[Illustration: BAR HARBOR, MOUNT DESERT ISLAND.]
The first landing point, approaching from Portland, is SOUTHWEST HARBOR. Here are several excellent hotels, and the scenery in the vicinity, and accessible by pleasant carriage drives, is beautiful and picturesque. Green Mountain is reached from this point to good advantage by the westerly slope, a carriage road leading to the summit, where a hotel is located.
BAR HARBOR, fifteen miles beyond Southwest Harbor, is even more picturesque and romantic in its location than the latter. The scenery along the coast is bold and impressive, stupendous cliffs rising abruptly to the height of several hundred feet. Bar Harbor is plentifully supplied with hotels, and their facilities are often utilized by the throngs of artists and pleasure-seekers who make summer pilgrimages in search of the beautiful, the art galleries and studios of the country testifying to the success of the former in transferring to canvas the gems of scenery which have formed the basis of so many studies and afforded so much delight.
In addition to the many “down-east” trips that may be made from Portland, its nearness to some of the fine beaches of the Atlantic coast is another of its attractions as an objective point for the tourist. Two great railway lines connect Portland with Boston, and one or both of them reach all the principal intervening seaside resorts.
This celebrated seaside camp-ground,--for as a place for temperance and religious camp-meetings it is best known,--is reached by the BOSTON & MAINE RAILROAD, extensively advertised by its managers as the “shore route” between Boston and Portland. And it may not be amiss to say, in this connection, that it is really one of the finest equipped and best managed railroads in the country. Its general superintendent, Mr. J. T. Furber, is one of the successful railroad managers of New England, a tireless worker, looking after every detail of the road and its operation, with a degree of energy and “push” that marks the successful business man wherever you meet him in Yankeedom.
Old Orchard not only has a vast expanse of beautiful beach, but possesses the additional charm of woodland parks and groves, hundreds of acres in extent, stretching away from the shore, enclosing cool retreats and shady paths, where the forest has been left almost in its primeval state. This happy combination of “woods and seashore” in one locality, affording a pleasing variety and gratifying the tastes of all, is one secret of the great popularity of this resort. The splendid hotel, so conspicuous in the background of our illustration, is kept in a style to please the most fastidious, it being the leading hotel of this vicinity. The less pretentious house in the foreground is a great favorite with many visitors, not only for its home-like air, but for the beautiful views to be had from its verandahs and the charming walks and drives in the vicinity. Its patrons speak of it in terms of the highest commendation.