Unexpected Finds in a National Park

It can be an interesting experience hiking in a national park that is the result of conveyed lands upon which people once lived and businesses operated. Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, ME is one of them. An observant hiker can often see old roads, paths and even homesteads. Their discoveries can be exhilarating.

One such recent discovery was a tombstone, surrounded by woods and bordered by a wetland to the southeast. Coming across a tombstone in such a remote location causes the hiker to halt. Questions immediately arise. What is a grave doing in such a lonely, out-of-the-way spot? Who is the person buried there?

Some answers follow.

The tombstone, now separated from its base and once bordered by sunken 7-foot tall granite posts at the corners and enclosed with chain, states that buried there is George Newman, who died on April 21, 1887 at the age of 92 years and 5 months. By examining such documents as local newspapers, deeds, censuses, maps, genealogies and vital records, we learn a few things about him and his family.

George Newman gravesite

George, born in 1794 in nearby Gouldsboro, was the owner of the property where his grave is located.  The property abutted the McFarland property to the west, after which family the McFarland Field and McFarland Hill are named.*1  He married widow Mary H. (Higgins) Fitzgerrell (1811-1898) of Bar Harbor on July 28, 1839. They had six children, three sons and three daughters, all born in Bar Harbor between 1840 and 1852.

George Newman tombstone

The oldest son, Henry H. (1845-1864), a private in both E Company, 26th Regiment, Maine Infantry and L Company, Maine Heavy Artillery, died in the Civil War. He is buried in Salisbury Cove Cemetery beneath a military headstone.

The middle son, George Warren Newman, born in 1850, continued to own the father's property, where he operated a dairy farm and from which he delivered milk.*2

George W. married Amanda Higgins in 1878; she died in 1906. He then married widow Emily (Richardson) Sargent in 1907. She died in 1917 and George W. died two years later. He and both wives are buried in Hillside Cemetery in Mount Desert, where the Higgins, Richardson and Sargent families are buried. Apparently having no children by Amanda and Emily, George W. left his properties to Alice Rodick, his will's executor. She subsequently conveyed the properties during the 1920s to George B. Dorr and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.  Dorr at the time was superintendant of Lafayette National Park (Acadia NP's predecessor). He and Rockefeller were actively acquiring land for the purpose of expanding the newly created park's boundaries.

Newman lot on 1881 MDI map

The youngest son, Asa Willis Newman, married Clara Hamor Rodick in 1876. They divorced in 1880. The following year Clara married Linwood E. Parsons; she and Linwood are buried in Hillside Cemetery, Hulls Cove.

Nothing at present is known of the three Newman daughters, Martha Jane (b. 1840), Charlotte (b. 1842), and Eleanor (b. 1847). Perhaps an interested reader will pick it up from here and pursue the histories of these women.

Today George Newman's isolated grave sits on Acadia NP property.*3  Should you go to the grave, be respectful of it and mindful of the laws protecting it. And leave no trace of your visit.

*Footnotes:

1 For another reference to McFarland Field and Hill, see my blog post Skiing on Mount Desert Island -- a Look Back, February 24, 2014.

2 It is poignant to note George W.'s milk route, along with seven cows, young stock and three horses, were advertised for sale within a few months of his death. Bar Harbor Times, December 3, 1919, p.4.

3 Newman grave GPS coordinates: N44° 22.674'  W068° 15.473'.

Skiing on Mount Desert Island -- a Look Back

There is an absence today of downhill skiing on Mount Desert Island and Acadia NP. Years ago this kind of skiing was done by the venturesome wherever they could find a snow-covered mountain slope or trail. Downhill schussing venues included the South Face Trail of Western Mountain; the north, east and south slopes and old carriage road of Cadillac Mountain, and the summit road after its opening in 1932; the upper slopes of Champlain Mountain; and a few trails around the Bowl and Beehive.*1  Another location, but far less risky, was the slope on "Bunker Hill" on the east side of Kebo Valley Golf Course.



