Bass Harbor, Maine

Bass Harbor (also McKinley) is a village in Hancock County, Maine, United States. It is within the town of Tremont on Mount Desert Island, and near Acadia National Park. With its well-protected natural harbor, it ranks as one of the most lucrative lobster-producing ports in the state. Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse lies at the mouth of the harbor. The village is terminal for both the Swans Island ferry and Frenchboro ferry.

Bass Harbor was once known as McKinley. In the early 1900s, when a post office was built in the village, federal officials asked what the post office should be named. Someone remarked, "Name it after the president for all we care." The post office was named McKinley, and the village was known as McKinley until 1961 when residents petitioned to change the name back to Bass Harbor.

It is located at 44°14′24″N 68°20′38″W / 44.24000°N 68.34389°W / 44.24000; -68.34389 (44.2400807, -68.3439060).

History

Bass Harbor is most famous for its Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built because of an annual report by the Lighthouse Board, declaring that ships required a light to assist them in entering the harbor.

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park is a national park located in the U.S. state of Maine. It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast. Created when a national monument after three years became Lafayette National Park in 1919, it was renamed Acadia in 1929 and is the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi River.

Two eastern Canadian national parks are older: Thousand Islands (1904) and Point Pelee (1918) in Ontario.

History

The area was originally inhabited by the Wabanaki people.

While he was sailing down the coast of what is now Maine in the fall of 1604, Samuel de Champlain observed a large inshore island. He wrote:

"That same day we also passed near an island about four or five leagues [19 to 24 km] in length, off which we were almost lost on a little rock, level with the surface of the water, which made a hole in our pinnace close to the keel. The distance from this island to the mainland on the north is not a hundred paces. It is very high and cleft in places, giving it the appearance from the sea of seven or eight mountains one alongside the other. The tops of them are bare of trees, because there is nothing there but rocks. The woods consist only of pines, firs, and birches." He named it Mount Desert Island.

National park

A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea: the conservation of 'wild nature' for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined "National Park" as its Category II type of protected areas.

While this type of national park had been proposed previously, the United States established the first "public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people", Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. Although Yellowstone was not officially termed a "national park" in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use "national park" in its creation legislation was the US's Mackinac Island, in 1875. Australia's Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the world's third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park and national park status was consequently lost. As a result, Australia's Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence.

Harbor

A harbor or harbour (see spelling differences), or haven, is a body of water where ships, boats and barges seek shelter from stormy weather, or are stored for future use. Harbors and ports are often confused with each other. A port is a facility for loading and unloading vessels; ports are often located in harbors.

Harbors can be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jettys, or they can be constructed by dredging, which requires maintenance by further periodic dredging. An example of an artificial harbor is Long Beach Harbor, California, which was an array of salt marshes and tidal flats too shallow for modern merchant ships before it was first dredged in the early 20th century.

In contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by prominences of land. Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour, Australia and San Francisco Bay, California.

Artificial harbors

Artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian site at Wadi al-Jarf, on the Red Sea coast, which is at least 4500 years old (ca. 2600-2550 BC, reign of King Khufu). The largest artificially created harbor is Jebel Ali in Dubai. Other large and busy artificial harbors include:

Bass

Bass or Basses may refer to:

Fish

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