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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Mount Desert (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Mount Desert. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Mount Desert ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Mount Desert: Mt. Desert

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Mount Desert is located in Hancock County.

To see how the shape of Maine's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Hancock County: Penobscot, Waldo & Washington.

Below are the counties that are near Mount Desert. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Mount Desert:

  • Hancock County     (The home county of Mount Desert)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mount Desert, with the one closest to Mount Desert listed first.
    • Indian Point
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Indian Point is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Point
    • Southwest Harbor
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Northeast Harbor
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Manset
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Manset is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manset
    • Seal Harbor
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Seal Cove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Tremont
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Tremont is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tremont
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,602 people
    • Hulls Cove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Bass Harbor
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Bernard
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Cranberry Isles
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Cranberry Isles is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranberry Isles
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 138 people
    • Islesford
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Islesford is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Islesford
  • Knox County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mount Desert, with the one closest to Mount Desert listed first.
    • Isle Au Haut
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • North Haven
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pulpit Harbor
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Pulpit Harbor is located in Knox County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pulpit Harbor
  • Waldo County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mount Desert, with the one closest to Mount Desert listed first.
    • Sandy Point
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Prospect Ferry
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Prospect Ferry is located in Waldo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prospect Ferry
    • Islesboro
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Islesboro is located in Waldo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Islesboro
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 562 people
    • North Islesboro
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • North Islesboro is located in Waldo County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Islesboro
    • Stockton Springs
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Prospect
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Searsport
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Mount Desert, with the one closest to Mount Desert listed first.
    • Steuben
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • East Steuben
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • East Steuben is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Steuben
    • Milbridge
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cherryfield
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Mount Desert, see our County-by-County Page for Mount Desert.

Cemeteries Near Mount Desert ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Mount Desert.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Mount Desert - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Mount Desert covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Mount Desert, with the one closest to Mount Desert listed first.

  • Brookside Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Forest Hill Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Hodgdon Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Kimball Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Higgins Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Pretty Marsh Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Center Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Langley Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Robbins Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Flye Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Mt. Height Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Union Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (150 more) ...

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<3>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Mount Desert had a population of 680 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Mount Desert had a population of 2,114 people.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Mount Desert, with the one closest to Mount Desert listed first.

  • Southwest Harbor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Northeast Harbor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Asticou
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Asticou is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asticou
  • Indian Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Indian Point is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Point
  • Pretty Marsh
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Pretty Marsh is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pretty Marsh
  • Seal Cove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Seal Harbor
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • West Tremont
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Tremont
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Tremont is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tremont
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,602 people
  • Seawall
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Seawall is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seawall
  • Cranberry Isles
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cranberry Isles is located in Hancock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranberry Isles
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 138 people
  • Otter Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Hulls Cove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Eden
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Eden is located in Hancock County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
    • Trenton
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Mount Desert. See our List of 1890's Communities around Mount Desert.

Newspapers Published in Mount Desert ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 51 newspapers that have been published in the area around Mount Desert.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Mount Desert, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Mount Desert.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Mount Desert:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Mount Desert, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Mount Desert) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.