THE UNTQUl': ISLAND Ol' MOUNT DIuSl'JlT 



By George B. Dorr, I'j<ni:.s'i- J fowr: I'\)Riiusii, and M. L. Fj;rnald 



MOUNT IX-scrt J.sl;ui(l, a iiiii(|iic 

 and striking landmark from tlic 

 sea, was the first land to be a]j- 

 ])roaclicd, described, and named — with 

 llie name which it still Ijears — in the ear- 

 liest recorded voyajije of exploration 

 made along the coast of Maine to tlie 

 eastward of the Kennebec. 



In the early days of vSci)tc:nil>cr, 1604, 

 when the poplar trees and birches of the 

 northern forest were first commencing to 

 turn to gold amid its then abunrlant pines 

 and dark-green spruces, Champlain sailed 

 from the eastwarrl down that wild and 

 unknown coast until the bold range of 

 the Mount Desert liills, with their bare 

 rock ])eaks and deep dividing valleys, ice- 

 eroded, rose before him. 'J unn'ng then, 

 he sailed uj) into the noble bay that 

 bounds the island on the east and which 

 still bears the name of Frcnchmans I'.ay, 

 and — nearly wrecking on llic w.-iy, in 

 gathering dusk no df;ubt, his big, lateen- 

 sailed, open boat upon a rock that was 

 awash — anchf)rcfl for the night. 



The next day, after having explorcrl 

 the ujjper bay to the Narrows, where a 

 bridge connects the island with the main- 

 land now, he sailed on around the deep, 

 sheer headlands of primeval rock — un- 

 equaled on our coast — that oppose their 

 surf-formed preci]jices to the open sea, 

 anfl came into island-sheltered waters on 

 the soutlicrn side, where he made frienrls 

 with Indians, who presently guided him 

 up the Penobscot River, the eastern ex- 

 tremity of whose mouth he describes the 

 Isle des Monts IDeserts as forming. 



The lesser islands, islets, and sea-girt 

 rocks he passed vpcm the way were sf) 

 numerous, he tells us, that it was "mar- 

 velous to behold" ; and among them some 

 were very beautiful and contained fair 

 meadows, while the oaks U]jon one side 

 of the river bank as he ascenrls appear as 

 though "planted for ornament" ; on the 

 other the pine forest grew. 



'I'm", ''m AYI'l/)WI':i<" 01' Till', J'KlvNCJI 



Nine years later the hVench returned 

 to Mount ]Jesert, thither led by Ood, the 



Jesuit narralor says, across a dangerous 

 and fog-hidden sea, U> form for a brief 

 wliile the only colony fr(jm oversea ever 

 established by the French upon this coun- 

 try's northern coast in their long contest 

 with the English for America. 



In a small vessel of a hunrlred tons, 

 which I'arkman calls the Mayllowcr of 

 the bVench, laden with goats anrl horses, 

 seed-grain, stores, and agricultural im- 

 ])]cments, the colfjnists set sail from I lon- 

 ileur, on the coast of France, in the tirst 

 days of spring, 1613. It was late in May 

 when they came to rest beneath the 

 dee])ly shadowed cliffs and wooded hills 

 of Mount Desert and lay in safety in a 

 pleasant harbor on its eastern shore. 



Ivanding tliere, they raised the cross, 

 held mass, and named the ])lace, in thank- 

 fulness for the guidance given them to so 

 fair a spot, vSaint Sauveur. Later, how- 

 ever, persuaded by Indians encamped be- 

 side the shore where North Itast Harbor 

 is today, they sailed around to the moun- 

 lain-guarfled entrance to Somes Sound — 

 the one true fiord u]>on our coast — and 

 there established their little colony U]Kjn 

 a pleasant hillside sloping gently to the 

 sea and bathed on either side with 

 springs; upon the earth, "black, rich, and 

 fertile," the grass grew "tall in places 

 as a man." 'J'his ]>lace looked out to 

 the southeast U])on a sheltered harbor 

 "where a fleet miglit rirle in safety," but 

 into whose peaceful walers an Knglish 

 foe came sailing one f;iir morning later 

 on and wrecked the colony. 



"11nis," Parkman says, "in a semi- 

 piratical descent, an obscure stroke of 

 lawless violence done at Mount Desert 

 began the strife of France and England, 

 of Protestantism and Rome, which for a 

 century and a half shook the struggling 

 communities of Norlh America, and 

 closed at last in the memorable trium];h 

 of the English on the Pb'iins of Abraham. 



'rill', coMiNC oi' JOHN wtnttirop 



Twenty-.'/ne years lalcr still — upon tlie 

 8th of June, 1630 — John Winthrop, 

 bringing the charter to the Massachusetts 



75 