Sargent F. Collier

McFarland Field rope tow

This type of chancy skiing changed somewhat in 1936 with the establishment of a formal downhill enterprise on McFarland Hill in Bar Harbor. It was opposite the entrance to today's Acadia NP's headquarters off Eagle Lake Road/Route 233. The Mount Desert Island Outing Club, formed in 1935, established a rope tow and a few trails on the southeast and west sides of the hill. This rope tow, the first in Maine, started operating in December 1936. It was the highest in the state and at 1350 feet the second longest. It ran from the foot of McFarland Field to the hill's summit. The lower half of the hill was lighted for night skiing.*2 "From the summit a trail and 'semi-open' slope will wind down to connect with the top of Blanchard Field [possibly the field just east of McFarland Field], providing a fast, steep run for those who wish to take it straight …"*3 


 

McFarland Field rope tow area today

The devastating October "Fire of 1947" swept over McFarland Hill and put a temporary halt to skiing. It destroyed the cabins, the motor unit and tow rope and other equipment. The MDI Outing Club immediately planned to reopen the hill for skiing that winter via fund-raising dances for a new tow and hut.

In 1967 Aldene Robbins and Roy McFarland purchased the McFarland Hill enterprise from the MDI Outing Club, as well as the land from Pearl McFarland, Roy's father, and operated it for about three years. The rope tow was on the east side of the hill and powered by an electric motor at the top. Huts were at the top and bottom and manned by observers for safety. Also at the bottom was a lodge with a fireplace where people could warm up and get food and hot chocolate. Unlike in previous times, there was no night skiing. Parking was along Eagle Lake Road.*4 Skiing on McFarland Hill effectively ended when they ceased operations.

What's left of this outdoors enterprise reminds us of the thrills and enjoyment that were had by skiers and onlookers. Sharp eyes will discover at the top of the field's eastern tree line a concrete wall and nearby circuit breaker box where the rope tow motor was. Along the tow line they'll see an electrical ceramic insulator, pulleys, cog wheels, and a support cable. The lodge is still there, but it is today a private residence.

Nowadays downhill skiers must head off island. Those who stay enjoy the unrushed but wonderfully scenic activity of cross-country skiing. A Park handout, Winter in Acadia, tells us "Winter at Acadia National Park is a magical season. The slower pace provides opportunities for solitude, as well as recreational activities in a spectacular coastal setting. … and in years with adequate snowfall, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling are popular activities."

Pondering the Cadillac Mountain downhill skiers of years gone by, Aldene Robbins, the 1967 McFarland Hill ski facility co-entrepreneur, opined recently, "They likely attempted that only once!" And that's probably the reason why skiing on MDI's McFarland Hill was so popular.

McFarland Field today looking north to McFarland Hill

*Footnotes:

1 These downhill venues are mentioned in numerous Bar Harbor Times articles of the MDI Outing Club. The Western Mountain South Face Trail refers to today's Bernard Mountain Trail. Re Cadillac Mountain, the north and south slopes are today's North and South Ridge Trails; the east slope refers to the now unmaintained East Ridge Trail from the summit to the Featherbed; and the old carriage road refers to the historic buckboard road that once ran from Eagle Lake Road to the summit.
2 Bar Harbor Times, December 19, 1940, p.1.
3 Bar Harbor Times, September 12, 1940, p.1.
4 A special thanks to Messrs. McFarland and Robbins for sharing their recollections with me.

Horse Trough Memorial in Acadia NP -- a Mystery

In my September blog post about Edith Bowdoin, I mentioned other horse troughs on Mount Desert Island.*1  One was the trough located in Acadia National Park about 900' west of the Great Head parking lot on what once was the Satterlee estate that contained Great Head and Sand Beach.*2  Here is more information about that now forgotten horse trough.

Sometime in late 1901 Ellen Sever Hale, widow of Boston lawyer George Silsbee Hale, commissioned a horse trough to be built and sited on Schooner Head Road. In 1902 it was placed on Hale property just south of the outflow of the marsh at the southeastern base of Champlain Mountain. The Hales' summer home was on Schooner Head. Their property extended westerly to Champlain Mountain.

George Dorr, a founder and first superintendant of Acadia National Park, donated the granite from which it was built from his Bear Brook Quarry, which was located below today's Park Loop Road parking lot for Champlain Mountain's North Ridge Trail.

