The View From Green Mountain Is Quite Unique, The Eye Traversing Ocean
And Land For Forty Miles In Any Direction;
Following the singularly
serrated coast of Maine, the course of Somes Sound, - that remarkable
inlet from the sea which almost
Divides the island, - and tracing the
waving line of far distant mountain ranges. The mainland is curiously
cut into long rocky points and ragged peninsulas, from which the islands
seem to have broken off and drifted out to sea. From this height
(fifteen hundred and thirty-five feet) the ocean seems placid and
smooth, - much less awe-inspiring than from the shore, where the surges
roll in with such tremendous power, as if endeavoring to crush the
towering cliffs which oppose them. The clustering buildings of Bar
Harbor appear like a child's playthings, or Nuremberg toys; the
miniature vessels like sea gulls just alighted; the white tents of the
Indian encampment ludicrously suggest a laundry with big "wash" hung out
to dry; and the whole scene looks as if viewed through the large end of
an opera glass. It is a peaceful and beautiful picture for memory to
treasure and look back upon with delight.
At Fernald's Point, at the base of Flying Mountain, two miles north of
Southwest Harbor, is the supposed location of the French settlement,
which was founded by a party of priests and colonists sent out from
France to Port Royal (now Annapolis, Nova Scotia), who, losing their way
in fog, landed here. The peaceful little community, after only a few
weeks' occupancy, were routed by that grasping individual, Argall, the
deputy governor of Virginia, who was detested by his own colonists for
his tyranny and rapacity. That person, not content with the domains
which his position entitled him to govern, cruised along the Atlantic
coast, making many such incursions among the colonists. In this case,
after destroying the buildings, he cruelly set adrift in an open boat
fifteen of the poor, harmless people, who, after suffering great
hardships, were picked up by a trading vessel and conveyed to St. Malo.
We wonder that investigations have not been made ere this at this spot,
as it seems probable that old implements and objects of interest might
be brought to light. How we wish we were members of the Maine Historical
Society, and by that body empowered to superintend excavations at the
site of a colony which was in existence (1613) seven years before the
landing of the Pilgrims!
Samuel de Champlain, friend, associate, and pilot of De Monts in the
latter's investigations of his possessions in Acadia (in 1604), was
sponsor of this island which has since become so famous, of which he
speaks as "La grande Isle des Monts Deserts;" and by the early Lord of
the Realm the whole of Frenchman's Bay was also called La Havre du Saint
Sauveur. That wicked Jim says that the Indian name of the island must
suggest itself to some travelers on their way here, unless they come by
the land route.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 54 of 59
Words from 28324 to 28827
of 31237
