Cottage Street

Cottage Street. . Like small towns across America, Bar Harbor has endured its share of growing pains and seen many changes to the village streetscape since its permanent settlement by Europeans in 1763. Gone are the early settlers' homes, the old boarding houses, the grand hotels of the late 1800s and many of the opulent summer homes. After the advent of the automobile, service stations and car dealers seemed to be on every corner. In the late 1950s there were no less than eight gas stations and four auto dealerships in town; today only three gas stations remain. By 1960 many commercial buildings had been torn down to make way for parking lots, but others too for public parks, which the town had the foresight to preserve. , At this time, Cottage Street was mostly residential west of the post office except for a few neighborhood stores, auto repair shops and the old high school, which is now the Town's municipal building. Since then, Cottage Street has become commercial from Main to Eden streets through the addition of professional offices, restaurants, shops, inns and outdoor rental and recreation businesses. In 1976 a Design Review Board was established by the Town to maintain the character of the community by review and oversight of new construction, renovations, lighting, signage and landscaping. Today Bar Harbor is home to three small but distinct historic districts: on Mount Desert Street, on West Street and on Harbor Lane.