Mrs. Hale wished to remember her son from her first marriage to Rev. Theodore Tebbets. She had engraved on the trough the initials J S T and the year 1901. Her son, John Sever Tebbets, died in 1901.

The trough was designed by Beatrix Jones.*3  Its top was a single piece of granite four feet square and one foot thick hollowed out to form a large basin. It sat on granite supports that stood on a six foot square, one foot thick granite base.

When and why the trough was moved from Schooner Head Road to its present location on the Satterlee estate is a mystery.

It is interesting to note, however, starting with the 1906 Path Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island through to the 1941 path map there is depicted the "Stone Horse Trough" on the west side of Schooner Head Road just south of the same marsh outflow as the Tebbets trough. The 1942 Topographic Map [of] Acadia National Park and Vicinity doesn't depict the Stone Horse Trough but does show a nearby entrance road and building off Schooner Head Road.*4  On these path maps the Stone Horse Trough was at the start of the now, long abandoned Yellow Path.*5  This path began at Schooner Head Road just north of the aforementioned entrance road and building and ran west to the base of Champlain Mountain, skirting the southern edge of the marsh. Based on the timeframe and proximity of the Stone Horse Trough and the Tebbets horse trough, they were likely one and the same.

1917 Path Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island
Red arrow #1: location of Stone Horse Trough & Yellow Path
Red arrow #2: current location of Tebbets horse trough

The Tebbets trough was moved after 1941. In1949 Eleanor Morgan Satterlee donated the estate to Acadia NP. Perhaps it was during this period the horse trough was relocated to its present site. It would be interesting to know if a Hale descendant authorized the move of this family memorial, as the land it was on was and still is privately owned. The full mystery is yet to be solved.

*Footnotes:

1 Edith Bowdoin and Her Horse Troughs, September 8, 2013.

2 Horse trough GPS coordinates: N44° 19.991' W068° 10.931'

3 Beatrix Jones, a prominent landscape architect who later married historian Max Farrand, was living at the time with her parents at Reef Point, their Bar Harbor waterfront estate.

4 Just the building's cellar remains. GPS coordinates: N44° 20.507'  W068° 10.860'

5 A Path Guide of Mount Desert Island Maine (pub. 1915), p. 12 (d), states: "Just beyond Schooner Head (1 hour 15 min. from village) take the Yellow Path at the Stone Horse Trough …" But in Walks on Mount Desert Island Maine (1928)  Harold Peabody, when referring to the Yellow Path, says in Walk 4, p. 26: "… trail which is now closed, …" The Yellow Path is shown on the 1928 path map, but not on subsequent path maps. It was likely closed due to wetness from the marsh, a problem identified by path and mapmaker Herbert Jaques back in 1896.

The Emery Path -- Another Historic Gem in Acadia NP

Among the architecturally interesting and historic hikes in Acadia National Park are those in its Sieur de Monts section. Here there are seven memorial paths, each established in the early 1900s by a spouse or relative to honor a loved one. The Emery Path is one of them. It is accessed just behind the Sieur de Monts spring house and is discernible by its ascending stone steps and nearby trail post. A half mile in length, the Emery Path passes the Homans Path on its north side. It continues to the junction of the Schiff Path up to the Dorr Mountain summit and the Kurt Diederich Climb path down to the junction of the Kane, Jesup and Beachcroft (Smith) Paths at The Tarn. Taking the Kurt Diederich Climb down provides a nice 1 1/4-mile loop back to the hike's start at the spring house via the Jesup Path.

