sec- slowly was being laid for a new era. ond wife of the renowned John There was increasingly more social Pierpont Morgan, and in 1875 she and cultural activity for those SO in- returned to Mount Desert (this time clined. Occasional amateur theatri- to Bar Harbor) accompanied by her cal performances were given at Bar wealthy husband. J. P. Morgan thus Harbor, and there were numerous became the first of America's great concerts by touring glee clubs and financiers to place his seal of ap- choruses. Excursion steamers now proval on the resort. He would re- carried sightseers across French- turn many times. But in the late man's Bay to the hamlets and 1860's the rich had not yet discov- fishing villages of Sorrento, Winter ered Bar Harbor (in the sense of Harbor, Prospect Harbor, and utilizing it), in part because they still Grindstone-future resorts all. In were occupied making their mil- August 1867 the entire Boston lions, and in part because of the Yacht Club fleet anchored in the proximity of Newport and other re- harbor, and Bar Harbor's first sorts to the population centers of grand ball was held at the brand 18 Alpheus Hardy's cottage, 1867. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor Historical Society. new Rodick House in honor of nervous breakdown precipitated by Fleet Commodore Follett. Signifi- several years of treating Civil War cantly, even the New York Times casualties. Like Cole, Church, and took notice of the successful affair. the others, he was attracted by the Still resorters spent most of their beauty and serenity of Mount Des- time hiking, boating, and picnick- ert. But Mitchell found it no place ing. The hike up Green Mountain to live for the summer season. He remained popular, and rowing on was appalled by what he deemed an Eagle Lake at the foot of Green also unforgiveable dearth of the simple was a favorite pastime. Unfortu- amenities of life; largely for this nately for would-be sailors, the reason, he spent the following lake's rental boats were in ill repair summers in the more refined (some and SO few in number that reser- would say more artificial and af- vations often were necessary. These fected) atmosphere of Newport. deficiencies notwithstanding, some No doubt similar opinions were local entrepreneur obviously rec- commonplace. Bar Harbor still had ognized a market to be exploited little appeal for aristocrats of the and had proceeded to do SO. Such Newport variety and certainly was an example of initiative and in- not ready for them. Those used to genuity, at least at this early stage of the more structured social life of Bar Harbor's development, surely the city and "watering places" must offset the operation's short- found Bar Harbor's social routine comings. too informal and too "low brow" to For many, the Bar Harbor of the suit them; and what "Society" there 1860's was far too rustic and too was, appeared unbearably demo- crude to serve as a place of resort. cratic by Newport standards. An in- Philadelphia's Dr. Silas Weir Mitch- formal propriety was the best one ell is a case in point. The noted could hope for at Bar Harbor, and neurologist, novelist, and social even this was sometimes lacking. So "lion" first visited Bar Harbor in Bar Harbor remained, temporarily, 1866, while recuperating from a the refuge of rusticators. 19 Rodick House when all additions were completed in 1882. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor Historical Society. By 1870 there were sixteen hotels Bostonians, and logically SO. New in town, all owned by natives of Bar Yorkers still treasured Newport, Harbor and vicinity. But resort ac- while Bar Harbor was a long ride tivity was not centered entirely from Philadelphia, Washington, upon the hotels. Shortly after the and Baltimore. Besides Hardy, Bos- war's end another and significant ton contributed the Minots, Welds, trend became evident when non- Dorrs, and Derbys-all old estab- residents at last began to invest in lished families. Dr. Hasket Derby, Bar Harbor's future. Alpheus for example, was co-founder of the Hardy, a prominent Boston mer- American Ophthalmological Soci- chant and trustee of the Mont- ety and a member of four presti- gomery Sears estate, led the move- gious Boston clubs. The lone New ment. In 1867 Hardy left his board- Yorker among the early cottagers ing house and, for the sum of $300, was Gouverneur Ogden, Assistant purchased a desirable plot of land Director of the Coast and Geodetic at Bar Harbor where he con- Survey and member of the illustri- structed a private "cottage." In the ous New York clan. parlance of France's Old Régime, At first, of course, the number of after Hardy-the deluge. cottages remained small, and the Land prices were low, and those hotels dominated