"GREEN MOUNTAIN - One of the chief points of interest on Mount Desert is Green Mountain, the highest point on the Island. Some ambitious persons make the ascent on foot, and that can best be done by way of the ruins of the old mill near the foot of Mount Kebo, and then by way of the ravine that separates Green from Dry Mountain. But by far the largest number prefer to go by the regular conveyance furnished by the Green Mountain Railway, which is by carriage to Eagle Lake, thence by steamer up the lake to the base, then by railway to the summit. This gives variety to the trip, and renders it a most enjoyable one. A clear, bright morning should be selected for this excursion, when objects can be seen at a great distance. The railway itself is a marvel of engineering skill, the entire length of the road being six thousand three hundred feet, and the grade averaging one foot to every four feet passed over. There is a good hotel at the summit which will accommodate about thirty guests. The view from Green Mountain, on a clear morning, is one never to be forgotten. The coast line with it many sinuosities, the numerous smaller islands scattered here and there, Mount Desert spread out like a map, and the island landscape with its diversity of views, all go to make up a succession of the grandest pictures imaginable…" - "Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island" by William Berry Lapham, p. 16 - 1887. "GREEN MOUNTAIN RAILWAY. No person should visit Bar Harbor without ascending Green Mountain by way of Eagle Lake and the Green Mountain Railway. The trip to Eagle Lake, three miles, is made in four-horse barges, which call for passengers at the principal hotels every week day morning during the season. The trip across Eagle Lake to the foot of the mountain is by steamer. The journey up the mountain and the magnificent outlook from the summit…" - Part of an advertisement appearing in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island By William Berry Lapham – 1887. "I went up and back once about the year 1890 and there was 19 other young people from South West Harbor." - Robie M. Norwood. See “The Story of Bar Harbor – An Informal History Recording One Hundred and Fifty Years In the Life of a Community,” by Richard Walden Hale, Jr., p. 155-160, Ives Washburn, Inc., 1949 for an excellent version of the story of the Green Mountain Railway.
Description: "GREEN MOUNTAIN - One of the chief points of interest on Mount Desert is Green Mountain, the highest point on the Island. Some ambitious persons make the ascent on foot, and that can best be done by way of the ruins of the old mill near the foot of Mount Kebo, and then by way of the ravine that separates Green from Dry Mountain. But by far the largest number prefer to go by the regular conveyance furnished by the Green Mountain Railway, which is by carriage to Eagle Lake, thence by steamer up the lake to the base, then by railway to the summit. This gives variety to the trip, and renders it a most enjoyable one. A clear, bright morning should be selected for this excursion, when objects can be seen at a great distance. The railway itself is a marvel of engineering skill, the entire length of the road being six thousand three hundred feet, and the grade averaging one foot to every four feet passed over. There is a good hotel at the summit which will accommodate about thirty guests. The view from Green Mountain, on a clear morning, is one never to be forgotten. The coast line with it many sinuosities, the numerous smaller islands scattered here and there, Mount Desert spread out like a map, and the island landscape with its diversity of views, all go to make up a succession of the grandest pictures imaginable…" - "Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island" by William Berry Lapham, p. 16 - 1887. "GREEN MOUNTAIN RAILWAY. No person should visit Bar Harbor without ascending Green Mountain by way of Eagle Lake and the Green Mountain Railway. The trip to Eagle Lake, three miles, is made in four-horse barges, which call for passengers at the principal hotels every week day morning during the season. The trip across Eagle Lake to the foot of the mountain is by steamer. The journey up the mountain and the magnificent outlook from the summit…" - Part of an advertisement appearing in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island By William Berry Lapham – 1887. "I went up and back once about the year 1890 and there was 19 other young people from South West Harbor." - Robie M. Norwood. See “The Story of Bar Harbor – An Informal History Recording One Hundred and Fifty Years In the Life of a Community,” by Richard Walden Hale, Jr., p. 155-160, Ives Washburn, Inc., 1949 for an excellent version of the story of the Green Mountain Railway. [show more]
This large (20" x 6") panorama print, found in a very old frame in a storeroom at the Southwest Harbor Public Library, has seen a lot of wear. Archivists who have studied it in a magnified state, have formed the impression that whoever made the print so long ago found it a difficult task. The early view is, however, valuable for the love that went into it and respect for its creator. Mount Desert Island has always inspired those who viewed it with the desire to capture what they have seen. The view is from Jordan Mountain which was later changed to Penobscot Mountain.