 

The Turrets

The Turrets entrance hallway

John Josiah Emery, for whom the path is named, was born in Ohio in 1837 of parents who had emigrated from England in the 1830s. He became wealthy from real estate and inheritance.*1 He and his two brothers had significant investments in the development of Cincinnati's commercial and residential real estate market. In 1892 he married Minnesota-born Lela Alexander (1864-1953) and in 1895 they built their Bar Harbor summer cottage, The Turrets, on four waterfront acres off Eden Street.*2  The granite, fortress-like mansion was designed by Bruce Price, the NY architect of the Le Chateau Frontenac hotel in Quebec, Canada.*3  In 1896, after retiring from his Cincinnati businesses, the Emery family moved to Manhattan. John continued his involvement in Bar Harbor, where he was a member of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association's Roads and Paths committee under chairman Herbert Jaques and with notable co-members Waldron Bates, George Dorr and Beatrix Farrand.*4

The Turrets today

 In 1908 he died of pneumonia at The Turrets, leaving his wife and five children ages 4 to 14. He was buried with his parents and brothers in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. A later burial included his youngest daughter Audrey (1904-1971). Among the bequests in his will Emery left $20K to the Children's Hospital of the Episcopal Church of Cincinnati, besides the land he had donated for it in the mid 1880s. He also left $200K and his valuable artworks to the Cincinnati Museum Association, now called the Cincinnati Art Museum.

His wife Lela provided the funds to build the Emery Path, which was completed in 1916 as a memorial to him. It is an amazing adventure over granite steps and staircases across the lower east side of Dorr Mountain.

 

                                  Penobscot Marine Museum photo*5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These old and current photographs (above) show an intricate granite staircase built inside a cliffside gap on the Emery Path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is here where this prominent photograph was taken of George Dorr, a founder of Acadia NP and its first superintendent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hikers should keep an eye out for two granite benches nearby that were installed for rest and scenic views of the Great Meadow, Champlain Mountain and Frenchman Bay.

*Footnotes:

1 Emery's father had established a candle manufacturing plant in Cincinnati and developed the dripless candle. He died tragically from an accidental 5-storey fall from a catwalk in his plant into a vat of boiling oil.
2. The construction of The Turrets wasn't Emery's first time in Bar Harbor. He was there at least by 1881, when he stayed at the Rodick House hotel, and continued to visit Bar Harbor thereafter. Bar Harbor Mount Desert Herald, July 17, 1881, p.2.
3 The Turrets is now a campus administrative building of the College of the Atlantic.
4 Bar Harbor Record, July 25, 1896, p.1.
5 The Penobscot Marine Museum's photograph collection can be accessed here. 

GPS coordinates:

Emery Path start - N44° 21.695'  W068° 12.513'
The Turrets - N44° 23.684'  W068° 13.201'

Acadia NP's Oceanfront Cottage

While researching J.P. Morgan and the Satterlees for my blog, I was looking for old photographs of the Satterlee estate, which included Sand Beach and the oceanside cliff called Great Head.*1  I found one in the digital collection of the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, ME. In the far distance on Sand Beach I could see a small building on the beach that was the Satterlee boathouse. What I didn't immediately see was an almost concealed building poking out of the trees just left of center atop a large ocean ledge. It surprised me. I knew of no buildings having been constructed along the Ocean Drive of today's Acadia National Park.
 

                                                                                                                                                Penobscot Marine Museum photo




                                                                                                                                              Penobscot Marine Museum photo
Enhanced and enlarged view

This oceanfront building was a cottage belonging to Reverend Christopher Starr Leffingwell, a native Ohioan who became the first rector of Bar Harbor's St. Saviour's Episcopal Church where he served for 20 years until his retirement in 1899. He also founded the Church of Our Father in nearby Hulls Cove with philanthropic contributions from summer residents Cornelia and Mary Prime. Earliest published records indicate the cottage, which was named Camp Aim-Al, existed at least by 1901. It was possibly still extant in 1928, when a newspaper reported "Growth clearings were made on the Leffingwell Estate on the Ocean Drive during the last winter and spring."*2

Rev. Leffingwell, born in Ellsworth, OH on 16 December 1827, died on 11 April 1902 in Washington, DC and was buried in the family lot in Middletown, CT. His wife, Catherine, whom he married in Fairfield, CT in 1857, and six children inherited his Maine properties, including the family home, named The Old Rectory, on Mount Desert Street in Bar Harbor. Another nearby Leffingwell home was the Primrose Cottage, which today is the site of the B&B Primrose Inn.

