The Secret History of America’s Millionaire Summer Colony: Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor's Millionaire Row once held more Gilded Age fortune than almost anywhere in America — a granite coastline lined with "cottages" of forty rooms or more. It began in 1868, when Boston merchant Alpheus Hardy built the island's first summer home, drawing Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Astors, and J.P. Morgan himself to a once-quiet fishing village. But income tax, two world wars, and the Depression quietly drained the colony's grandeur for decades. Then, on October 21, 1947, a wind-driven wildfire tore through Millionaires' Row, destroying 67 cottages and 5 grand hotels in hours. Today, a handful of surviving mansions still stand as brick-and-stone witnesses to a vanished world. 🔔 Subscribe to The Lost Manor for more hidden histories behind America's forgotten fortunes. Copyright & Fair Use Disclaimer This video is a non-commercial, educational history documentary created for commentary, criticism and research. Some archival photos and footage are used under the principles of Fair Use (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act) for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. #BarHarbor #MillionairesRow #GildedAge #Rockefeller #MaineHistory #GreatFireof1947 #AmericanHistory #HistoryDocumentary #TheLostManor #AcadiaNationalPark