Bar Harbor is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. In 2020 there lived 5089 inhabitants in 3639 households on an area of 163.45 km².
According to the United States Census Bureau, Bar Harbor has a total area of 163.45 km², of which 109.4 km² is land and 54.05 km² is water.
Bar Harbor is located on Mount Desert Island in Penobscot Bay off the
coast of Maine in the Atlantic Ocean, in central southern Hancock
County. It occupies the northeastern part of the island. The largest
lake in the town area is Eagle Lake. The surface is hilly and the
highest point is Cadillac Mountain at 465 m. A large part of the area is
occupied by Acadia National Park.
neighboring communities
All
distances are given as the crow flies between the official coordinates
of the 2010 census locations.
North: Lamoine, 4.7 miles
NORTH-NE: Hancock, 3.6 miles
Northeast: Sorrento, 9.9 km
East:
Winter Harbor, 9 miles
South: Mount Desert, 4.8 miles
West:
Trenton, 9 miles
Bar Harbor has several settlement areas: Bar Harbor, East Eden (former Bar Harbor Post Office), Eden, Hamilton Station, Hulls Cove, Indian Point, Red Rock Corner, Salsbury Cove, Town Hill and West Eden. An early settlement was Widgins, at either Spruce Point or McKown Point.
The mean average temperature in Bar Harbor ranges from −6.1°C (21°F) in January to 20.6°C (69°F) in July. This means that the place is about 6 degrees cooler than the long-term mean of the USA. Snowfall between October and May is up to eight feet, more than twice the mean snow depth in the United States; the daily sunshine duration is at the lower end of the value spectrum for the USA.
In 1688, Louis XIV gave Mount Desert Island and other areas to
Antoine de la Motte Cadillac. Laumet was an officer in his service,
later governor of Louisiana.
Bar Harbor was incorporated on
February 23, 1769. First under the name Eden. on March 5, 1918, the area
was renamed Bar Harbor. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bar
Harbor was a popular vacation spot. Wealthy American families like the
Rockefellers and the Astors owned vacation homes in Bar Harbor. Social
work pioneer Jane Addams also stayed here frequently. In 1947 a fire
destroyed large parts of the city, including the villas of these
families.
Since 1998, Bay Ferries Limited has operated a service
from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The high-speed catamaran The
Cat, prior to its 2009 cessation, completed the route in normal weather
conditions in two and a half hours. After discontinuation in 2009, the
ferry port was relocated to Portland, Maine. However, the Portland route
was suspended in 2018 due to construction at the Portland terminal and
was later discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of July 2022,
the ferry service will once again operate through Bar Harbor.
Bar
Harbor is also the headquarters of the Jackson Laboratory, one of the
world's leading institutes for the study of human diseases using the
house mouse as a model organism.
Bar Harbor is home to the
Colleges of the Atlantic, a private liberal arts college.
In Bar Harbor and its associated villages of Hulls Cove, Indian Point
and Salsbury Cove, two districts and a number of buildings have been
designated as historical monuments and placed on the National Register
of Historic Places:
As a district was placed under monument
protection:
Harbor Lane-Eden Street Historic District, surveyed 2009,
register no. 09000550
West Street Historic District, surveyed 1980,
register no. 80000226
Other buildings:
Robert Abbe Museum of
Stone Antiquities, recorded 1983, register no. 83000451
Blackwoods
Campground, photographed 2007, register no. 07000612
Cleftstone,
recorded 1999, register no. 99001192
Criterion Theatre, recorded
1980, register no. 80000222
Eegonos, recorded in 1980, register no.
80000223
The Farm House, recorded 2007, register no. 07001152
Garland Farm, recorded 2005, register no. 05001174
Highseas, recorded
1978, register no. 78000326
Jesup Memorial Library, incorporated
1991, register no. 91000323
John Innes Kane Cottage, photographed
1992, register no. 92000275
Nannau, recorded in 1984, register no.
