Somes
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Wed 20 Jul 2011 17:33
The first European settlers on Mount Desert
Island were Abraham & Hannah Somes who arrived only in 1761.
They built Somesville which by 1795 was a thriving small town with three
watermills and several small shipyards. Somesville is on Somes Harbour off Somes
Sound where we are anchored.
In the picture you can see our boat and behind it
the inlet of Somes Harbour with Somesville, nowadays a sleepy
village, beyond. In the distance, looking west, is the Maine coast. Apart
from MDI, it is flat flat flat, and all of it covered in trees.
The Somes arrived in 1761. By 1890 the islanders
were laying out a golf course, and by 1916 they were creating a National Park.
The Wabanaki Indians who had been here for 3000 years can't have known what hit
them (but at least they were only pushed aside, not
slaughtered.
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