As a genealogist it can be difficult to properly record place names with events. Say you find an old manuscript (ca 1880) that says that your ancestor John Smith was born in Bar Harbor April 10, 1842. We know that Bar Harbor was not a town until March 5, 1918. We know that the birth record could have been recorded by the town clerk of the town of Eden. So was this the writer incorrect? The answer is a definite maybe.
Most of Hancock County developed from the sea inward. Particularly so with Mount Desert Island. All of Mount Desert's harbors were useful to mariners and fishermen and had settlements long before town of Mount Desert spawned Eden and Tremont. For instance, Southwest Harbor which became a town in 1905 was referred to as "The Southwest Harbor"1 as was settled in 1761.
A more precise way to record the birth of "John Smith was born April 10, 1842 at Bar Harbor village, Eden, Hancock, Maine"
Back to Eden in 1888 we know there were 18 hotels in Bar Harbor
village2 The original Eden town center was located about 2 miles west
of Salisbury Cove where today's Fire Road 460 connects to U.S. Route 3
From Lampham's book: "There is a town-house here, and the citizens of Bar
Harbor and other parts of the town of Eden, are obliged to come here to exercise
the right of suffrage. It is a pleasant, place, and one of the best farming
localities on the Island. Upon the headstones at the little cemetery near the
town-house, are found the names of John Ebenezer and Nathan Salisbury, Abner
Young, Capt. Isaac Hopkins, Nicholas Richardson and Jonathan Doane; also
Cousins, Harden, Liscomb and others, showing who were the pioneer settlers of
this region."
1 Mount Desert; a History By George Edward Street, Samuel Atkins Eliot 1905
2
Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island By William Berry
Lapham 1888
Hotels pg 71
Eden page 20