Frenchman Bay - Bar Harbor ME
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 44° 24.319 W 068° 14.233
19T E 560737 N 4917175
The bay is bounded on the east by the Schoodic Peninsula, and on the west by Mount Desert Island; parts of both are in Acadia National Park.
The largest town on the bay is Bar Harbor, on Mount Desert Island.
Waymark Code: WM16QWF
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 09/19/2022
Views: 0
From Wikipedia:
"Frenchman Bay is a bay in Hancock County, Maine, named for Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who visited the area in 1604.
Frenchman Bay may have been the location of the Jesuit St. Sauveur mission, established in 1613.
In a 1960 book titled, "The Story of Mount Desert Island", Samuel Eliot Morison wrote, "Frenchmans Bay was so called because it became a staging point for French warships preparing to fight the English."
The bay is bounded on the east by the Schoodic Peninsula, and on the west by Mount Desert Island; parts of both are in Acadia National Park. It contains numerous islands, the largest of which is Ironbound Island. The highest elevation of the islands in the bay is found on Jordan Island. The largest town on the bay is Bar Harbor, on Mount Desert Island.
The bay extends for roughly 15 miles (24 km) and spans 7 miles (11 km) at its widest."
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TEXT ON THE HISTORICAL MARKER:
Frenchman Bay
Vessels of all types have plied the waters of Frenchman Bay for centuries. Five thousand years ago, indigenous people may have paddled dugout canoes into the bay to reach fishing grounds or hunt sea mammals and swordfish. More recently, Wabanaki Indians used birch bark canoes.
In 1604, the explorer Samuel Champlain charted the bay and named this island "Mount Desert" for its bare-topped mountains. From 1613 to 1760 the French battled the English for possession of North America. French frigates hid behind the Porcupine Islands to prey on English warships passing beyond Schoodic Point.
As settlement grew along the coast, hundreds of schooner, sloop, and fishing smack sails dotted the bay. In the late 1800s, Bar Harbor's popularity as a summer resort drew pleasure craft and steamboats. Today you can see all types of vessels on the bay, from restored schooners to lobster fishing boats and whale watchers.
Over time, the people and their crafts may have changed, but the backdrop of Frenchman Bay, its rugged coastline and islands, has remained essentially the same.