Oldtimers recall the great fires that ravaged Maine
by Ruth Leubecker
Little did firefighters realize that when a fire started in a cranberry bog near Hulls Cove on MDI that it was only the beginning.
It was October 17, 1947. Unbeknownst to all at that point, a standout warm spring with snow melting early had set the stage for the greatest conflagration to ever ravage Maine. A succession of fires would sweep across Maine over the next several weeks, most notably leveling many of the storybook mansions of Bar Harbor and massively damaging the Jackson Laboratory, only 18 years old.