Southwest Harbor Public Library Collection of Photographs
Description: This large (20" x 6") panorama print, found in a very old frame in a storeroom at the Southwest Harbor Public Library, has seen a lot of wear. Archivists who have studied it in a magnified state, have formed the impression that whoever made the print so long ago found it a difficult task. The early view is, however, valuable for the love that went into it and respect for its creator. Mount Desert Island has always inspired those who viewed it with the desire to capture what they have seen. The view is from Jordan Mountain which was later changed to Penobscot Mountain. [show more]
Hancock County, Mount Desert Quadrangle, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, H.M Wilson, Geographer in charge, Department of the Interior, Franklin K. Lane, Secretary, U.S. Geological Survey, George Otis Smith, Director, Edition of May 1904, corrected 1910, reprinted 1918. – Northwest Mt. Desert.
Description: Hancock County, Mount Desert Quadrangle, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, H.M Wilson, Geographer in charge, Department of the Interior, Franklin K. Lane, Secretary, U.S. Geological Survey, George Otis Smith, Director, Edition of May 1904, corrected 1910, reprinted 1918. – Northwest Mt. Desert.
This magic lantern slide, “Maine Coast at Bar Harbor,” is an example of slides used as education tools by universities, The University of the State of New York in this case. Photograph was taken from the top of Cadillac Mountain.
Description: This magic lantern slide, “Maine Coast at Bar Harbor,” is an example of slides used as education tools by universities, The University of the State of New York in this case. Photograph was taken from the top of Cadillac Mountain.
Francis Hector Clergue built the Green Mountain House in 1883, adjacent to the old Mountain House on the summit of Green Mountain, now Cadillac Mountain, to, serve patrons of his Green Mountain Railway, a cog railroad, which chugged up the mountain from Eagle Lake. Both the old and new structures burned to the ground on August 2, 1884. “1884, August 2. The burning of a hotel on Green Mountain, Mount Desert, in the evening, was plainly seen from Belfast, at a distance of fifty miles.” – “History of the City of Belfast in the State of Maine: From Its First Settlement in 1770 to 1875” by Joseph Williamson, p. 241 – 1913. Frank Clergue immediately replaced this structure with a smaller hotel and his business continued as noted in the review below. "...A Good Hotel Is At The Summit, where persons desiring it can find pleasant accomodations for a longer or shorter stay. Round trip tickets can be had of the company's agent, on Main Street, Bar Harbor. F.H. Clergue, President." - Part of an advertisement appearing in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island by William Berry Lapham - 1887.
Description: Francis Hector Clergue built the Green Mountain House in 1883, adjacent to the old Mountain House on the summit of Green Mountain, now Cadillac Mountain, to, serve patrons of his Green Mountain Railway, a cog railroad, which chugged up the mountain from Eagle Lake. Both the old and new structures burned to the ground on August 2, 1884. “1884, August 2. The burning of a hotel on Green Mountain, Mount Desert, in the evening, was plainly seen from Belfast, at a distance of fifty miles.” – “History of the City of Belfast in the State of Maine: From Its First Settlement in 1770 to 1875” by Joseph Williamson, p. 241 – 1913. Frank Clergue immediately replaced this structure with a smaller hotel and his business continued as noted in the review below. "...A Good Hotel Is At The Summit, where persons desiring it can find pleasant accomodations for a longer or shorter stay. Round trip tickets can be had of the company's agent, on Main Street, Bar Harbor. F.H. Clergue, President." - Part of an advertisement appearing in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island by William Berry Lapham - 1887. [show more]