When it’s clear, we can see two island mountains that remind us of the area’s French history. Below this paragraph, we view the top of Champlain Mountain rising above and well behind the islands in Eggemoggin Reach. (May 8 image) Mount Champlain is about 11 miles to the south-south-west of us on Isle au Haut (“High Mountain Island”), which was named in 1604 by French explorer Samuel de Champlain.
Below this second paragraph, we view Cadillac Mountain across Blue Hill Bay. (Last Year’s image) That mountain is about 18 miles to the east-north-east of us on another French-named island, Mount Desert (“Barren Mountain”) Island (MDI). It’s in the original part of Acadia National Park and was named in honor of French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe Sieur de Cadillac who, in 1688, was given ownership of MDI, among other lands around here.
During the 17th Century, much of North America’s northeast, including what is now the Canadian Maritime Provinces and Maine, was the French Colony of L’Acadie (“Acadia,” a transliteration of a Native American word for “Land of Plenty”). (Brooklin, Maine)