Mr. Bass Buys a Cottage
The Bass Cottage Inn was built in 1885 by local resident George Higgins as a summer rental. In 1893 a prominent politician and newspaper publisher from Bangor named Joseph Parker Bass purchased the building and made substantial improvements to meet his needs.
Born in Randolph, Vermont, in 1835, Bass moved to Bangor in 1863. He represented the city in the Maine Legislature in 1875 after serving a term as mayor. In 1879, he bought the Bangor Daily Commercial and became its editor. Accounts of Mr. Bass's life paint him as a shrewd businessman who never failed to speak his conscience. "He roused the slothful and prodded the stupid, while he admired the clever, even if he was careful not to spoil them with praise," a colleague said upon Bass's death.

Mr. Bass and his family were among the few Mainers who summered here on Mount Desert Island. Many locals speculated that Mr. Bass built his house in The Field so that he was better positioned to socialize with wealthy “summer people” from New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

Bass Cottage Becomes an Inn
In 1928, the property first began to be operated as an inn. Over its life span, it was expanded several times. The most recent renovations uncovered the additions of rooms, gables and an entire wing on the west side of the building. The renovation