Northeast Harbor is a village on
Mount Desert Island, located in the town of
Mount Desert in
Hancock County,
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
, United States.
The village has a significant summer population, and has long been a quiet enclave of the rich and famous. Summer residents include the
Rockefeller family
The Rockefeller family ( ) is an American Industrial sector, industrial, political, and List of banking families, banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the History of the petroleum industry in th ...
. The village was once so popular as a summer resort among
Philadelphians, including members of the
Clark banking family, that it was sometimes known as "Philadelphia on the rocks".
Landmarks include the
Asticou Hotel, the
Asticou Azalea Garden, and
Thuya Garden at the village's eastern entrance; Main Street, home to a variety of shops and restaurants; and the Marina, home to more than 200
yachts
A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...
during the summertime.
Its ZIP code is 04662. Its area code is 207, exchange 276.
History
The original settlers, the Someses and Richardsons, arrived ''circa'' 1761. The Asticou Inn—today's Asticou Hotel—was built by
Augustus Chase ("A.C.") Savage (1832–1911), grandson of
Glaswegian John C. Savage (1756–1816), who moved to the United States in 1770 and to Northeast Harbor in 1792.
In December 1966, a fire destroyed Wallace's
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (from the phon ...
Garage, the Pastime Theater, the Hillcrest Market, and Mrs. Flye’s Sandwich Shop.
In 2008, a fire destroyed three buildings on Main Street — Colonel's Deli and its upstairs apartments, and two art galleries. Five months later, in 2009, another blaze destroyed the Tan Turtle restaurant and its upstairs apartments. As of 2022, some buildings had yet to be rebuilt. The vacancies, along with a dwindling year-round population, led to the founding of the nonprofit community development organization MD365, which creates affordable housing and other incentives to attract new businesses and residents.
Notable people
*
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński (, ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), known as Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was Jimmy Carter's National Securi ...
, served as
National Security Advisor during the
Carter administration
*
Mika Brzezinski, journalist and co-host of MSNBC's ''
Morning Joe
''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news talk show, which airs weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former United States House of Representatives, US Repr ...
''
*
Barbara Bel Geddes
Barbara Bel Geddes (October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005) was an American stage and screen Actor, actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost 5 decades. She was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in th ...
, actress, best known for her starring role as
Miss Ellie Ewing
Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Ewing Farlow (maiden name Southworth) is a fictional character from the primetime CBS television series ''Dallas'', a long-running serial centered on the lives of the wealthy Ewing family of Dallas, Texas. Created by writer ...
in the television series ''
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
''
*
Gunnar Hansen
Gunnar Milton Hansen (March 4, 1947 – November 7, 2015) was an Icelandic-born American actor and author. He played the mentally impaired cannibal Leatherface in '' The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' (1974).
Early life
Hansen was born in Reykja ...
, actor, best known for playing the mentally impaired cannibal
Leatherface in the 1974 horror film ''
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre''
*
Joe Scarborough,
former U.S. Representative, journalist and co-host of MSNBC's ''
Morning Joe
''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news talk show, which airs weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former United States House of Representatives, US Repr ...
''
References
American upper class
Mount Desert Island
Villages in Hancock County, Maine
Villages in Maine
Marinas in the United States
{{Maine-geo-stub