The Great Fire of 1947 and the End of Bar Harbor’s Golden Era tells the riveting story of the desperate evacuation of residents through the heart of an uncontrolled forest fire burning all across Mount Desert Island. After an extremely dry summer, all areas of Maine spent the month of October fighting fires, with the island seeing the worst of the damage. Soon after the first flames were spotted, in a last, desperate and deadly escape from the quickly approaching and ever-growing flames, many Bar Harbor residents found themselves fleeing to the water, while others fled in a caravan for the causeway behind a bulldozer that cleared the way, all the while watching the loss of many of the mighty cottage-mansions and historic hotels that once symbolized the island’s heritage as a summer playground for the world’s richest people. Through extensive and meticulous research, Maine author and historian Mac Smith brings this important part of the state’s history to life.
KHS presenter, Mac Smith, is a Navy veteran of the first Gulf War, a former reporter for The Bar Harbor Times, and lives in the village of Sandy Point. He is the author of several books of Maine history, including Mainers on the Titanic, Peyton Place Comes Home to Maine, Siege at the Statehouse, Disaster at the Bar Harbor Ferry, and Plain Madeleine.
The presentation, free to the public (with donations gladly accepted), will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 17, at the South Parish Congregational Church located at 9 Church Street in Augusta. The program will be preceded at 5 p.m. by a potluck supper and at 6 p.m. by the society’s annual meeting and election of directors. For details about the potluck supper, please contact Anne Cough, either by email at
YWNvdWdoNjAgfCB5YWhvbyAhIGNvbQ== or by phone at 582-2823. Any questions about the presentation should be directed to KHS Executive Director Scott Wood at 207-622-7718.
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