First Steamboat Wharves
The earliest known visitors to Mount Desert Island were the Abnaki Indians, who would travel from the mainland to the island to fish and gather berries and shellfish. Recent excavations and carbon dating confirmed that the "Red Paint People" inhabited the island as far back as 4,000 BC. The first settlement on the island by a person of European descent was in 1761 by Abraham Somes, a sailor and fisherman from Massachusetts, on the northern shore of Somes Sound. Initial steamboat wharves and hotels were constructed in Southwest Harbor to be closer to the entrance of Somes Sound. When you look out into the harbor, you will see the Bear Island Lighthouse, which marks its southern entrance.