Find homes for sale by owner in Bar Harbor, Maine
Search Bar Harbor real estate listings in Maine to find for sale by owner homes in the Hancock County metro area. Access the largest selection of fsbo homes in your local area.
Sell home by owner in Bar Harbor, Maine
Sell a home by owner in Bar Harbor and save thousands in commission. Maine houses for sale by owner in Hancock County sell faster with our preferred real estate listing services.
Bar Harbor, Maine For Sale By Owner - Local Information
Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census, its population is 4,820. A port of entry for Bay Ferries from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. Bar Harbor is home to the largest parts of Acadia National Park, including Cadillac Mountain the highest point within 25 miles (40 km) of the coastline of the Eastern United States, and, offshore, the Porcupine islands.
Map of Bar Harbor, Maine FSBO Listings
Additional information about Bar Harbor, Maine
The town of Bar Harbor was founded on the east shore of Mount Desert Island, which the Wabanaki Indians knew as Pemetic, meaning "range of mountains" or "mountains seen at a distance." The Wabanaki seasonally fished, hunted and gathered berries, clams and other shellfish in the area. They spoke of Bar Harbor as ''Man-es-ayd'ik ("clam-gathering place") or Ah-bays'auk ("clambake place"), leaving great piles of shells as evidence of this abundance. In 1604, French explorer Samuel de Champlain is believed to have run aground at Otter Point, where he met members of the tribe. He named the island Isles des Monts Deserts, meaning "island of barren mountains" — now called Mount Desert Island, the largest in Maine.
First settled in 1763 by Israel Higgins and John Thomas, the community was incorporated in 1796 as Eden, after Sir Richard Eden, an English statesman. Early industries included fishing, lumbering and shipbuilding. With the best soil on Mount Desert Island, it also developed agriculture. In the 1840s, its rugged maritime scenery attracted the Hudson River School and Luminism artists Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church, William Hart and Fitz Henry Lane. Inspired by their paintings, journalists, sportsmen and "rusticators" followed. Agamont House, the first hotel in Eden, was established in 1855 by Tobias Roberts. Birch Point, the first summer estate, was built in 1868 by Alpheus Hardy.
By 1880, there were 30 hotels, with tourists arriving by train and ferry to the Gilded Age resort that would rival Newport, Rhode Island. The rich and famous tried to outdo each other with entertaining and estates, often hiring Beatrix Farrand to design landscaping. A glimpse of their lifestyles was available from the Shore Path, a walkway skirting waterfront lawns. Yachting, garden parties at the Pot & Kettle Club, and carriage rides up Cadillac Mountain were popular diversions. Others enjoyed horse-racing at Robin Hood Park-Morrell Park. President William Howard Taft played golf in 1910 at the Kebo Valley Golf Club. On March 3, 1918, Eden was changed to Bar Harbor, after Bar Island which protects the harbor. The name would become synonymous with elite wealth. It was the birthplace of vice-president Nelson Rockefeller.
In 1947, however, Maine experienced a severe drought. Sparks at a cranberry bog in Hull's Cove ignited a wildfire which would intensify over 10 days. Nearly half the eastern side of Mount Desert Island burned, including 67 palatial summer houses on Millionaires' Row. Five historic grand hotels were destroyed, in addition to 170 permanent homes. Over 10,000 acres (40 km²) of Acadia National Park were destroyed. Fortunately, the town's business district was spared, including Mount Desert Street, where several former summer homes within a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places operate as inns. Now, Bar Harbor is a destination for tourists from all over the world. Cruise ships are in the harbor from May through October, most often in September (95 ship visits in 2008).
Image:Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME.jpg|Main Street in c. 1908
Image:Chatwold, Bar Harbor, ME.jpg|Chatwold in c. 1908
Image:Hardy's Point Shore, Bar Harbor, ME.jpg|Hardy's Point in c. 1912
Image:The Malvern Hotel, Bar Harbor, ME.jpg|Malvern Hotel in c. 1912
Popular FSBO cities in Maine
