Description: “…the…Hotel Porcupine, later the Florence (1887; burned, 1918), a Main Street, five-story rectangular block with Shingle-style features and a strong sense of verticality represented by its stacked window bays, bay roof caps, steep-pitched roof planes, and tall, corbelled brick chimneys…represented [with the larger Malvern Hotel] an impressive conclusion to Bar Harbor’s opulent Victorian hotel era.” - “Summer By The Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820-1950” by Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., p. 165, 170, University Press of New England – 2008 - An excellent study including information about The Island House in Southwest Harbor and its place in the range of hotels on the island during this period along with a very complete history of many of the Bar Harbor hotels. "For the origins and summary of the Bar Harbor hotel scene and the social life that surrounded it, including the first visit of the fleet to Bar Harbor see – “Bar Harbor: The Hotel Era, 1868-1880” by Richard A. Savage, Chapter 17, p. 226 in “Maine – A History Through Selected Readings” edited by David C. Smith and Edward O. Schriver – 1985 The article originally appeared in the “Maine Historical Society Newsletter,” Vol. 10, No.4, May 1971, pp. 101-121 For the complete story of the Leightons and Maine postcards see: ""Greetings from Maine: A Postcard Album"" by R. Brewster Harding, published by Old Port Publishing Co., Portland, 1975 - ""Turn of the Century Views of America's Pine Tree State as recorded by Portland's Picture Postcard Pioneers, Chisholm Bros., the Hugh C. Leighton Co., the Geo. W. Morris Co. and others 1888-1915. This book appears to be the source for other published information on the subject." [show more]
Description: "“The Maine Central fleet expanded quickly from the turn of the century until 1913. “Pemaquid” was the first of the new ships, having been purchased from the Long Island Railroad in 1901. She was a 132-foot steel-hilled single-screw steamer built in 1893 by Neafie and Levy of Philadelphia, with the distinction of being the last of the fleet to carry the Maine Central flag… Maine Central’s ships were sold off one by one until by 1931 the reliable “Pemaquid”, which during her thirty years with the railroad was used year-round, filling in for the seasonal vessels on the Mt. Desert run, was the only ship left. She was sold south that year and eventually was re-engined with a diesel. She lasted a long time, operating in the New York area into the 1960’s. The Eastern [Steamship Lines] threw in the towel three years later, in 1934. Hereafter the Maine trains would stop in Ellsworth, and Mt. Desert Ferry, the great bustling rail and steamboat facility, would fall silent.” - Mount Desert - An Informal History Edited by Gunnar Hansen, Maritime Transportation section written by Peter B. Bell, p. 166-167, 169 - 1989 ""The steamer ""Pemaquid"" was built in 1893 as the ""Long Island."" Shortly after the turn of the century, she was placed in service on the Maine coast by the Maine Central Railroad. The vessel left Maine in 1931. [She operated on the Hudson River and last ran] as a dieselized ferry to Block Island."" - ""Steamboats On The Hudson River"" by William H. Ewen, Jr., Arcadia Publishing, May 30, 2011, p. 89." [show more]
Description: George Soules photographed the interior of the Criterion from the balcony with a Canon 5D Mark III DSLR and a Canon 24mm tilt/shift lens using available light, which there was little of. To the naked eye, the space does not look nearly this bright. The first image (angle view) is a four-slice panorama with a 140° field of view. It is a composite of 12 different frames. The second image (straight-on view) is a six-slice panorama with a 190° field of view. It is a composite of 18 different frames. Both images were shot at f/8, ISO 400, with three different exposures for each slice. Exposures ranged from 10 seconds for the main room to 1/25th second for the chandelier. [show more]