Route 66 in Bar Harbor: A Place Elvis Would Feel at Home

Entrance to Route 66 in Bar Harbor.

We were hungry and had just gotten off the ferry that took us from Winter Harbor to Bar Harbor—the touristy town next to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. Contrary to what you’d expect on the coast of Maine in early July, Bar Harbor’s afternoon temperatures were hot. All I wanted was a place to sit in the shade and eat a late lunch.

A friendly lady at the tourist center suggested heading down nearby Cottage Street where a narrow alley led to the Route 66 Restaurant.

I expected the typical Elvis 1950s decor but was not expecting that to be paired with beautiful stained glass windows and decorative tin walls. Was this an old church, converted to an eatery? In the middle of downtown?

Inside the restaurant.

Neon signs, tin signs, lacy wooden trim, metal toys, trains, and colored, curvy windows. Too hungry to take it all in, we ordered a fresh haddock sandwich and a Route 66 Pile Up hamburger with hand-cut fries.

Our lunches.

The food came quickly and was delicious. There’s something for everyone here, including 50s-style milkshakes, floats, and sodas, kids’ meals, lobster, pizza, sandwiches, and soups, freshly made breads and sandwich rolls, and gluten-free bread.

Elvis would’ve have felt right at home. He reportedly loved a burger piled with onions, tomatoes, and the works. A religious man, he also would’ve felt at ease in a church.

After I cooled down, a look around our cozy booth was a bit of a shock.

A set of stairs, which look like they belonged to a church, led to a second level and one could see customers and servers up there as well. A Lionel train cruised by our heads, and antiques were lodged in every corner and crevice. I stared at a nearby Elvis framed photo and another of Marilyn. I listened to 50s music piped in by drive-in speakers, and watched how the neon lights changed the colors of the windows.

I glanced over at fellow guests in the Americana restaurant, thankful for such an interesting break from the hot pavement and crowds outside.

It wasn’t until later that we discovered the story behind Route 66.

The present owners, the Reece family, have operated the place since 2004. Back in the 1980s, a restaurant was severely burned and the owner, Fred E. Pooler, wanted to build something different.

A view of the old church when still in operation in the 1980s. Photo courtesy of the Vassalboro Historical Society.

A church in East Vassalboro, over 100 miles west of Bar Harbor, was up for sale. Pooler bought it and transported a number of items from the building, including the stained glass windows, and incorporated them into his new structure. He then began collecting Americana memorabilia to complete the look, which took another 13 years.

In the process of tearing down the former church in March, 1987. Photo courtesy of the Vassalboro Historical Society.

According to the Vassalboro Historical Society, the church was called East Vassalboro Methodist. Bought by Pooler in 1986, it was torn down the following year. The East Vassalboro congregation combined with the North Vassalboro church and built themselves a lovely new structure.

Thankfully the windows from the old East Vassalboro church were preserved, and who knows what else…possibly interior trim, tin walls and ceilings. Combined with antiques from the mid-20th Century, the church decor seems to fit right in with the period celebrated at the Bar Harbor restaurant; a fun, crazy combination that works.

We left Route 66 with every intent to experience more delicious foods there real soon and to soak up more of its eclectic Elvis vibe.

Leaving Route 66.