La Rochelle is a beautiful and elaborate “cottage” on West Street in Bar Harbor. Built in 1902 for George S. Bowdoin, a great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton and a partner in the Morgan Bank, the mansion was named after the Bowdoin family’s ancestral town in France.
The most recent family owners, Ruth and Tristram Colket, donated the structure to the Maine Sea Coast Mission in 1972 with an endowment for its upkeep. La Rochelle was renamed and dedicated as the Colket Center in 2006. The top floor, formerly the servant’s quarters, served as the organizing and storage area for the multitude of gifts the Mission distributes as part of its annual Christmas Program.
The structure housed the Maine Sea Coast Mission’s administrative offices, classroom and meeting space, as well as historical artifacts until 2019 when it was purchased by the Bar Harbor Historical Society. =