84000322
Redwood, recorded 1978, register no. 78000166
Reverie
Cove, recorded 1982, register no. 82000743
St. Edward's Convent,
(Former), incorporated 1998, register no. 98001237
Saint Saviour's
Episcopal Church and Rectory, incorporated 1995, register no. 95000729
Sproul's Cafe, recorded 1982, register no. 82000744
The Turrets,
recorded 1974, register no. 74000155
US Post Office-Bar Harbor Main,
photographed 1986, register no. 86000880
Hull's Cove
Church of
Our Father, recorded 1999, register no. 99000770
Cover Farm, recorded
1995, register no. 95001464
Hulls Cove High School, admitted 1999,
register no. 99000374
Indian Point
Higgins Barn, recorded
2004, register no. 03001502
Salsbury Cove
Stone Barn Farm,
recorded 2001, register no. 01001271
Traffic
Maine State Route 3 crosses a causeway to Mount Desert
Island and Bar Harbor. The road runs along the coast to the north and
east. Maine State Route 102 branches off just past the dam to the south,
and Maine State Route 233 runs north of Eagle Lake from Village Bar
Harbor to the southeast.
cruise tourism
Bar Harbor is a
popular port for cruise ships. The season starts in April and peaks in
late summer and fall, during Indian Summer. The last cruise ships dock
in early November. In 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic,
157 cruise ships with more than 250,000 passengers called at Bar Harbor.
Since the small port has no docking facilities for cruise ships, they
have to anchor off the coast and tender the passengers. This means that
on a typical day in the season, the first cruise passengers will arrive
ashore around 10am and the last passengers will leave town by 4pm. In
between, on some days, more than 6000 day tourists move in the small
town.
It is clear that the infrastructure of the place is
overwhelmed and not all Bar Harbor residents agree with this
overtourism. In July 2019, for example, the cruise lines presented a
concept for expanding the infrastructure with the aim of better managing
the flow of visitors. After the cruise season came to a standstill in
2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, large passenger numbers were expected
again in 2022. In the summer of 2022, the Bar Harbor City Council had
already decided on a restriction on cruise ships and passengers
negotiated with the shipping companies. The restriction provided for a
maximum number staggered by month, which should allow the highest number
of ships in October. But the already strong opposition to cruises among
residents did not go far enough, leading to a referendum on the future
of cruises in Bar Harbor on November 8, 2022. 58% of those surveyed
voted for the drastic restriction of the cruise. 42% voted against. As a
result, from 2024 onwards, only a maximum of 1000 cruise passengers per
day will be allowed to go ashore. Since 84 cruise ships with a capacity
of more than 1000 passengers per ship are already planned for 2023, the
new regulations will not yet apply in 2023.
Public facilities
There are several medical facilities and hospitals in Bar Harbor.
The Jesup Memorial Library is located in a Grade II listed building
on Desert Street in Bar Harbor.
The Bar Harbor School Department is responsible for schooling in Bar
Harbor, and Bar Harbor is also part of Mt Desert CSD. and with Bass
Harbor, Cranberry Isles, Deer Isle, Frenchboro, Mount Desert, Southwest
Harbor, Swan's Island and Trenton to the Mount Desert Island Regional
School System - AOS 91.
The schools in Bar Harbor are:
Conners
Emerson School with classes from kindergarten to 8th grade
Mount
Desert Island High School with classes from 9th to 12th grade
College
of the Atlantic, a private liberal arts college
Recreational activities abound in Bar Harbor. The town center is
particularly active in the summer and fall months due to its proximity
to Acadia National Park. Outdoor activities in Acadia include hiking on
trails or carriage roads, bicycling, bird watching, and mountaineering,
with Cadillac Mountain being the highest point on the Atlantic coast.
Those interested in the marine life surrounding Mount Desert Island can
head to the marina at the end of Main Street and sign up for tours that
include puffin, whale, seal and seabird sightings, as well as lighthouse
tours, or for a cruise through the area.
At low tide, a sandbar
connecting Bar Harbor to Bar Island is exposed.
Cruise ships call
port from May to October (most frequently in September), with 154 ship
visits and more than 222,000 passengers in 2018.
Bar Harbor is
also home to many long-distance cyclists, as it is the eastern terminus
of the Adventure Cycling Association's Northern Tier Bike Trail (
Anacortes , Washington , is the western terminus) and the northern
terminus of the Coastal Bike Trail Atlantic ( Key West , Florida , is
the southern terminus).
Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium, on Main
Street (across from Cottage Street), is a popular spot for its
lobster-flavored ice cream. He also has a lobster statue in his window.
There is a wide variety of hotels on the coast and in the center of
the town for tourists, including some of international chains such as
Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn .