The Motel, named the "Southwest Motor Inn," was built in 1970 and ran until 1980. New Motel Planned For Area "Southwest Harbor - Three businessmen here have combined resources to build a new 32-unit motel on Route 102 overlooking Norwood Cove. Foundation work is now being done and the motel will be ready for occupancy by June 1, said David Benson, one of the three partners. Druggist George McVety and lawyer Frederick Burrill are Benson's Associates in the business venture. The quarter-million-dollar motel will have two levels, with an outside corridor, plus an office and quarters for the manager. Hanson is acting as contractor for the project. The major subcontractor is John Goodwin, who is handling concrete work. The motel will be built entirely of concrete blocks. The three businessmen have not yet decided on a name for the new motel." - Bangor Daily News, 1971 The property was later Norwood Cove Housing, owned by the Ellsworth and MDI Housing Authorities who provide housing assistance and related services to individuals and families who face income or other life challenges.
Description: The Motel, named the "Southwest Motor Inn," was built in 1970 and ran until 1980. New Motel Planned For Area "Southwest Harbor - Three businessmen here have combined resources to build a new 32-unit motel on Route 102 overlooking Norwood Cove. Foundation work is now being done and the motel will be ready for occupancy by June 1, said David Benson, one of the three partners. Druggist George McVety and lawyer Frederick Burrill are Benson's Associates in the business venture. The quarter-million-dollar motel will have two levels, with an outside corridor, plus an office and quarters for the manager. Hanson is acting as contractor for the project. The major subcontractor is John Goodwin, who is handling concrete work. The motel will be built entirely of concrete blocks. The three businessmen have not yet decided on a name for the new motel." - Bangor Daily News, 1971 The property was later Norwood Cove Housing, owned by the Ellsworth and MDI Housing Authorities who provide housing assistance and related services to individuals and families who face income or other life challenges. [show more]
Lobsterland was a restaurant and lobster pound at Seawall that burned on August 28, 1965. The building that became “Lobsterland” was bought by David B. Benson from Vera Rich (Vera A. (Beal) Rich (1918-1996), Mrs. Maurice Stanley Rich) who had used it as a playhouse when she took care of children. The original address of the building was 411 Main Street, Southwest Harbor. The house on the lot was built by Maurice and Vera Rich. It later became the Fiddlers Green Restaurant. Lobsterland Leveled The Bar Harbor Times, August, 1965 by LaRue Spiker "... Lobsterland, a restaurant and lobster pound at Seawall, was leveled by fire August 28. David Benson, owner of the Lobsterland building, stated that the structure and its equipment were a total loss but partially insured. The cause has not been determined. A number of people reported the fire. Two boys are thought to have been the first to spot it. They said they first noticed fire inside the building; a few seconds later there was a muffled explosion and the whole roof was ablaze. Another person first noticed the fire concentrated at the far end of the dining room where the heater was located. Another person thought the fire was first heaviest in the center of the building where the trash cans were kept, raising the possibility that a live cigarette butt had been deposited in one of them. The property had been leased by Jesse Forbis [Jesse Lee Forbis (1915-1982)] this summer for operation of the restaurant and pound. Mr. Benson stated that he has no plans for re-building this fall but may do so next spring."
