The Mount Desert Island Community Heritage Project team is comprised of sub-teams of people representing cultural heritage and education institutions across the island of Mount Desert. The teams spent many hours researching and organizing their findings into comprehensive digital exhibits exploring this island's deep history.
The Mount Desert Island team would like to extend our gratitude to the staff at Maine Historical Society for their support and guidance making this project possible. With their continued support and encouragement it is our hope to update and expand this website into an informative historical record of Mount Desert Island.
We welcome comments and suggestions from visitors to the website. Please direct comments to each individual institution listed below in the Contributing Institutions section.
Basketball on MDI - Vince Messer, Mount Desert Historical Society
The Savage Family of Mount Desert - Sam McGee & Betsy Hewlett
Champlain Society - Catherine Schmidt & Maureen Fournier
Economic History of Main Street in Northeast Harbor - Brook Minner, Hannah Stevens, Northeast Harbor Library & Tim Garrity, Mount Desert Historical Society
Indians & Rusticators - Julia Clark & Phe Crampton, Abbe Museum
Theatre - Jodi Baker & Taylor Thomas-Marsh, College of the Atlantic
Abbe Museum
Contributing Institutions
Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, (207) 288-3519
The mission of the Abbe Museum is to inspire new learning about the Wabanaki Nations with every visit.
College of the Atlantic
College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, (207) 288-5015
College of the Atlantic enriches the liberal arts tradition through a distinctive educational philosophy — human ecology.
The College of the Atlantic community encourages, prepares, and expects students to gain expertise, breadth, values, and practical experience necessary to achieve individual fulfillment and to help solve problems that challenge communities everywhere.
Great Harbor Maritime Museum, Northeast Harbor, (207) 276-5262
The Great Harbor Maritime Museum is located in the former Northeast Harbor fire station. It is dedicated to exhibiting and educating the public about the local maritime culture.
Mount Desert Island Historical Society, Mount Desert, (207) 276-9323
The Mount Desert Island Historical Society keeps, discovers, and celebrates the history of Mount Desert Island. A large archive of historical material is kept in the Old Yellow School House & Museum on Sound Drive. Here, the records of island history are fully cataloged, protected from fire and climate, and accessible during regular business hours throughout the year.
Northeast Harbor Library, Northeast Harbor, (207) 276-3333
The library's archive his home to historical and cultural materials relating to the towns of Mount Desert and the Cranberry Isles, Mount Desert Island, and the State of Maine.
About the Maine Community Heritage Project (MCHP)
The Maine Community Heritage Project (MCHP), a partnership between the Maine Historical Society and the Maine State Library, is an innovative program that promotes collaboration between local schools, historical societies, and public libraries through the exploration and celebration of local history. The MCHP grows out of the Maine Memory Network, the Maine Historical Society’s nationally recognized statewide digital museum. The Maine Memory Network features a constantly growing online collection of nearly 35,000 historical items contributed by over 250 historical organizations around Maine; hundreds of online exhibits that explore a diverse range of themes and topics in Maine history; lesson plans; a gallery of student history projects; online tools that allow site visitors to create and share their own albums; and much more. This project is supported by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum & Library Services.