Bottom Line: A guilded age mansion that gives a glimpse into the history of Bar Harbor and the…read moreearly 1900s. La Rochelle is a large, historical home overlooking Frenchman Bay. While it was once the 41-room summer cottage for the Bowdoin family today it serves as the headquarters of the the Bar Harbor Historical Society. The mansion is also a wedding venue. If, when visiting La Rochelle you are hoping to feel like you are stepping into a time machine to 1903, you'll need a lot of imagination. The mansion has been the home to various families and it has served several purposes since it was the Bowdoin's summer cottage. So, the physical structure is original but very little else is. Also, a lot of the rooms are closed and serve as private offices or storage for the Bar Harbor Historical Society. But, as a bonus, there is a lot of Bar Harbor history and artifacts displayed throughout. What I found most interesting about La Rochelle was the Flower Room including the placement of it. I can recall visiting mansions with a designated area of the kitchen or butler's pantry for assembling flower arrangements but I can't recall one that had a dedicated Flower Room. I also thought it was interesting that the Flower Room was placed adjacent to the main foyer instead of closer to where the servants would be working. La Rochelle is a wonderful piece of Bar Harbor and American history and I am grateful that the Bar Harbor Historical Society was able to purchase La Rochelle to preserve it for future generations. I also appreciate the very kind volunteers that work at the mansion. La Rochelle is am impressive site from West Street but it looks even more impressive from water, or so I imagine. We did not get to see the house from that view but based on pictures, you can really see the elevation of the home and the many chimneys. Before leaving La Rochelle we visited the gift shop which is full of pretty things. I was eyeing up some puzzles but due to very limited space in my suitcase I just purchased a few greeting cards. Overall we had a nice visit to La Rochelle and we were glad to support the Bar Harbor Historical Society.

Lots of interesting information. It's a self guide tour. Plenty of time to walk around. Beautiful…read moreinterior. Was having a great time till we went into the gift shop and the first 3 sentences from the gift shop cashier was political. Such a bumer to end on a sour note. The subject was illegal immigrants.....I'm Hispanic.

They really packed this small museum w awesome displays. informative, entertaining. free parking…read more part of the college campus.

Free to the public. Great place to take kids to explore. Natural History Museum with lots of…read morewildlife to explore including bobcat, whale, beaver, fox, puffins, skunk, deers, and many more.

My Boyfriend and I had an amazing experience, This was my second time on this tour and his first…read more This time I splurged and got the VIP tickets, so worth it!! We got extra stories and a cute little merchandised lantern. Our tour guide Daniel was amazing at giving us the haunts and histories of the area. It was a all around great time.

I appreciated the fact that the Ghost Tour company is owned by Native Americans and the docent took…read morethe time to incorporate relevant history into the stories told. We took the original Ghost tour and it was mediocre; probably because I just didn't connect with the guide, Liz, for some reason. We only made a few stops on the 90 minute tour and the sites and presentations were okay but not at all captivating. It would have been better if there were more places visited and a better storyteller. I definitely would have appreciated learning more about the Wabanaki Nation and the Great Fire. Surely there's ghost stories hidden in that history somewhere. In short, for the price we paid it definitely wasn't worth the cost.

I came here today with the intention of buying one of their bigger taxidermy pieces and decided to…read moreleave after the employees at the front were super rude to me and my boyfriend. We asked a very valid question about one of the pieces and they both rolled their eyes at us and talked to us like we were stupid. My nephew had been in the store after we had left and witnessed a different couple buying something and those same employees were super rude and after they left my nephew heard them say "stupid tourists". I came here last year and had a great experience but who ever they decided to hire needs an attitude adjustment.

My 11 year old daughter & I spent over an hour in this amazing shop. We could have easily spent a…read morefull day. We had top notch service & info as one of the employees unlocked cases to show us the goodies inside and answer all our questions. Don't miss the upstairs loft!

What a unique and special experience! The historical society is a Gilded Age "cottage" open to the…read morepublic. Huge, stunning home committed to sharing the history of Mount Desert Island. So many artifacts from across MDI's history. Don't miss the map room! Even the most savvy historian is sure to learn something. Considering how professionally it is laid out and curated, it's shocking they've only been open 3 years. The staff was welcoming and informative, and I can't wait to bring my family on our next visit to the island.

Charlie, our guide, met us at the clock on the square and we were off. It was immediately apparent…read morehe was very comfortable and knowledgeable about Bar Harbor and Maine history. " The 'help' would stay upstairs, because downstairs was cooler.", he said as we passed a two story historic home. Highlights of this food tour included the lobster sliders and the hot Italian sandwiches, including how and where these were eaten. We mostly ate inside. This was just starting out. Charlie gets 5 stars.

My husband and I went on the happy with appeys (love the name by the way) this past week and loved…read moreit! Highly recommend it to anyone looking to be able to try out a few different restaurants and drinks!! The four appetizers were yummy as well as the drinks! Our tour guild (well we had two, one was a trainee) were both fun, knew a lot about the area as well as answered any questions we had about the local area!