Mount Desert has been one of America's favorite tourist destinations for over 150 years. As early as the 1840s, the lush landscape of this island on the Maine coast attracted artists and writers, who soon made Mount Desert's beauty famous with their paintings and publications. The stream of tourists that began traveling to the island after the Civil War prompted a building boom of cottages, hotels, and various buildings in Bar Harbor and other towns in the vicinity.
Fred Savage (1861–1924) was the most influential architect in the development of Mount Desert and northeastern Maine, designing over three hundred buildings. Richly illustrated with archival drawings, photographs, and newly commissioned color photography, Maine Cottages presents all of Savage's most important works while placing the life and career of this architect in the larger context of Mount Desert.
