Mount Desert. Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine.
With an area of 108 square miles it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous United States, and the second-largest island on the Eastern Seaboard, behind Long Island and ahead of Martha's Vineyard. According to the 2010 census, the island has a year-round population of 10,615.
In 2017, an estimated 3.5 million tourists visited Acadia National Park on MDI. The island is home to numerous well-known summer colonies such as Northeast Harbor and Bar Harbor.
Some residents stress the second syllable in the French fashion, while others pronounce it like the English common noun desert. French explorer Samuel de Champlain's observation that the summits of the island's mountains were free of vegetation as seen from the sea led him to call the island.
There are four towns on Mount Desert Island: Bar Harbor, with the villages of Eden, Hulls Cove, Salisbury Cove, and Town Hill;. Mount Desert, with the villages of Hall's Quarry, Northeast Harbor, Otter Creek, Pretty Marsh, Seal Harbor, and Somesville;. Southwest Harbor, with the villages of Manset and Seawall;. Tremont, with the villages of Bass Harbor, Bernard, Gotts Island, Seal Cove, and West Tremont. View of the coast Deep shell heaps indicate Native American encampments dating back 6,000 years in