Southwest Harbor is a town in Hancock County, settled in 1761 and incorporated on February 21, 1905 from a portion of Tremont.
It lies on the southwest entrance to Somes Sound, diagonally across from Northeast Harbor, a village in the town of Mount Desert.
Southwest Harbor has been both a fishing and summer resort community from its earliest days as a town. Maine Route 102 begins at entrance to Mount Desert Island and is a clockwise loop to the main village then to Bass Harbor in Tremont before turning back toward Somesville.
