City Histories, 1763 -
Bar Harbor is on Mount Desert Island on the Maine coast. It has long been a fashionable summer resort, attracting writers and artists as well as others just getting away from the city. Champlain visited Mount Desert Island in 1604. The first permanent English settlement took place in 1763. Originally known as Eden, the name was changed to Bar Harbor in 1918. That name was derived from a sand bar, which connects Mount Desert Island with another island nearby. Agamont House, Bar Harbor's first hotel, was built in 1855. During the 19th century, Bar Harbor had become the site for many elegant summer estates. A number of them were burned in October 1947, when forest fires swept the island. The oldest lodging establishment to survive the fire is now the Coach Stop Inn. Originally a stagecoach inn and tavern, it is now a bed and breakfast. The efforts of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and others resulted in the establishment of a national park on Mount Desert Island in 1916.
Originally called Sieur de Monts Monument, the name was changed to Lafayette National Park in 1919 and finally to Acadia National Park in
1929. Colonel and Mrs. Louise Drexel Morrell built St. Edwards Convent in 1916 and gave it to The Holy Redeemer Church. Col. Morrell and Louise's
likenesses can be seen in stained glass windows in the chapel on the second floor. Louise Morrell was a sister to St. Katherine Drexel, who
was canonized in 2000. The convent is now the home of the Bar Harbor Historical Society Museum.
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