Acadia National Park's Little-Known Mountain
Between picturesque Eagle Lake and northerly scenic ponds in Acadia National Park on Maine's Mount Desert Island lies Brewer Mountain.
This 444' mountain has had a
number of names. In 1874, for example, it was called "Interlaken Hill,"
a likely reference to the popular 19th century lake resort in the Swiss Alps. This
name lasted until at least 1893. In 1896 it was changed to "Dan Brewers
Mt" on the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association's Bates-Rand-Jaques Path Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert
Island, which path map series continued the name until 1941, its last year
of publication, as well as on the Bates-Rand-Jaques 1896 Map of Mount Desert Island. The 1922 Department of Interior map of Lafayette National Park (Acadia NP's
predecessor) renamed it "Brewers Mt." The name was changed again on
the Interior Dept.'s 1931 Acadia National
Park map, when the letter 's' was dropped and it became simply "Brewer
Mt."Between picturesque Eagle Lake and northerly scenic ponds in Acadia National Park on Maine's Mount Desert Island lies Brewer Mountain.
The U.S. Board on Geographic
Names, the organization that maintains uniform geographic name usage for the
U.S. Government, states the mountain was originally owned by Daniel Brewer. The
USBGN carries it as "Brewer" mountain, the name it approved in 1928. Present-day
commercial maps of Acadia NP show it as "Brewer Mtn." The gratis
National Park Service map of Acadia NP has not depicted the mountain at all for
the past 40+ years.
 |
| E.L. Allen photo, NY Public Library Mountain House |
In 1908 Daniel's son Frank, executor of his will, conveyed
the Green Mountain summit to the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations.
The HCTPR was acquiring lands it would donate to the US Government and which
would ultimately form Acadia NP. Green Mountain was renamed Cadillac Mountain
in 1918. In 1939 Daniel's son Fred approached George Dorr, Acadia NP superintendant,
for permission to install a bronze plaque in Daniel's honor on the former site
of the Mountain House. Dorr favored
the request for its historical import and recommended it to the NPS director in
Washington, DC. The director denied the request out of concern for
proliferation of plaques in the park and on grounds that commemoration of the mountain's first
hotel was unimportant. Curiously and conversely the NPS had no issue commemorating
Stephen Mather, its first director, seven years earlier with a bronze plaque on
Cadillac's summit and in nearly every park in the country under its
jurisdiction.
Brewer Mountain does not provide scenic views from its summit,
but it is nonetheless interesting to explore. The mountain was quarried for its
granite by Daniel's son Frank at least between 1905 and 1909. The results of
the excavations remain and provide a historic look into the extensive quarrying
activity that took place on MDI.
Quarries:
Quarries:
There are no maintained paths to the summit or quarry sites. Lacking the desire to hike up the mountain, one can see evidence of Brewer Mountain quarrying by looking north from inside the Eagle Lake parking lot toward a granite ledge and wall, fronted by water, only several feet away. The map shows an adequate way to the summit and two quarry locations.
Brewer
Mountain
Summit: N44° 22.981' W068° 15.006'
North quarry: N44° 22.858' W068° 14.994'
South quarry: N44° 22.790' W068° 14.978'
Mountain House site: N44° 21.062'
W068° 13.565'
Mather
memorial: N44° 21.148' W068° 13.454'
