Obama’s Maine vacation destination known as summer retreat for the well-heeled and well-known

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Obama’s Maine island long visited by rich, famous

BAR HARBOR, Maine — President Barack Obama’s Maine vacation destination has long been known as a place where well-heeled and well-known visitors could beat the summer heat and have their privacy respected. It has served as a retreat for the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Morgans.

Obama is the latest influential visitor to flee to Mount Desert Island in search of a cool ocean breeze. When he arrives Friday for a three-day visit, he’ll be the first sitting president to visit the island since William Howard Taft a century ago.

People in the island town of Bar Harbor say they’re excited about Obama’s visit.

But with the area’s history of business barons, political power brokers and famous actors among them for generations, they’re used to having the rich and famous in their midst.