New from Chef Bryan
Avocado Toast with Bacon, Arugula, Tri-Color Tomatoes Vinaigrette and Basil Chiffonade.
Building a Better Breakfast!
Our new professional kitchen has enabled us to offer a range of breakfast options that were never before possible! Shown here is our Char-Broiled Pork Chop with Grilled Polenta and Rainbow Chard.
The Parlor
We love our artists- we think you nailed it! Thank you for the lovely sketch JC and Jane- you’ve made our day!
Blaine Letter Returns Home
Recently, we came upon this letter, written by Senator James G. Blaine, at auction. The subject is unremarkable, a brief note of thanks to one Theo F Reed for an unspecified favor. The significance of this particular item is that it was penned while Blaine was living at Ash Cottage during his presidential run. It almost certainly would have been written in his study at the home, where he spent considerable time answering “cords” of correspondence. Thankfully, few people need to have Blaine memorabilia these days so we were able to acquire the letter for the inn. After 138 years, we are delighted to return this small piece of history to the Mira Monte so that we may better tell the story of the many people who have stayed within its walls. We hope to have the letter on display soon. The note reads:
Personal
August 13, 1884
Bar Harbor, Maine
Theo F Reed, Esq.
Spring Valley, N.Y.
Dear Fr-
I thank you for your kind favor of the 1st instant, and I return the enclosure as requested.
Very truly yours
James G. Blaine
The Island Explorer Returns
Mt Desert Island’s popular shuttle bus, the Island Explorer, is back for the season! After running on a limited schedule last year, operations are now back in full swing. Most routes begin at the Village Green, just a short walk from the Mira Monte. The Explorer offers visitors the opportunity to stop at the most popular attractions in Acadia and Mt Desert Island without having to battle the island’s notorious summer traffic. For more information on the shuttle and schedules, click the following link: Island Explorer Shuttle
Beware the Brown Tail Moth Caterpillar
These little guys look innocent enough, maybe even cute in a caterpillar kind of way. You might even be tempted to pick one up and let it crawl around a bit. Be forewarned that if you do it will likely mean the beginning of weeks of misery. This is the caterpillar of the brown tail moth, an invasive species commonly seen in Maine in the spring and summer. In addition to devouring the leaves of local deciduous trees, the thing that makes these caterpillars so troublesome is that their hairs are filled with a toxin that can cause severe itching and pain similar to that of a poison ivy rash. The hairs can also become airborne and drop from trees onto unsuspecting travelers. Breathing the hairs can cause respiratory distress and require medical attention. Over the counter remedies such as hydrocortisone, diphenhydramine, and lidocaine offer some relief, but there is no cure for the caterpillar toxin and prevention is the best way to avoid the dreaded itch. Stay clear of the caterpillars and their nests which take the form of a tangled, tent-like web woven between the branches of trees and shrubs. Thankfully, caterpillar encounters and severe reactions to the caterpillar toxin are relatively rare and shouldn’t dissuade anyone from visiting Acadia this season. Due caution will help to ensure that your visit remains pleasant and itch-free.
Mira Monte Receives “Traveler’s Choice” Award for 2022
Thank you to all our guests for helping make Mira Monte a Trip Advisor “Traveler’s Choice” for the third year in a row! Only the top 10% of all hotels are accorded this distinction, and we are grateful to all who have joined us through the years.
Still a Bed and Breakfast, Not Just a Bed
We’ve noticed an alarming trend among Bar Harbor’s Bed and Breakfasts over the past year. Many independent inns have been bought out by large hotel companies and have closed their kitchens and eliminated breakfast service completely. We understand why they’ve done this; it’s a whole lot less expensive for them and it makes their businesses much easier to run. We think that’s just wrong. At the Mira Monte we still believe in providing the home-style hospitality that you’ve come to expect from a B&B. Instead of taking breakfast away, we’re investing in a brand-new professional kitchen so that we can bring you an even better breakfast experience during the coming seasons. Our breakfasts are hot, upscale and served at the table. From time to time, we’ll update you on our progress here in our blog- stay tuned!
Peter Marie
One of Bar Harbor’s more colorful summer denizens was New York philantropist and socialite Peter Marie. His family, having made it’s fortune in banking, enabled Marie pursue a life of leisure relatively early in life. The consummate bon vivant, Marie was host to a variety of social activities throughout the summer colony. One of these, a ladie’s putting contest, was a regular event that was held on the back lawn of Mira Monte. The accompanying photo shows one such competition, circa 1900. These events were embued with all the pageantry of the guilded age- note the banners and floral garlands surrounding the green and the imported palms decorating the gallery. The ladies in the competition are seen elegantly attired in the latest 19th century “sportswear”.
The Chapman Family
Mira Monte History: In 1890, Mrs. Hannah Chapman, wife of eminent Philadelphia physician and naturalist Dr. Henry C. Chapman, bought the Ash Cottage from Orlando Ash to use as a permanent summer residence. Interestingly, title to the home was held in Mrs. Chapman’s name alone, a rare occurance prior to the turn of the century. Henry Chapman had been Professor of Medicine and Medical Jurisprudence at Jefferson Medical College and served as a director of Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences from 1875 until his death. Upon purchasing the cottage, the Chapmans added the Greek portico and columns that now surround the porch and renamed their estate Mira Monte, meaning “behold the mountains”.
Mrs. Chapman enjoyed entertaining, and Mira Monte was to become something of a social hub in those days, particularly for members of Philadelphia’s high society. An article in the society pages of the Philadelphia Enquirer describes a tea given at Mira Monte as the “most lavish social event of the season” at which Mrs. Chapman and the Countess de Laugier-Villars poured. While not unknown to the society pages himself, Dr. Chapman is remembered in Bar Harbor as first and foremost a humble and amiable man of science who “endeavored in every way in his power to minimize the distinction between the summer colony and the year-round residents” of the village. As recalled in memorium in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences:
“Here for nearly thirty years he pursued his studies of the flora and fauna of Mt. Desert island, the latter in a little laboratory on the water’s edge. Here the fishermen, all his devoted friends, brought whatever of interest they succeeded in securing from the waters.”
Chapman was also to play an active role in the civic life of the town and became a director of the local library.
After Dr. Chapman’s sudden death at the home in 1908, likely from a gastric ulcer, Hannah continued in the role of hostess until her passing on Christmas day, 1931, exactly 90 years ago.