Bar Harbor's so- boarders who yearned for more cial life until the early eighties. privacy than the thin-walled hotels Twenty eventful years passed be- could provide, hastened to follow fore the social, if not the numerical, Hardy's lead. By 1869 more than a supremacy of the cottagers was es- dozen non-residents owned prop- tablished. But the homes of Hardy erty locally, while many already and the others, however modest were building cottages. they may appear in retrospect, were Most of the early cottagers were a beginning, and the construction 20 Grand central Bay View Hotel, built 1869. Photo courtesy of the Bar Harbor Historical Society. of these first cottages was a signifi- or boat (or some combination) to cant milestone-perhaps better, Rockland where, after 1854, they watershed-in Bar Harbor's resort could take the small, slow, but development. A few resorters at popular steamer Rockland to least now were establishing roots. Southwest Harbor (as Church and The growth of the resort was Tracy had). Sometimes a steamer further enhanced by the increasing would run from Bangor to Mount accessibility of Bar Harbor and Desert upon the arrival at Bangor Mount Desert. Beginning in the of the Boston-Bangor boat of the 1830's there was regular steamboat Sanford Line, and a few hardy service between Boston, Portland, souls even took the stage from Rockland, and Bangor, and in 1856 Bangor to Bar Harbor via service was started between Port- Ellsworth, a long trip. land and New York (railroad to Water transportation to Mount Providence or Boston, then steamer Desert was disrupted by the Civil to Portland). The railroad was ex- War when the government took tended to Portland in 1842, to Bath both Rockland and her successor T. in 1850, and to Bangor in 1857. F. Secor for military use. The loss of Thus resorters had several means these boats slowed the flood of of travel to and from the state. visitors to Bar Harbor, but not cata- Commercially speaking, coastal strophically. And once the war was Maine was fortunate to be con- over, regular steamboat service was nected to the great population cen- restored with significant additions. ters of the East relatively early. Captain Charles Deering was the Travelers could go from New moving force behind the creation York, Boston, and Portland by rail of the Portland, Bar Harbor, and 21 Machias Steamboat Company, the feet of lumber was delivered to Bar first such concern to provide direct Harbor's waterfront, to be used and reliable service to and from Bar primarily for hotel and cottage con- Harbor. Service was inaugurated in struction. It was evident that the 1868 by the sleek steamer Lewiston. will and desire to develop a resort, The steamers were a success be- instilled by the diminutive Mr. cause people wanted to visit Bar Roberts, had inspired the imagi- Harbor. And the arrival of the nations of Bar Harborites. Farmers steamboats on a regular basis in abandoned their fields and fisher- turn inspired a burst of activity on men their nets to become involved the part of the townspeople. Both in the resort trades. Ship carpenters established proprietors and the became the builders of cottages and newly arrived now could receive hotels. Other inhabitants became supplies by sea. Tobias Roberts was gardeners, caretakers, livery men, SO hopeful that he built his second maids, cooks, and porters. Those hotel, the Rockaway. who continued to farm and fish While the steamers were by no now supplied the cottages and hotel means the sole cause of the hotel dining rooms. boom, they provided a steady sup- Of course there remained serious ply of lodgers and may well have problems to solve before the future made the construction of SO many would be secured, and there was hotels and boarding houses feasible surely no guarantee in 1870 that over the long term. By serving as Bar Harbor one day would be the freighters as well, the steamers summer playground of the Van- clearly facilitated the expansion of derbilts, Morgans, Pulitzers, Stotes- the resort. Bar Harbor was well de- burys, Kents, and McLeans. Before veloped by the time the first direct it could become a "watering place" train service was instituted in 1884. the resort had to acquire consider- As the decade of the sixties came ably more polish and refinement. to a close, Bar Harbor was fast be- And SO it did, with moderate speed, coming a full-fledged resort. A but relentlessly. As the 1870's building boom engulfed the town. dawned, Bar Harbor's mandate was In 1869 alone, over a half million becoming increasingly clear. RICHARD A. SAVAGE is now Director of Financial Aid and Continuing Edu- cation at Becker Junior College in Worcester. He has written numerous articles on Maine history for regional publications. 22