Description: Lobsterland was a restaurant and lobster pound at Seawall that burned on August 28, 1965. The building that became “Lobsterland” was bought by David B. Benson from Vera Rich (Vera A. (Beal) Rich (1918-1996), Mrs. Maurice Stanley Rich) who had used it as a playhouse when she took care of children. The original address of the building was 411 Main Street, Southwest Harbor. The house on the lot was built by Maurice and Vera Rich. It later became the Fiddlers Green Restaurant. Lobsterland Leveled The Bar Harbor Times, August, 1965 by LaRue Spiker "... Lobsterland, a restaurant and lobster pound at Seawall, was leveled by fire August 28. David Benson, owner of the Lobsterland building, stated that the structure and its equipment were a total loss but partially insured. The cause has not been determined. A number of people reported the fire. Two boys are thought to have been the first to spot it. They said they first noticed fire inside the building; a few seconds later there was a muffled explosion and the whole roof was ablaze. Another person first noticed the fire concentrated at the far end of the dining room where the heater was located. Another person thought the fire was first heaviest in the center of the building where the trash cans were kept, raising the possibility that a live cigarette butt had been deposited in one of them. The property had been leased by Jesse Forbis [Jesse Lee Forbis (1915-1982)] this summer for operation of the restaurant and pound. Mr. Benson stated that he has no plans for re-building this fall but may do so next spring." [show more]
"The Cheese House was part of the Cheese House chain which had 18 cheese-shaped locations in New England. Apparently, there are only … two buildings left. The stores were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were constructed of wood with a cut-out wedge for the entrance and windows. They are 9' tall and 40' in diameter. In the late 1970s, the chain disbanded due to financial problems." - “Giant Food: Misc. Food” by Debra Jane Seltzer, Roadside Architecture.com, Accessed online 11/12/13; http://www.agilitynut.com/food/other.html The postcards for all the Cheeses Houses appear to be the same photograph. The store in Trenton was owned by Alex A. Albin and Bernice E. Albin. It closed in 1984 and the building has been for sale almost all the time since. Collectors of architectural oddities are always looking for such buildings, originally built as cheese wheels, hot dogs, clam boxes or loaves of bread.
Description: "The Cheese House was part of the Cheese House chain which had 18 cheese-shaped locations in New England. Apparently, there are only … two buildings left. The stores were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were constructed of wood with a cut-out wedge for the entrance and windows. They are 9' tall and 40' in diameter. In the late 1970s, the chain disbanded due to financial problems." - “Giant Food: Misc. Food” by Debra Jane Seltzer, Roadside Architecture.com, Accessed online 11/12/13; http://www.agilitynut.com/food/other.html The postcards for all the Cheeses Houses appear to be the same photograph. The store in Trenton was owned by Alex A. Albin and Bernice E. Albin. It closed in 1984 and the building has been for sale almost all the time since. Collectors of architectural oddities are always looking for such buildings, originally built as cheese wheels, hot dogs, clam boxes or loaves of bread. [show more]
Lyle Arlington Reed's store was opened in about 1945 in Bass Harbor. It was a general grocery and meat store and, later, a small lunch area for the nearby factory workers was added. Lyle sold the building to Dr. Channing H. Washburn of Bass Harbor who turned the building into a residence. - Information from Elsie V. (Reed) Lunt, Mrs. Clarence L. Lunt - Interview 09/22/10. "McKinley – The building on the Shore Road owned by Lyle Reed has been completed and the store will be opened in connection with his taxi business." The Ellsworth American, Wednesday, May 28, 1947.
Description: Lyle Arlington Reed's store was opened in about 1945 in Bass Harbor. It was a general grocery and meat store and, later, a small lunch area for the nearby factory workers was added. Lyle sold the building to Dr. Channing H. Washburn of Bass Harbor who turned the building into a residence. - Information from Elsie V. (Reed) Lunt, Mrs. Clarence L. Lunt - Interview 09/22/10. "McKinley – The building on the Shore Road owned by Lyle Reed has been completed and the store will be opened in connection with his taxi business." The Ellsworth American, Wednesday, May 28, 1947. [show more]
Postmasters at Bernard were: George W. Billings (1859-?): Postmaster - 11/26/1906 Hiram H. Condon (1871-1957): Postmaster - 10/17/1914 Mrs. Harriet C. Hinton (1904-1984): Acting Postmaster - 10/31/1941 Mrs. Harriet C. Hinton (1904-1984): Postmaster - 03/25/1942 Mrs. Hilda Erclin Sylvia (1912-2006): Officer-In-Charge - 06/20/1974 Mrs. Hilda Erclin Sylvia (1912-2006): Postmaster - 10/26/1974 Alice Ann Tracy - Officer-In-Charge: 05/01/1987 Linda (Sawyer) Musson (1949-): Postmaster -10/10/1987 Harriet Hinton was the postmaster - then her son Paul Hinton, had the antique store in this building.
