A visitor to Southwest Harbor travels its byways, views its beautiful harbor, sees its little compact village almost unchanged in decades and marvels at the well-preserved old homes that line its main streets. Southwest Harbor combines the history of hard-working seagoing folks with the wonderful tradition of country living in four well defined annual seasons.
Youngsters grew to maturity with the blessing of a unique knowledge of nature whether it was in harmony with the sea as small boat fishermen or to be one with the ample woodlands with which Mount Desert Island is liberally blessed. Since the end of World War One, Southwest Harbor has maintained its rural image while keeping pace with the sophistication of the outside world. It has always been a great place to raise children, a simple and comfortable place to call home and an unequaled place to visit.
The town was home to one of the most flourishing seafood businesses on the Atlantic Seaboard when fishing boats could find fish within the limited range of small craft. A substantial sardine plant was its largest employer. Manset housed the Stanley Fish Company and there was a great old summer hotel called the Ocean House. Organized recreation was held at the Village Improvement Association hall, there was boat building, a large government radio station, a huge ice house, well run garages with car dealership, adequate stores and a steamboat wharf that accommodated daily visits of large white steamers that plied the coast to bring passengers and goods to the town. During prohibition Southwest Harbor was the home of some of the most successful bootlegging operations on the coast, not attested in Chamber of Commerce material.
Many of the old facilities are gone, eroded by the inexorable march of progress or outdated by the laws of supply and demand, but the town has grown old gracefully and wears its newer look with the same quiet dignity as the old.
A town manager and "selectmen," a governing board equivalent to a city council, runs the town with an efficiency and intimacy hard to achieve in a larger community setting. Just about everyone knows everyone else in town.
Southwest Harbor shares the natural beauty of the rest of Mount Desert Island with its rocky shores, lovely mountain scenes and inimitable rural atmosphere. Today there are fine restaurants, modern shops, up to date services and the blessing of Cable TV.
The population hovers around 2,000. There is a fine police force, protective zoning laws and government in tune with the wishes of the people who live there. The town is a lovely extravagance of nature and a masterpiece of human simplicity.
