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]
Taken later than the view shown in Item 5663, this view shows a little greenery grown up around the small hotel perched on granite. The Mountain House, built in 1866, was the first hotel to be built on what was then Green Mountain, now Cadillac Mountain. "Daniel Brewer's Mountain House operated through the early 1880's, offering simple, but hearty meals and modest overnight lodging. During the 1870's as many as 3,000 visitors patronized the place each summer." - Steam to the Summit: The Green Mountain Railway - Bar Harbor’s Remarkable Cog Railroad, by Peter Dow Bachelder, p. 24 - 2005. This building was replaced with a much larger structure, The Green Mountain House, when the Green Mountain Railway was built in 1883.
Description: Taken later than the view shown in Item 5663, this view shows a little greenery grown up around the small hotel perched on granite. The Mountain House, built in 1866, was the first hotel to be built on what was then Green Mountain, now Cadillac Mountain. "Daniel Brewer's Mountain House operated through the early 1880's, offering simple, but hearty meals and modest overnight lodging. During the 1870's as many as 3,000 visitors patronized the place each summer." - Steam to the Summit: The Green Mountain Railway - Bar Harbor’s Remarkable Cog Railroad, by Peter Dow Bachelder, p. 24 - 2005. This building was replaced with a much larger structure, The Green Mountain House, when the Green Mountain Railway was built in 1883. [show more]
Plate 13 from: Allen, Warren P. Mount Desert Souvenir : Fifteenth annual excursion of the Massachusetts Press Association, July 5-9, 1884 (Charles W. Eddy, Ware, Massachusetts, 1884).
Description: Plate 13 from: Allen, Warren P. Mount Desert Souvenir : Fifteenth annual excursion of the Massachusetts Press Association, July 5-9, 1884 (Charles W. Eddy, Ware, Massachusetts, 1884).
From July 12 to July 24, 1888 a party of twenty young people who attended Westtown [Quaker] School vacationed on Mount Desert Island. The young people stayed at The Roberts House hotel in Northeast Harbor from July 14, 1888 to July 23, 1888. They wrote and privately published a journal of their adventures, with one person writing each chapter. The journal was illustrated with photographs hand tipped in to the pages. Judy and Peter Obbard, longtime summer residents of Southwest Harbor, have kindly loaned their copy of “Mount Desert Memories” to the Southwest Harbor Public Library to study. Here in the Tenth Day Chapter, written by Anna Helena Goodwin, the young people, aboard a buckboard, passed Sand Beach on July 21, 1888 Goodwin – Anna Helena Goodwin (1862-1958)
Description: From July 12 to July 24, 1888 a party of twenty young people who attended Westtown [Quaker] School vacationed on Mount Desert Island. The young people stayed at The Roberts House hotel in Northeast Harbor from July 14, 1888 to July 23, 1888. They wrote and privately published a journal of their adventures, with one person writing each chapter. The journal was illustrated with photographs hand tipped in to the pages. Judy and Peter Obbard, longtime summer residents of Southwest Harbor, have kindly loaned their copy of “Mount Desert Memories” to the Southwest Harbor Public Library to study. Here in the Tenth Day Chapter, written by Anna Helena Goodwin, the young people, aboard a buckboard, passed Sand Beach on July 21, 1888 Goodwin – Anna Helena Goodwin (1862-1958) [show more]
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.
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]