Bar Harbor, in the community of Bar Harbor, is located on the northeastern shore of Mount Desert Island in Frenchman Bay. One of New England’s most popular summer resort areas, Bar Harbor is used extensively by a commercial fishing fleet and a growing charter boat industry and serves as a terminus for passenger and auto ferry service to Nova Scotia.

The project at Bar Harbor, completed in 1917, is a breakwater extending a total of 2,315 feet from Bald Porcupine Island southwesterly towards Cromwell Cove, ending about 600 feet short of the cove’s entrance. The structure, located about one mile southeast of the main waterfront, is 895 feet long from Bald Porcupine Island to Dry Ledge, then 1,420 feet from Dry Ledge southwesterly towards Cromwell Cove. Although a portion of the breakwater was not constructed to its full height, the structure provides effective protection for the wharves and natural anchorage at Bar Harbor.