On 14 August 1929 Leffingwell's six children conveyed the Camp Aim-Al property to George Dorr, then superintendent of Acadia National Park and board member of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations.*3 Less than a week later, on 20 August, Dorr transferred it to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The following year, on 11 September 1930, Acadia National Park acquired the property from JDR, Jr. Today there is no evidence of Camp Aim-Al's existence, other than for a cut iron pipe in the granite ledge on the ocean side.

The accompanying aerial view shows its location in front of an Ocean Drive parking lot, as well as a path to the former site and ocean ledge.*4

*Footnotes:
1 See my blog posts of  5 February and 15 April 2013.
2 Bar Harbor Times, September 12, 1928, p. 3.
3 Because of Dorr's U.S. Government job, he likely handled the transaction in his HCTPR capacity to avoid conflict of interest. Regardless, he accomplished his goal of acquiring property to expand the Park's boundaries and protect it from exploitation.
4 GPS coordinates of Camp Aim-Al:  N44° 19.547'  W068° 11.158'

Note: I'm very grateful to Kevin Johnson, PMM's photo archivist, who kindly enhanced the photograph to clearly reveal Camp Aim-Al. PMM's photo collection can be viewed here.

Edith Bowdoin and Her Horse Troughs*

"No better work could be done, nor would it be possible to prevent a greater amount of animal suffering with the same expenditure of money than by the erection of drinking fountains. …that no horse in New York need go without water for the want of a public place at which to quench its thirst." --- Edith G. Bowdoin, New York, April 29, 1907.*1

South of Bar Harbor's Main Street, at the corner of Route 3 and Schooner Head Road, is what was once a horse trough (GPS: N44° 22.298'  W068° 11.809'). Now, compliments of the Town of Bar Harbor via the A. C. Parsons Landscaping and Garden Center, it is a beautiful floral planter. A small plaque on it states: "Erected by Edith G. Bowdoin 1911."

Edith was born in New York in 1869 and lived on Park Avenue with her parents, George and Julia Bowdoin, and older siblings, Temple and Fanny. During summers they resided in Bar Harbor at "La Rochelle" on West Street.  Her father built the stately brick home in 1902. Upon his death in 1913, Edith inherited all of his property in Bar Harbor. Upon the death of her mother two years later, she inherited their Park Avenue home. Her brother and sister were already deceased.





Photo: David Goodrich

The 5' 5" tall, blue-eyed Edith Grinnell Bowdoin never married and seemed to keep herself occupied addressing the plight of horses in NYC and in Hancock County, ME. In 1896 in NYC there were nearly 74,000 horses. As a member of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, she advocated for their better treatment and donated horse troughs to the city. One of the three remaining troughs is outside the old ASPCA headquarters in Brooklyn and inscribed with the words: "Presented to the A.S.P.C.A. by Edith G. Bowdoin 1913."

In Maine Edith was Vice President of the ASPCA of Hancock County. She ensured water was available to horses by placing pails at watering spots throughout the county. The pails had the words "SPCA -- WATER YOUR HORSES." A New York Times article described her activity this way: "Miss Bowdoin has seen to it that on every road on the island of Mount Desert, where spring or brook flows, pails for the watering horses and cups for drinking have been placed, and this system has been gradually extended over the whole of Hancock County. Several men are employed by Miss Bowdoin in looking after this system, and pails and cups, conspicuously lettered with neat little signs, are put up by the roadside at short intervals."*2

The horse trough at the Route 3/Schooner Head Road corner seems to be the only remaining evidence of her effort to improve the lot of MDI's thirsty horses.

There are, however, other horse troughs on MDI:

at the southeast corner of Bar Harbor's Village Green (N44° 23.261'  W068° 12.270') 

 

in Acadia National Park west of the Great Head parking lot

(N44° 19.991'  W068° 10.931')

 

 

 

 

 

the Clement memorial in the center of the road in Seal Harbor
(N44° 17.792' W068° 14.360')

 

 

 

 

 

near the south end of Sargeant Drive in Northeast Harbor
(N44° 18.956'  W068° 18.307')

Last month Southwest Harbor approved a restored horse trough for placement at Harbor House on Main Street.

