Recent from talks
Mount Desert Island
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island (MDI; French: Île des Monts Déserts; Malecite-Passamaquoddy: Pesamkuk) is the largest island of Maine, United States. Lying in Hancock County off the north-central coast, it has an area of 108 square miles (280 km2), making it the sixth-largest island in the contiguous United States, and the second-largest island on the Eastern Seaboard, behind Long Island and ahead of Martha's Vineyard. According to the 2010 census, the island has a year-round population of 10,615. In 2017, an estimated 3.5 million tourists visited Acadia National Park on MDI. The island is home to numerous well-known summer colonies such as Northeast Harbor and Bar Harbor.
Some residents stress the second syllable (/dɪˈzɜːrt/ dih-ZURT), while others pronounce it like the English common noun desert (/ˈdɛzərt/ DEZ-ərt). French explorer Samuel de Champlain's observation that the summits of the island's mountains were free of vegetation as seen from the sea led him to call the island L’Isle des Monts-déserts (meaning island of barren mountains).
There are four towns on Mount Desert Island:
Archaeological evidence, including extensive shell middens, indicates continuous Indigenous habitation of Mount Desert Island for at least 6,000 years. The Wabanaki peoples, particularly the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy nations of the Abenaki linguistic group, called the island Pemetic, meaning "the sloping land."
Archaeological evidence suggests Native Americans wintered on the coast to avoid harsh inland conditions and take advantage of marine resources, then moved inland during summers for salmon runs and forest gathering. The Wabanaki constructed bark-covered conical dwellings and traveled in birchbark canoes that European observers praised for their design and speed.
The first documented European encounter occurred on September 6, 1604, when Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons led an exploring party from the St. Croix Settlement. Sailing in a patache with twelve sailors and two Indigenous guides while searching for the rumored city of Norumbega, Samuel de Champlain crossed Frenchman Bay toward Otter Creek. During high tide, their vessel struck a ledge off what is now Otter Cliff, and while making repairs, two Indigenous people boarded as guides.
Champlain recorded: "Le sommet de la plus part d'icelles est desgarny d'arbres parceque ce ne sont que roches. Je l'ay nommée l'Isle des Monts-déserts" ("Most of the summits are bare of trees because they are nothing but rocks. I have named it the Island of the Desert Mountains").
In 1613, French Jesuit missionaries established Saint-Sauveur Mission on present-day Fernald Point near Somes Sound—the first French Catholic mission in North America. On July 2, 1613, Virginia colonial captain Samuel Argall arrived aboard the Treasurer and destroyed the mission. Three missionaries were killed, three wounded, and approximately twenty prisoners were taken to Jamestown. Argall destroyed the buildings, replaced the Catholic cross with a Protestant one, then continued to eliminate French settlements at Saint Croix Island and Port-Royal.
Hub AI
Mount Desert Island AI simulator
(@Mount Desert Island_simulator)
Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island (MDI; French: Île des Monts Déserts; Malecite-Passamaquoddy: Pesamkuk) is the largest island of Maine, United States. Lying in Hancock County off the north-central coast, it has an area of 108 square miles (280 km2), making it the sixth-largest island in the contiguous United States, and the second-largest island on the Eastern Seaboard, behind Long Island and ahead of Martha's Vineyard. According to the 2010 census, the island has a year-round population of 10,615. In 2017, an estimated 3.5 million tourists visited Acadia National Park on MDI. The island is home to numerous well-known summer colonies such as Northeast Harbor and Bar Harbor.
Some residents stress the second syllable (/dɪˈzɜːrt/ dih-ZURT), while others pronounce it like the English common noun desert (/ˈdɛzərt/ DEZ-ərt). French explorer Samuel de Champlain's observation that the summits of the island's mountains were free of vegetation as seen from the sea led him to call the island L’Isle des Monts-déserts (meaning island of barren mountains).
There are four towns on Mount Desert Island:
Archaeological evidence, including extensive shell middens, indicates continuous Indigenous habitation of Mount Desert Island for at least 6,000 years. The Wabanaki peoples, particularly the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy nations of the Abenaki linguistic group, called the island Pemetic, meaning "the sloping land."
Archaeological evidence suggests Native Americans wintered on the coast to avoid harsh inland conditions and take advantage of marine resources, then moved inland during summers for salmon runs and forest gathering. The Wabanaki constructed bark-covered conical dwellings and traveled in birchbark canoes that European observers praised for their design and speed.
The first documented European encounter occurred on September 6, 1604, when Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons led an exploring party from the St. Croix Settlement. Sailing in a patache with twelve sailors and two Indigenous guides while searching for the rumored city of Norumbega, Samuel de Champlain crossed Frenchman Bay toward Otter Creek. During high tide, their vessel struck a ledge off what is now Otter Cliff, and while making repairs, two Indigenous people boarded as guides.
Champlain recorded: "Le sommet de la plus part d'icelles est desgarny d'arbres parceque ce ne sont que roches. Je l'ay nommée l'Isle des Monts-déserts" ("Most of the summits are bare of trees because they are nothing but rocks. I have named it the Island of the Desert Mountains").
In 1613, French Jesuit missionaries established Saint-Sauveur Mission on present-day Fernald Point near Somes Sound—the first French Catholic mission in North America. On July 2, 1613, Virginia colonial captain Samuel Argall arrived aboard the Treasurer and destroyed the mission. Three missionaries were killed, three wounded, and approximately twenty prisoners were taken to Jamestown. Argall destroyed the buildings, replaced the Catholic cross with a Protestant one, then continued to eliminate French settlements at Saint Croix Island and Port-Royal.
Recent media