A century ago there were paths built to provide thrills
for hikers of Mount Desert Island, ME. The Precipice Trail in Acadia National
Park is notable and extant, but many others have been abandoned and left to
decay. One of these, the Shore Path, was in Seal Harbor.
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| Shore Path c. 1910-12* |
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| Same location today |
The Shore Path first appeared on
an 1896 path map, which showed it running between Sea Cliff Drive from just east of the Crows Nest to Hunters
Beach, a distance of about a mile.*1 Sea
Cliff Drive was built the previous year by Seal Harbor developer George Cooksey,
an English immigrant to New York City and a successful grain broker. The road, later
renamed Cooksey Drive in his honor, possibly stimulated the path's creation to
enhance buyer interest in Cooksey's nearby properties.
It was briefly mentioned as "The
Hunters Beach path, along the shore near Seal Harbor" in a 1914 path guide
and expressed as another interesting walk.*2
A path guide the following year had this description: "The Shore
Path leaves Sea Cliff Drive
opposite east
end of Rowland Road and makes a rough path along the shore
to Champlain Monument or on to Hunter's Beach, meeting there
the shore and wood trails to Otter Creek. This path runs along unusually beautiful rocks and cliffs - in
places spanning chasms by means of bridges and in others blasted out of the
face of the rock. The views of the open ocean and the surf effects
after an easterly storm are very fine…. *3
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| Shore Path bridge 1935** |
A 1928 path guide describes the
hike further: "Start on trail marked 'Hunters Beach' directly opposite
Champlain Monument on the Sea Cliff Drive about 1 1/2 miles east of the Village
Drinking Fountain at Seal Harbor. Park car near monument. Follow cairns (note a
conspicuous white quartz vein on the R.) to shore trail. This is a rough trail
along unusually beautiful rocks and cliffs. Good view of the ocean and the
islands. See the surf, especially after an easterly storm. … Follow cairns
around Blue Head into Hunters Beach Cove."*4
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| Quartz vein mentioned above |
Note: In 1904, to mark the 300th
anniversary of Champlain‘s discovery of MDI, the Seal Harbor Village
Improvement Society placed a monument honoring Champlain on Sea Cliff Drive and
overlooking the ocean. It was just across the road from where today there is a
Maine Coast Heritage Trust property and parking lot called the Cooksey Drive Overlook.
A very popular monument, perhaps too popular for nearby residents, it was
relocated in the 1970s to an obscure Seal Harbor ledge abutting Acadia National
Park, where it now overlooks Route 3 near the entrance to the Day Mountain
Trail.
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| Champlain Monument - not dated *** |
A 1954 path guide describes it
plainly: "Shore Trail. C. 2 hours. Starts at Ingraham point and follows
the shore to Hunters beach."*5 Likely
the last map to depict the Shore Path was the one that accompanied this guide.
The guides show an increasingly
eastern start for the Shore Path since publication of the 1896 map. This might
indicate that progressive private development east of the Crows Nest denied its
use. The lackluster description in the 1954 guide is a sign the Shore Path by
then had fallen into desuetude.
Anne
Funderburk, a Seal Harbor resident and historian, recollects "The Seal
Harbor Shore Path was built and maintained
by Cooksey Realty (later Seal Harbor Realty) ca. 1895 to provide access to the
shore for people who bought land from Cooksey Realty which was not waterfront
land. The deeds to those lots included the right, in perpetuity, to walk the
Shore Path. My grandfather, George Stebbins, saw to the maintenance of the path
until after WW II, by which time the cost had become prohibitive. Bridges were
washed out during winter storms and waves eroded the lower parts. I walked that
path many time as a child.
… The railings on the Shore Path were installed as
the path was being built. In some places the stanchions still exist, bent and
rusted. Pipe railings connected the stanchions, providing a reasonable degree
of safety for those using the parts of the path closest to the sea. For “Old
Ladies” there were parts of the path on higher ground, running parallel to the
seaward sections. Some of the clefts in the rock were spanned by wooden foot
bridges. These usually took a licking during winter south-east storms and had
to be replaced fairly often. At one point steel cable was used to replace bent
or destroyed pipe railings. It cost less and was easier to install. … The
bridges have been history since the mid-1950’s. After my grandfather Stebbins
died in 1952, there was no one left with the influence and means to keep them
up. As soon as building began along the shore, the fate of the Shore Path was
sealed. It was a grand hike, no matter which level one followed."*6
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| Railing |
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| Railing |
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| Railing |
The Seal Harbor VIS
maintains today a 0.5-mile parallel path, the Hunters Cliff Trail. From the
Hunters Beach Trail, which starts at a parking lot near the Route 3 end of
Cooksey Drive and leads to Hunters Beach, it turns right and rises to hug the
ridge line, then turns inland to avoid private property. It ends at Cooksey
Drive, where it connects to the Lower Day Mountain Trail. It is from the
Hunters Cliff Trail a hiker can access the abandoned Shore Path, see remaining
railings and get a sense of what it was like to hike it. Access points
"jct 1" and "jct 2" (red pins) and paths (dashed orange) are
indicated on the maps below.*7
The location of the
Shore Path, represented in red on the map, is an approximation except for
the known locations of the railings and quartz vein.
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| Shore Path from Crows Nest to Hunters Beach |
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| Blowup of railing locations |
It is always imperative
to use caution when hiking abandoned paths. The once imposing Seal Harbor Shore
Path is no exception, especially when the ledges are wet and slippery.
Photo acknowledgements:
* Seal Harbor Library
** Southwest Harbor Public Library - W. H. Ballard photographer
*** Penobscot Marine Museum
*Footnotes:
1 Path Map of
the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island, Maine, by Waldron Bates, Edward L.
Rand and Herbert Jaques. 1896.
The map location "Crows Nest" apparently
was also referred to as "Ravenscleft." A 1903 newspaper mentioned Ravenscleft,
as follows: "Another
house which the Hodgkins firm has just completed is the summer home of Mr. and
Mrs. James Rhodes of Boston. The house sets [off Sea Cliff Drive] among the
trees high on a promontory, and derives its name 'Ravenscleft' from the
location." Bar Harbor Record.
June 10, 1903, p. 1.
2 Paths and
Trails of Northeast Harbor and Vicinity, published by [the] Village
Improvement Society. 1914.
3 A Path Guide
of Mount Desert Island Maine, published by the Village Improvement
Societies of Bar Harbor, Seal Harbor, Northeast [Harbor], and Southwest Harbor.
1915.
4 Walks on
Mount Desert Island Maine, by Harold Peabody and Charles H. Grandgent.
1928.
5 Paths and
Trails of Northeast Harbor, Seal Harbor and Vicinity, published by the
Trails Committees of the Mount Desert Chamber of Commerce and the Seal Harbor
Village Improvement Society. 1954.
6 I wish to thank Anne Funderburk, vice president of
the Seal Harbor VIS, and her husband Lance for their valuable contributions to
this article.
7 GPS coordinates of Shore Path access junction 1:
N44° 17.805' W068° 13.249' and junction
2: N44° 17.779' W068° 13.291'
