Portrait of an Island Museum, Somesville, ME IMG 2239

Somesville is the earliest

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of the town of

Mount Desert Mount Desert is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,146 at the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1789, the town currently encompasses the villages of Otter Creek, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harb ...

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; french: Île des Monts Déserts) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous ...

in southeastern

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. It is located on the north end of Somes Sound. The village was established by

Abraham Somes Abraham Somes (March 14, 1732 – September 7, 1819) was an American soldier and pioneer who was the primary founder of settlements on the scenic Mount Desert Island, which is now part of Acadia National Park in present-day Maine. Personal life ...

who was the first settler on the island.Hartford, G.A. (n.d.
"Somesville, Maine"
/ref> It attracted many people because of its mills and quarries.Shettleworth, E.J., & Vandenbergh, L.B. (2001) ''Images of America: Mount Desert Island – Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. The entire village is part of the Somesville Historic District.

History

The history of Somesville dates back to Native Americans. The first Native Americans to visit the island were not permanent residents but they visited the island as far back as 4000 B.C. After the Native Americans, the first families that settled on the island were Abraham and Hannah Somes as well as James and Rachel Richardson in the year of 1761. Somes was requested by the

Massachusetts governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

, Francis Bernard, to settle there and establish mills. They named their village Somesville and the inlet it was on, Somes Sound, after Abraham and his family. Somesville's history still attracts many new inhabitants today.

Industry

An important aspect of Somesville is its industry. After enough settlers traveled to the island the industry became prosperous. One could find a job in logging, fishing, shipbuilding, coastal trading, or quarry working. The island contained many job opportunities with several logging mills, a shoe factory, and a woolen mill. These industries made the Somes family the wealthiest on the island by 1840 along with the Whiting family, who also owned many warehouses and businesses. The lumber, grist, and wool mills of Somesville were supported by multiple dams. The

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

quarries were also a very large part of the industry. In 1886 the annual shipment of cut stone was estimated to be over 3,500 tons. The booming industry quickly attracted settlers, and by 1950 the population had tripled.

Geology

The Mount Desert Island we see today was largely formed around 380 million years ago by the collision of the continent and an arc of islands, which created the granites and other

igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma o ...

s that comprise most of the island and its mountains. This is how the mountainous landscape came into being. As recently as one million years ago, a mile-thick

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

moved a few yards each year and eventually reached the Mount Desert Range. During this glacial event, Somes Sound was carved out of the island, giving it a curved "U"-shaped valley characteristic of glaciation."The Story of Glaciers"
/ref> Today, many types of rock are on the island, including granites and

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic ...

s which resulted from the collision. These granites and volcanic rocks were emplaced adjacent to ~400 million year old siltstones and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s that sit on the inland side of the island on which the village of

Bar Harbor Bar Harbor is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. During the summer and fall seasons, it is a popular tourist destination and, until a catastrophic fire ...

lies. The mountains of Acadia represent a collisional

tectonic Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...

event which was soon followed by a related series of continental collisions which led to a major phase in the mountain-building of the Northern

Appalachians The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

known as the Acadian Orogeny.

Historic district

In 1975, the central village of Somesville and the harbor area were listed as a historic district on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The district extends along Main Street from Denning Brook to

Maine State Route 3 State Route 3 (SR 3) is a state highway located in southern Maine. It is a major interregional highway, connecting the Interstate 95 corridor to the Atlantic coast. The western terminus is at SR 8, SR 11 and SR 27 in Augusta and the eastern ...

, and encompasses the entire shoreline of the harbor as far south as Mason and Squantum Points. It includes the 1828 Isaac Somes House, the oldest in the village, and the 1852 Union Church.

References

*Geology fieldnotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/acad/index.cfm {{authority control Villages in Maine Mount Desert Island Villages in Hancock County, Maine Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Historic districts in Hancock County, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine

History

Industry

Geology

Historic district

See also

References