Life in Bar Harbor

We will be returning to Bar Harbor this June for a visit. It has been three years since our first visit and we can not wait to get back. I think I would love to live in Bar Harbor someday...however I wonder what the winters are like. Can someone share a little about life in Bar Harbor during the winter...weather...activities....

Thank you!

Life in Bar Harbor

Winter in Bar Harbor is wonderful. On November 1st almost all the lodging places close. All those big hotels on the way into town, are shuttered and shut down. Only Atlantic Oakes and a few B%26amp;Bs stay open. Many of the restaurants close also, although a few stay open on weekends. Lately McKay%26#39;s has stayed open seven nights a week. And there is always Geddy%26#39;s for a good lunch. The t-shirt shops close but the drug stores, book store, and grocery stores stay open. A few businesses start making Christmas wreaths for mail order.

The whole town seems to breath a sigh of relief and, once again, people have time to smile at each other on the street and even stop to chat in the grocery store. Women once again start up their stitching groups and get together once a week to knit and chat. People get back on their exercise program and the YMCA offers a Walks and Talks program all winter.

November is usually a fairly mild month, weather-wise. But everyone looks forward to that first nice snowfall. Cadillac Mountain Sports puts out their rental snowshoes and cross country skies. We always fear rain on top of snow so that when there is a good snowfall people rush out to ski the carriage roads while conditions stay good for that.

Every winter seems to have different weather than the winter before. But, generally, we have snow on the ground by mid-December. The lakes are frozen by January and sometimes the ocean freezes at the bridge. In the very depth of winter, days are usually in the 20s and nights in the low teens.

Acadia National Park closes the Loop Road except for a small section that includes Sand Beach and Thunder Hole. Some of the trail head parking lots are kept plowed and you can also park at the gates that close the Loop Road. Hiking is popular all winter long.

Unlike some other parts of the USA, it%26#39;s quite sunny here on the coast of Maine in the winter. Granted, the sun doesn%26#39;t rise very high or for very long in the winter. But it lights up the snow and birch trees and the ice flows on some of the rock outcroppings. It%26#39;s really quite pretty.

We have two or three days each winter when a storm closes school for the day. When that happens the fire whistle in town blows a signal at 6:30, 7:00, and 7:30. Waking up to that sound and the sound of the snow plow going through your neighborhood makes you feel like a little kid again. Yippee!! A day to play in the snow! We seldom lose power in storms and the roads are quickly plowed and salted.

Athough there are very few tourists in town, there are still quite a few people and a nice mix: There are the College of the Atlantic students who resemble the hippies of the 1960s. There are the scientists and support staff at Jackson Lab. There are the business owners who stay in town for the winters -- some do leave. There are young people in their 20s who saved enough by working three jobs in the summer to be able to spend the winter here. There are retired folks. There are the lobstermen, who refit their boats in the winter to do shrimping. And the plumbers and electricians and builders and people who sell things to each other. You don%26#39;t know everyone in town. But you do begin to see the same faces and know if someone is ';one of us hardy winter folk'; who belong here.

If you have an specific questions, ask away.

Life in Bar Harbor

You might be interested in the photos at:

http://tinyurl.com/r2o7

and

http://tinyurl.com/2w873s

There are albums on both sites devoted to Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island in the winter, as well as one entitled Bar Harbor off-season.

Adding to what bonniemaev has said, there is another park access from Seal Harbor to Jordan Pond. Some of the carriage roads are groomed for cross-country skiing; snowmobiles are not allowed on the carriage roads except for a couple of stretches to allow them to connect to other roads.

We receive our largest snowfalls in February and March (and this year, April as well). Basically, from November through much of January, one can hike the carriage roads and many of the trials without much trouble---and very often do so without seeing another human being..

Several restaurants stay open through the winter except for short vacation periods. For the most part, after Christmas the restaurants are open from Wednesday through Saturday. It%26#39;s a nice, relaxed time---the owner/operators and staff actually have time to talk.

Thank you for the information :) it sounds so picturesque.

Hi,

Great posts. I%26#39;ve been a visitor to Bar Harbor in summers past, but thanks to your in-depth descriptions and pictures, I may go up in the winter. Nice work!

Thank you, Healey.

There are those on the island who look upon summer as a rather unfortunate but unavoidable interruption in their winter. ;--%26gt;

Our first time to Bar Harbor and Acadia was around 30 years ago.

We have continued the romance all this time. Living in Chicago, the trip is not a hop, skip and jump...but, so worth it. We have often dreamed of moving to the town and finding some way to support ourselves...maybe a small business...although we have never owned one before. For us, Acadia and BH are magical (except for the Black Flies that attacked us one year). From the smell of the ocean the artsy small town feel. We used to love the little grocery store in town and still have memories of the delicious aromas when you entered the store. Is it still there?

Hoping to get back for a Fall visit very soon!

Jan

Butterfield%26#39;s is a small grocery store right on Main Street. It%26#39;s still there. The bigger grocery store is on Cottage Street. It%26#39;s probably not big by Big City measure. But it does have it%26#39;s own parking lot and meat and seafood and produce sections.

Whatever happen to Mary Jane%26#39;s restaurant.? Remember it a good number of years ago.

You all have given me the ammunition I needed: SUNNY DAYS in winter!!! I want to retire in your area, and my husband prefers Arizona (yuck!) He finally said it wasn%26#39;t the warmth as much as the sun that he wanted!!! I%26#39;m printing your notes and he will find it when he wakes up in the a.m.

Now, just 18 yrs till retirement.....

But in the meantime we visit this summer - never too early to start looking for property:)

Elise

Bonnie...is the Quarterdeck still there? Used to love one of their signature dishes and always made time to eat there...even when we had our babies. The owner used to come by and say hi!

Butterfields is the place I was thinking about and lovingly remember.

Wish I was there right now!

thinning hair