The Inn's main building was built sometime around 1804. The hand hewn beams and joinery, along with the Cape style architecture puts its initial build definitively prior to the 1850s. The land it sits on was purchased by Ebenezer Leland in 1792. After serving in the Revolutionary War in the 16th Massachusetts Regiment, Ebenezer embarked on the journey from Massachusetts to Maine. He took the "oath of allegiance" to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an obligation of being a resident of Mount Desert in 1790.  He purchased 200 acres from Bartholomy and Maria Theresa DeGregoire, later selling most of the land 2 years later to Ezra Leland and Samuel Hull. (To learn more about how the island's initial land grants were divided click here.) The land and its buildings stayed within the Leland family for at least 4 generations.

It was first a homestead where Ezra Leland was known as an exceptional farmer. The many dairy farms on the Island, and particularly in Salsbury Cove, sought him out for his grain. Behind the property along the water is Leland Point, where he also loaded ships with lumber destined for more southern ports. Down the road you has Samuel Hull who operated a saw mill to help process the lumber before being loaded or utilitzed in the ships being built in Hull's Cove. 

Come 1919, the building became a summer cottage named 'Saint Leonard's Cottage'. Florence Card purchased the cottage from the Leland's farm manager, Herbert and his wife Nancy Emery. She was the house secretary at the YWCA downtown and also ran a boarding house in the off-season. Come the mid 1920's, she ran the cottage as a tourist home, or a bed and breakfast. She was well known for her lobster dinners and chicken suppers. Advertisements for her catering and for the cottage can be found in the local newspapers at that time. After a few years she then leased out the cottage to a Higgins daughter, who offered tea and card parties and homemade ice cream.  After she sold the building in 1939, it stayed a summer residence until 1996, when it was purchased as a single family home and converted back into a bed and breakfast. The carriage house in the back of the property was built in 2012 as a owner's home.

A fun historical note: This area and most of the state of Maine was a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until March 1820. Which means this Inn was most likely 'built' in Massachusetts.