Native Americans lived along the coast of present-day Maine for thousands of years before Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer, came ashore in 1604. He called his discovery “Isles des Monts Deserts.” The main island’s English name remains Mount Desert and the surrounding waterway is Frenchman Bay. Look again at this photo. From this peaceful shoreline you can see nine wooded islets. Surely this view is why the first European settlers called their town Eden. But when it was incorporated in 1796, the namesake was actually Sir Richard Eden, an English statesman. By the time it was renamed Bar Harbor in 1918, the town had become a resort community and summer residence for the wealthy and famous. Tragically, many of their mansions were destroyed by a fire in 1947. The ten-day blaze devastated most of the island.
