Maine State Route 102
<< Maine State Route 101 All Points in Maine Maine State Route 102A >>

Termini and Mileage (2006)	Termini Main alignment: Int of OLD COUNTRY RD, ST RTE, Bar Harbor to Int of RTE.102, SEAL COVE, Tremont Mileage Main alignment: 19.31 miles (total over all segments)
Regional and National Route Information	History as Pole Highway (1919-1925) As originally signed, ME 102 encompassed the Orange - White Kennebec-Penobscot Trail. As extended along ME 183, the routing also included the Yellow - White Mount Desert Trail. These routings are all now ME 3 (but see ME 183).
Notes and History	Combined with ME 3 and ME 198, this trio of highways services much of Maine's famous Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. Both ME 3 and ME 102 adopt loop routings using themselves as waypoints and termini (see ME 3). ME 102 as originally designated in 1925 ran between Augusta at NEI 20 (now US 201) and Belfast at NEI 1 (now US 1), the incarnation of the old Kennebec-Penobscot Trail and former lettered highway R both in their entirety. In 1931, ME 102 was extended east along US 1 to Stockton Springs, where it proceeded to Ellsworth via the new Waldo-Hancock bridge and the old routing of ME 174, and then south to Bar Harbor along the former alignment of ME 183, except that it stopped short of closing the loop of old ME 183 into Indian Point at Tremont-Seal Cove (with the remaining portion thus ceasing to be numbered highway). After the Maine Great Renumbering, much of ME 102's old routing became part of new route ME 3 except for the portion on Mt Desert Island; this newly abridged ME 102 co-terminated with ME 198 at ME 3 near the Mt Desert Bridge (as it does today) and traveled south, splitting with ME 198 near their present-day fork at Somesville and continuing from there to Southwest Harbor, Tremont and Seal Cove. In 1936, ME 102 was extended up ME 3 to Trenton and thence all the way into Ellsworth via Bayside and Oak Point; this routing lasted only until 1946-7, when it was truncated back to Seal Cove and the old alignment north of the Mount Desert ME 3 junction given to new route ME 230. In 1951, the loop was finally closed to "itself" near Somes Pond, which remains the modern routing, but using a southern alignment at Pretty Marsh to Somesville instead of the old ME 183 alignment through Indian Point to Town Hill (which still only remains local road to this day). This routing was later cut down to the western ME 102A junction near Tremont, apparently around 2007-8 by local report. The termini above do not reflect this currently signed routing. For the history of the original ME 102/ME 183 crossing to Mount Desert Island, see ME 3. See also ME 102A.
Additional Photographs
Terminus of ME 230 in Ellsworth at US 1/ME 3. Note the very old wooden signage used here for US 1 and ME 3. This is the former northern terminus of ME 102.

<< Maine State Route 101 All Points in Maine Maine State Route 102A >>

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