By Everett Potter

If you’re heading to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island in Maine this summer, it’s likely that you’re staying in lively Bar Harbor, with its many hotels, motels, ice cream parlors, and restaurants. It’s the major gateway for Acadia, with easy access from downtown. Acadia, of course, is for mountain-biking, kayaking, canoeing, and sailing, swimming for those who dare, beachcombing and bike riding on the famed Rockefeller carriage trails. Bar Harbor is ideal for anyone who wants a bit of coastal buzz after a day in the park.

There is, however, another side to Mount Desert, the so-called quiet side. Communities like Bass Harbor, Otter Creek, and Seal Harbor are far smaller, a short drive away from the park.

My wife and I happen to like the calm of Southwest Harbor, and we especially like staying at The Claremont, an 1884 New England grande dame that commands a painter’s view of Somes Sound, the east coast’s only fjord … Read More