I hail from the Saint John Valley River region myself, but now I’m on Mount Desert Island, Maine’s biggest island. Prior to moving here, I’d visited a handful of times, and had somehow left with only the knowledge that Bar Harbor was a beautiful town, that Cadillac Mountain summit was the height of my excursions (pun attack!), and I am not particularly talented at mini-golf.
What I certainly didn’t know until I moved here is that, much like any community and geographical region, Mount Desert Island is comprised of a lot of different places. Though there are only four towns on the entire island, each town has multiple villages.
So, not only is Bar Harbor “Bar Harbor,” “Bar Harbor” is also the villages of Town Hill, Salisbury Cove, Hulls Cove, and Eden.
And Mount Desert? It’s the name of the island, but it’s also the name of a town. There are also two ways to pronounce it: Mount DeZERT or Mount DEZert. It consists of the villages of Hall Quarry, Northeast Harbor, Otter Creek, Pretty Marsh, Seal Harbor, and Somesville.
On top of municipalities, there are geographical locations. Acadia National Park spreads out across the island, and includes dozens of little spots, many unknown to tourists unfamiliar with the region. Though I’ve only been here a couple months and have already gone out on a few excursions to “see the sights” of the island, I haven’t seen them all.
I live with island natives who know every micro-region of the island and – it turns out – there’s a name for everywhere on MDI.
Here’s the list I’ve collected so far of
1. Raggedy-a** (RA) Corner
2. Red Rock Corner
3. Echo Lake stretch
4. Otter Creek
5. Otter Cliffs
6. Hall Quarry
7. Hulls Cove
8. Salisbury Cove
9. Eden
10. Compass Harbor
11. Somesville
12. Somes Sound
13. Town Hill
14. Seal Cove
15. Seawall
16. Pretty Marsh
17. Bar Harbor
18. Mt. De-ZERT
19. Mt. DEZ-ert (same place, just a different pronunciation)
20. Crooked Road
21. Southwest Harbor
22. Northeast Harbor
23. Bernard
24. Tremont
25. Jordan Pond
26. Park Loop Road
27. Witch Hole
28. Thunder Hole
29. Algerine Coast
30. Cadillac Mountain
31. Schooner Head
32. Great Head
33. Sand Beach
34. Balance Rock
35. Bubble Rock
36. “Rock Chucking Place”
37. Long Pond
38. Eagle Lake
39. Bar Island
40. Manset
41. Bass Harbor
42. West Tremont
43. The Quiet Side
44. The Backside
45. Blue Hill Lookout
46. Precipice
47. Beehive
48. Hamilton Pond
49. Carriage Roads
50. The Maze
51. Wonderland
52. Asticou Gardens
53. Lakewood
54. Hadley Point
55. Albert’s Meadow (The Meadow)
56. Shore Path
57. Sieur de Monts Spring
58. Beech Hill Road
59. Sargent Drive
Honorable mention: Thompson Island – the small island first crossed coming over from Trenton. I thought it was Mount Desert Island, until I learned from the locals that – no – that’s the gateway island to the big island.
It’s just one of the joys of discovering a new place: learning that each curve, rise, harbor, and village has been warmly named by its people.