From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
View from Mountain Road, Acadia National Park 209
"View of Bar Harbor and the islands from Mountain Road, Acadia National Park" This panorama of Bar Harbor and the islands in Frenchman's Bay was taken from Cadillac Mountain in the 1930s. Bar Island, connected to the mainland by a gravel bar at low tide, is on the left, across from Millionaires Row on West Street; the Porcupines are to the right of Bar Island. The decades from the 1880s to 1940 were the "golden age" of Bar Harbor, with grand summer "cottages" and as many as 30 elegant hotels. However, all that changed on a day in October 1947, when fire swept across eastern Mount Desert Island and into Bar Harbor. No rain had fallen in 180 days, the longest dry spell in 400 years, according to the Maine Weather Bureau, when fire started in a cranberry bog near Hull's Cove. It spread quickly and unpredictably due to changing wind directions, burning for more than 10 days. The fire consumed 17,000 acres, including 8750 in the National Park. In Bar Harbor it destroyed 67 of the "cottages" and 667 year-round homes. Boats from across Frenchman's Bay evacuated 400 people from Bar Harbor. Property losses totaled $23 million, with large losses of livelihoods for local residents whose jobs were tied to the summer residents' community. New jobs emerged as Bar Harbor became a summer destination for sightseeing vacations.
