In honor of the Acadia National Park Centennial, New Jersey photographer Anthony “Tony” Palumbo, Marie Yarborough of Acadia National Park, Tim Garrity of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, Kathy Macleod of the Bar Harbor Historical Society and photographers George Soules and Kelly Mitchell worked together to find historic images of Mount Desert Island and combine them with contemporary images of the same location.
The Mount Desert Islander has published those images in its pages, and we present them here in one place.
Riders from a bygone era enjoy the Carriage Road and view at the north end of Eagle Lake in Acadia National Park. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
The Bar Harbor Fire Station circa 1913 and today. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Seal Harbor Beach. The base historic image is from the beach looking east toward Ox Hill. It is courtesy of the Penobscot Marine Museum. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Can you imagine what downtown Bar Harbor looked like back before Acadia National Park existed? This should give you some idea of what you’d see standing at the corner of Main and West streets. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
The R.H.B. Fernald Store, circa 1891, is shown juxtaposed with a more recent image of modern automobile traffic. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
An Acadia National Park ranger talks with visitors in a composite of photos taken decades apart at the top of Cadillac Mountain. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Although the stone fountain remains, the Seaside Inn in the background is long gone in the village of Seal Harbor. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
The view north, down Main Street in Bar Harbor from the Bar Harbor Village Green. Several of the large structures on left remain today. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Although the underlying rocks are little changed, the single rope railing at Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park shown in the vintage section of the image is long gone. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
The view along Main Street in the quiet village of Seal Harbor is little changed except for the vintage automobiles in a blend of images taken nearly 100 years apart. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
A vintage image of an early Acadia National Park ranger at the dam on Jordan Pond is blended with a modern photograph of the same location. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
A vintage image of the Bar Harbor Inn and Pier, background right, is blended with a modern photograph of the same location. Hotels used to be located where parking lots are now. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
A vintage image of early members of the Village Improvement Association path committees, which helped lay out and build many of the trails in Acadia National Park, is blended with a modern photograph obviously not taken in summer at Jordan Pond. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
The view from the top of Sargent Mountain, the second tallest peak in Acadia National Park, may seem the same as 100 years ago, but the appearance of this group of intrepid hikers is quite different than would be seen today. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Cottage Street in Bar Harbor looking east toward Main Street, circa early 1910, looks quite different today. While the granite U.S. Post Office at left remains, as does the greatly renovated Swan Building just beyond it, other structures are long gone. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Sieur de Monts Spring today is located in the epicenter of land that was first donated to create Acadia National Park some 100 years ago. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
George B. Dorr, one of the founders of Acadia National Park, pauses in an iconic image of the Beachcroft Trail in a view that, thanks to preservation efforts, remains much the same today. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Many of the structures along Main Street in Bar Harbor look much the same today as they did a century ago. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Visitors of 100 years ago blend right in with modern-day tourists at Sieur de Monts Spring in Acadia National Park. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Only a few of the facades on Lower Main Street in Bar Harbor remain from how it looked 100 years ago. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
George Dorr, left, one of the founders of Acadia National Park, appears along with then-Interior Secretary Franklin Lane in this composite of a contemporary sunset and an image from 100 years ago. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Children posing by Balance Rock on the shore of Frenchman Bay. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
The corner of West and Rodick streets in Bar Harbor looking east toward Main Street and the municipal pier, circa early 1910, looks quite different today. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBO
Viewing the ghosts of Cadillac Cliffs. IMAGE CREATED BY TONY PALUMBOThen and Now is a collaborative centennial project of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor Historical Society, Kelly Mitchell at The Limited Lens and Tony Palumbo. Historic image courtesy of Acadia National Park; contemporary image by Kelly Mitchell, The Limited Lens.
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