MOUNT DESERT, de-zert' or dez-ert, an island off the coast of Maine, the largest be longing to the State, part of Hancock County. It is separated from the mainland by Western Bay, Mount Desert Narrows and Frenchman's Bay. It is about 15 miles long and 12 miles wide; area, about 100 square miles. The coast line is very irregular; the chief indentations are on the north, Eastern Bay; on the south, Somes Sound, a fiord which extends into the centre of the island, and Southwest Harbor. On the west are Seal Cove and Western Bay. Bartlett's Narrows on the west separates Bart lett and Mount Desert Islands. On the south Cranberry Passage separates Great Cranberry Island from Mount Desert. The irregularity and nature of the coast-line, and the separation of the island from the mainland is due to sub mergence of the land and weathering. The surface is mountainous, along the northern coast is a line of rugged cliffs, and Green Mount, in the interior, is over 1,000 feet in height. Several fresh-water lakes beautify the island and add to its attractiveness. Long Pond, Eagle Lake, Jordan's Pond, Echo Lake and Seal Cove Pond are the principal bodies of water lying wholly within the interior.
The principal harbors are Bar Harbor, Southwest and Northeast harbors. Bar Har bor in Eden township is a popular summer re sort and connected by a ferry to the Maine Central Railroad and by steamboat lines with Rockland, Portland, Boston and other Atlantic ' ports. There is a naval coaling station on the
north shore of Eastern Bay. In Frenchman's Bay are five rocky islands called the Porcupines, and about 20 miles south, in the open ocean, is Mount Desert rock, on which is built a light house.
The first authentic account of this island was given by Champlain (q.v.), who gave it the present name. In 1608 M. De la Saussaye and the Jesuit Fathers Lallemant, Masse, Quentin and Biard, together with 25 colonists from France, established on Somes Sound a colony which they called Saint Sauveur. Eight years later the colony was destroyed by a party of Englishmen from Virginia. The first perma nent settlement was made by Abraham Somes, who, in 1761, built a house at the head of the sound which still bears his name. The town of Mount Desert was incorporated in 1789; Eden, in 1796; Cranberry Isles, in 1830, and Tremont, in 1848. The population of the several towns is about as follows: Mount Desert, 1,569; Eden, 4,441; Cranberry Isles, 399; Tremont, 1,116. Consult Fairfax, (At Mount Desert); Street, 'Mount Desert, a History' (Boston 1905).