Description: Postmasters at Bernard were: George W. Billings (1859-?): Postmaster - 11/26/1906 Hiram H. Condon (1871-1957): Postmaster - 10/17/1914 Mrs. Harriet C. Hinton (1904-1984): Acting Postmaster - 10/31/1941 Mrs. Harriet C. Hinton (1904-1984): Postmaster - 03/25/1942 Mrs. Hilda Erclin Sylvia (1912-2006): Officer-In-Charge - 06/20/1974 Mrs. Hilda Erclin Sylvia (1912-2006): Postmaster - 10/26/1974 Alice Ann Tracy - Officer-In-Charge: 05/01/1987 Linda (Sawyer) Musson (1949-): Postmaster -10/10/1987 Harriet Hinton was the postmaster - then her son Paul Hinton, had the antique store in this building. [show more]
In 1940 Southwest Harbor Motor Co. was the only AAA filling station in Southwest Harbor. Their phone number was 51-2. The brick building was converted to offices to rent in 1986-1987. The U.S. Post Office opened in the building on June 2, 1987. Ralph Warren Stanley (1929-2021) attended school in the elementary school on the present ellipse (behind the Gilley Plumbing building on the left of this photograph) before it was moved across the street to become a fire station and now [2011] the police station/town office. When the bank was housed at the Southwest Harbor Motor Co. Ralph would take his penny bank there to be unlocked and have the money deposited in his bank account. The lady in the bank would show him the big safe where is money would be kept. – Ralph Warren Stanley 01/17/11 Marion E. Newman (1890-1976), Mrs. Frederick Walter Wescott at the time, owned a yellow Stutz Bearcat that was destroyed in the fire. Marion was known for having invested in Coca Cola stock and holding on to it when others thought it worthless and sold their stock. – Ralph Warren Stanley, 03/31/14
Description: In 1940 Southwest Harbor Motor Co. was the only AAA filling station in Southwest Harbor. Their phone number was 51-2. The brick building was converted to offices to rent in 1986-1987. The U.S. Post Office opened in the building on June 2, 1987. Ralph Warren Stanley (1929-2021) attended school in the elementary school on the present ellipse (behind the Gilley Plumbing building on the left of this photograph) before it was moved across the street to become a fire station and now [2011] the police station/town office. When the bank was housed at the Southwest Harbor Motor Co. Ralph would take his penny bank there to be unlocked and have the money deposited in his bank account. The lady in the bank would show him the big safe where is money would be kept. – Ralph Warren Stanley 01/17/11 Marion E. Newman (1890-1976), Mrs. Frederick Walter Wescott at the time, owned a yellow Stutz Bearcat that was destroyed in the fire. Marion was known for having invested in Coca Cola stock and holding on to it when others thought it worthless and sold their stock. – Ralph Warren Stanley, 03/31/14 [show more]
"Later [Abraham Somes] built a substantial frame house on the site of the Somes House and a part of that house is embodied in the present hotel. Some of the rooms at the back remain almost as they were at first. The house was built as a one-story building and later the walls were raised. Since then there have been many alterations and additions. George A. Somes finally inherited the property, developed the hotel business and built the two cottages toward the shore. His widow now owns it and conducts the hotel." - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 270-271. “When George A. Somes inherited the [Somes House], he expanded the family inn by constructing two large additions, one attached at the left and the other freestanding to the right, giving the hotel a capacity of 150 guests. Noted visitors included Louis Comfort Tiffany, Alfred Vanderbilt, Joseph Pulitzer, J.P. Morgan, Pres. William Howard Taft, and Mary Cassatt. Known for its chicken and lobster dinners, the Somes House operated into the 1950s with rates of $5 to $10 a day." - “Mount Desert Island - Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor” by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and Lydia B. Vandenbergh - Images of America Series, 2001, p. 27.
