Robert R. Pyle Our sense of place and community is made up of memories—personal memories of first-hand experience; oral memories that recount our ancestors’ experiences; and f- mal, codified civic memories set down in laws, ceremonies, and rituals. Together they are vital building blocks of citizenship. In a vivid and meaningful way this book p- serves memories relevant to understanding the roots of communities on Mount Desert Island, Maine. The surnames of many of Mount Desert’s earliest settlers are still found in today’s telephone directories. In these families many oral traditions are passed down from generation to generation, building outward from a historical core like the rings of a tree. “Dad used to farm this field,” Fred L. Savage’s great-nephew Don Phillips told me once, gesturing toward an alder growth. “His father grew vegetables for the hotel, and my great-grandfather grew grains. This road used to go right on up over the hill, and they used it to move the cemetery up there from where the hotel is now. ” Describing the field, Don ignores the alders and the towering evergreens beyond them, for in his mind’s eye he sees yellow, waving wheat and rye, bare ground, and a narrow cart track leading up the hill into the distance, on which his ancestors tra- ported the remains of their own forebears to a new resting place. Oral traditions, living memory, set the stage for him, and he accepts the reality of things he has never seen.

Mount Desert Island has attracted scoundrels and scandals for more than 100 years. Steady as the tide, every summer brings a rush of summer residents from eastern cities to the island and nothing thrilled them so much as a good scandal. In its heyday, Mount Desert was a wild oasis where the summercators could carry on in comparative privacy. Today, unfortunately, unlike Las Vegas, what happened on Mount Desert doesn’t always stay on Mount Desert. The scandals that were the talk of the picnics and outings that filled the summer visitors' days are brought back to life in Bar Harbor Babylon. Murderers, thieves, cheaters and scammers have all made their mark on the tiny towns of Mount Desert. This book will take the reader on a tour of the misadventures and misfortunes that punctuate the island's wealthy and privileged past.

Acadia National Park, on Maine's Mount Desert Island, is among the most popular national parks in the United States. From the road, visitors can experience magnificent vistas of summit and sea, but on a more intimate scale, equally compelling views abound along Acadia's hiking trails. Tom Wessels, an ecologist, naturalist, and avid hiker, attributes the park's popularity-and its unusual beauty-to the unique way in which earth, air, fire, and water-in the form of glacially scoured granite, winter winds, fire, and ocean fog-have converged to create a landscape that can be found nowhere else. In this beautifully illustrated book, Wessels invites readers to investigate the remarkable natural history of Mount Desert Island, along with the unique cultural story it gave rise to. This account of nature, terrain, and human interaction with the landscape will delight those who like to hike these bald summits, ride along the carriage roads, or explore the island's rugged shoreline. Wessels concludes with a guided tour of one of his favorite hikes, a ten-mile loop that will acquaint the reader with the diverse ecosystems described throughout his book.

This volume offers a comprehensive history of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL), one of the major marine laboratories in the United States and a leader in using marine organisms to study fundamental physiological concepts. Beginning with its founding as the Harpswell Laboratory of Tufts University in 1898, David H. Evans follows its evolution from a teaching facility to a research center for distinguished renal and epithelial physiologists. He also describes how it became the site of major advances in cytokinesis, regeneration, cardiac and vascular physiology, hepatic physiology, endocrinology and toxicology, as well as studies of the comparative physiology of marine organisms. Fundamental physiological concepts in the context of the discoveries made at the MDIBL are explained and the social and administrative history of this renowned facility is described.

Mt. Desert Island, located off the coast of Maine, is blessed with more than twenty-five lakes and forty streams, but most visitors to the island are attracted by its granite coast and never get to explore “the lake country.” The revised and expanded edition of this one-of-a-kind guide is designed to give visitors the tools they need to get the most of this remarkable feature of Mt. Desert. In collaboration with students, graduates, and a professor from College of the Atlantic, author and longtime island summer resident William Newlin offers tips on what lakes are best for activities like boating, swimming, fishing, hiking, biking, and picnicking and provides readers the specific details they will need to make the most of their visit. Just where do you launch your kayak? Where are the best picnic rocks? What fish are available? Containing beautiful photos and illustrations, detailed, full-color maps, and informative sidebars that fill the reader in on interesting bits of natural history and local lore, this is an essential resource for vacationers and local adventurers alike.

The best from three classics about Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island, & Acadia National Park. Edited by G.W. Helfrich. Heavily illustrated with the author, Sargent Collier's photographs of the contemporary scene & earlier prints of the good old days.

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