SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAI^ MONUMENT. 



THE WOODS OF MOUNT DESERT 



By Edward L. Rand, Secretary of the New England Botanical Society and author 

 of "The Flora of Mount Desert." 



lyrOUNT Desert Island has an area of over one hundred square miles. 



The ocean surges against it on the south ; broad bays enclose it on 

 the east and west, and at its northernmost extremity a narrow passage 

 only separates it from the mainland. Its outline is very irregular, 

 like that of the Maine coast in general, with harbors and indentations 

 everywhere. The largest of these. Somes Sound, a long, deep fiord run- 

 ning far into the land between mountainous shores, nearly bisects the 

 island. There are some 13 mountains — bare rocky summits varying in 



Schooner Head and the entrance to Frenchmans Bay seen from the summit of a 

 splendid cliff. The sea horizon from this point lies over 30 miles away. 



height up to over 1,500 feet and lying in a great belt from east to west; 

 between them deep, blue lakes are sunk in rocky beds. To the north, 

 the northwest and the southeast, the surface — of a different geologic 

 structure— is relatively flat, with lower and more undulating hills and 

 broad stretches of meadow land and marsh. On the southeast and east 

 the mountains approach closely to the shore, ending in a coast of precipi- 

 tous cliffs and bold, rocky headlands that has long been famous. No- 

 where else on the Atlantic coast is there such a wonderful combination of 

 natural scenery as this island possesses; nowhere is there another spot 

 where shore and mountain are so grandly blended. For years it has 

 been renowned as the crowning glory of the beautiful, countless-harbored 

 coast of Maine. 