Description: "Later [Abraham Somes] built a substantial frame house on the site of the Somes House and a part of that house is embodied in the present hotel. Some of the rooms at the back remain almost as they were at first. The house was built as a one-story building and later the walls were raised. Since then there have been many alterations and additions. George A. Somes finally inherited the property, developed the hotel business and built the two cottages toward the shore. His widow now owns it and conducts the hotel." - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 270-271. “When George A. Somes inherited the [Somes House], he expanded the family inn by constructing two large additions, one attached at the left and the other freestanding to the right, giving the hotel a capacity of 150 guests. Noted visitors included Louis Comfort Tiffany, Alfred Vanderbilt, Joseph Pulitzer, J.P. Morgan, Pres. William Howard Taft, and Mary Cassatt. Known for its chicken and lobster dinners, the Somes House operated into the 1950s with rates of $5 to $10 a day." - “Mount Desert Island - Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor” by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and Lydia B. Vandenbergh - Images of America Series, 2001, p. 27. [show more]
“…the…Hotel Porcupine, later the Florence (1887; burned, 1918), a Main Street, five-story rectangular block with Shingle-style features and a strong sense of verticality represented by its stacked window bays, bay roof caps, steep-pitched roof planes, and tall, corbelled brick chimneys…represented [with the larger Malvern Hotel] an impressive conclusion to Bar Harbor’s opulent Victorian hotel era.” - “Summer By The Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820-1950” by Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., p. 165, 170, University Press of New England – 2008 - An excellent study including information about The Island House in Southwest Harbor and its place in the range of hotels on the island during this period along with a very complete history of many of the Bar Harbor hotels.
Description: “…the…Hotel Porcupine, later the Florence (1887; burned, 1918), a Main Street, five-story rectangular block with Shingle-style features and a strong sense of verticality represented by its stacked window bays, bay roof caps, steep-pitched roof planes, and tall, corbelled brick chimneys…represented [with the larger Malvern Hotel] an impressive conclusion to Bar Harbor’s opulent Victorian hotel era.” - “Summer By The Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820-1950” by Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., p. 165, 170, University Press of New England – 2008 - An excellent study including information about The Island House in Southwest Harbor and its place in the range of hotels on the island during this period along with a very complete history of many of the Bar Harbor hotels. [show more]
“At the head of Northeast Harbor, about a mile from the Kimball House, on a high terrace looking out to sea, stand the Roberts House and Savage’s boarding-house and Harbor Cottages, a charming sequestered neighborhood, haunted through the livelong summer by bright tennis-suits and vivacious exiles from the cities.” – “Chisholm’s Mount-Desert Guide-Book” by Moses Foster Sweetser, p. 65-6, published by Chisholm Brothers, 1888 William Roberts built the Roberts House in Northeast Harbor in 1883. In 1893 the Roberts House, with accommodations for 40 guests, was run by H.D. Roberts. Horace D. Roberts was born to William and Deborah (Robbins) Roberts on March 18, 1834 in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Horace married Catharine Gilpatrick Stanley (1835-1918), daughter of William and Hannah (Manchester) Stanley in Southwest Harbor. Horace D. Roberts died on December 7, 1886 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Description: “At the head of Northeast Harbor, about a mile from the Kimball House, on a high terrace looking out to sea, stand the Roberts House and Savage’s boarding-house and Harbor Cottages, a charming sequestered neighborhood, haunted through the livelong summer by bright tennis-suits and vivacious exiles from the cities.” – “Chisholm’s Mount-Desert Guide-Book” by Moses Foster Sweetser, p. 65-6, published by Chisholm Brothers, 1888 William Roberts built the Roberts House in Northeast Harbor in 1883. In 1893 the Roberts House, with accommodations for 40 guests, was run by H.D. Roberts. Horace D. Roberts was born to William and Deborah (Robbins) Roberts on March 18, 1834 in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Horace married Catharine Gilpatrick Stanley (1835-1918), daughter of William and Hannah (Manchester) Stanley in Southwest Harbor. Horace D. Roberts died on December 7, 1886 in Boston, Massachusetts. [show more]