During the summer of 2007 I was fortunate to have visited Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia National Park, both located on Mt. Desert Island.
downtown Bar Harbor
For what it’s worth I was impressed by the area and the polite welcomes the locals granted us. They seemed for the most part very accepting of the many visitors to their town. In the vicinity my daughter and her friend counted license plates from more than thirty different states representing visitors from around the continent.
a downtown single screen first-run movie house
When visiting Bar Harbor’s downtown we did not have much difficulty finding a parking space and once found, there were no meters to worry about. The town has a two hour time limit posted and evidently the practice is to mark tires with chalk in order to keep time. During our visit, however, police officers were rarely seen and the time limits were not enforced. Absent was a parking garage, which seemed odd considering the number of hotels and inns that abounded. There were some historic inns in the downtown area as well as large and small hospitality establishments located along the main thoroughfares leading to the village. Downtown seemed preserved as a tourist draw in and of itself. Few of the downtown structures looked new but rather buildings looked rehabilitated for new uses.
For a bustling center there was remarkably clean streets with little trash, no pan-handlers, no sidewalk tables to speak of, no sandwich signs, few newspaper bins, and what seemed like a safe mix of motor vehicles, bicycle riders and pedestrians. National chains were in short supply and the town seems to have figured out how to operate a tourist destination while preserving its heritage and character.
Bar Harbor from above
Situated by the Atlantic Ocean, whale watches, deep sea fishing and kayak tours are available. Nearby a small airport provides reasonably priced scenic flights.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the area’s economic reliance on the wild blueberry. A local informed me that 80% of wild blueberries consumed in the country originate in Maine. Local restaurants and farm stands alike featured the fruit prominently. Everyone seemed to participate in promoting the virtues of the anti-oxidant. Products were everywhere like blueberry tea, waffles and pancakes, soda, jam and jelly, candles, pies and crumble, syrup, cocktails, decorated coffee cups, fine china, linen, aprons, t-shirts, sweat shirts, doormats, photographs, paintings and on and on. "Wild blueberry" signs were ample too.
a sandy beach in Acadia National Park
Also benefiting the area is Acadia National Park, the first national park in the United States according to a local. Dozens of websites extol its virtues and it was a great experience to tour a portion of the preserve. As far tourism goes, Mt. Desert Island inhabitants benefit strongly from their proximity to natural wonders.
Though Northampton benefits from compelling green spaces and scenery, our area relies on creating reasons for people to visit also. For instance advancing the growth of nonprofits like the five colleges as well as the arts, entertainment and the many culinary outlets. There is potential for the region to gain a casino, for better or worse, and it has been rumored that a performing arts center at the site of the former Mountain Park in Holyoke is planned. Apparently this would be similar in scale to the Tweeter Center for Performing Arts in Mansfield, Mass., formerly known as Great Woods. The University of Massachusetts is adding students and continues to debate the merits of bumping up its football program to Division One, where an expanded stadium and road infrastructure would be necessary to accommodate the tens of thousands of additional fans such a program would need to attract. Bicycle trails are becoming more prevalent too, thereby advancing the possibilities for enhanced eco-tourism. While local emphasis usually seems focused on re-using former railroad right of ways, it would be nice to see some bicycle paths installed in other areas as well, like adjacent to the Connecticut River for example.
Our summer trip provided us an opportunity to see things from the tourist point of view as opposed to that of resident. In the process we burned some gasoline and contributed to Maine’s economy. We were fortunate to observe a community whose residents seems to understand the importance of welcoming those "from away" and perhaps learned that others at times might well consider the greater Northampton area a respite from their every day lives too.