Elsewhere on the Island troughs were known to be located in Bar Harbor on Route 3 opposite the entrance to the Canoe Point estate,  near Duck Brook and in Hulls Cove. One was at the junction of Route 102 and the Crooked Road in Town Hill. Another, known as the Stone Horse Trough, was at the south end of Schooner Head Road near the outflow of the marsh. There was one on Cooksey Drive in Seal Harbor. Virginia Somes-Sanderson described yet another: "A well-known one on the outskirts of Somesville on the Southwest Harbor road had been chiseled out of a huge slab of granite and was filled by a continuous stream of water, piped from a nearby spring."*3

I suspect there are other existing horse troughs and former locations.

While Edith was highly engaged in ensuring the health of horses, her most enduring and important contribution for the people of MDI was likely the establishment of Bar Harbor hospital's west wing in memory of her parents. In 1916 she provided the funds to build the wing consisting of two sun parlors, a men's ward accommodating 20 to 25 beds, and four private rooms. For New Yorkers, besides the horse troughs mentioned above, she donated six stained glass windows to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Visitors from Great Britain will appreciate that she funded three beds in 1908 at London's Queens Hospital for Children and endowed their continuance with a $10,000 bequest from her will.

Edith died in 1943 at her Park Avenue residence and was buried with her family in NY's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Her estate was valued at $1.6M, of which she left $250K to the ASPCA.

* Note: Some horse troughs accommodated drinking fountains for humans. This article does not differentiate their design, but mostly terms them horse troughs.

Footnotes:

1 New York Times. May 1, 1907, p.8.
2 New York Times. June 29, 1913, p. 20.
3 The Living Past by Virginia Somes-Sanderson. Beech Hill Publishing Co., Mount Desert, Maine. 1982, p. 281.

The Pulpits of Acadia

This is not about church pulpits, but about prominent rock formations on Mount Desert Island, ME and in Acadia National Park that resemble them, were so named, and became hiking highlights.

Collections of Jesup Memorial Library

Pulpit Rock - Bar Harbor ca.1915

Pulpit Rock - Bar Harbor today

The earliest rock formation to be called Pulpit Rock appears to have been the one in Bar Harbor.

It was noted in 1869 by Benjamin F. De Costa. In his book, Sketches of the Coast of Maine, he mentions a shore walk from the steamboat landing [Bar Harbor wharf] south to Cromwells Cove: "Opposite Mr. Hardy's handsome cottage is an isolated rock. Every one must climb this, because, forsooth, it is Pulpit Rock. In some great cathedral, it would serve a good turn for the preacher.*1

It wasn't until 18 years later this pulpit rock became first depicted on a map.*2  It is located off the Shore Path alongside the Bar Harbor Inn.


Pulpit Rock - Gorge Path

The second pulpit rock initially appeared on 1896 path and MDI maps and was located in the gorge between Cadillac and Dorr Mountains.*3 

That same year a newspaper article describing the Cadillac Mountain path system stated, "The main path runs along the valley for a considerable distance, then crosses the [Kebo] brook and finally reaches the gorge and runs in the bed of the brook up between Green [Cadillac] and Dry [Dorr] mountains. Near the head of the brook one reaches Pulpit rock which affords a good resting place and charming vistas; then on up the gorge and at the top the path branches to east up Dry mountain, and west up Green to the Mountain house [a summit hotel]."*4

Francklyn Memorial - Gorge Path

Four-tenths mile before reaching this pulpit rock while hiking up the Gorge Path, the hiker will pass a bronze memorial to Lilian Endicott Francklyn (1891-1928), whose friends financially endowed the path in 1929.*5

 

 

The Pulpit - Maple Spring Trail

A 1906 path map depicted a third rock called "The Pulpit."*6  It is located in the Maple Spring Trail gorge 450' north of the carriage road's Hemlock Bridge.

A trail was named for it and called variously the Pulpit Trail, Pulpit Rock Trail, and Pulpit Rock-Maple Spring Trail. None of those appellations remains today.

The first time all three pulpit rocks appeared on the same map was in 1937.*7  Their last appearance on a map was in 1941.*8


SWHPL Collection of Photographs #8937

Pulpit Rock - Thunder Hole  1921

Apparently never mapped, there are two additional pulpit rocks.

The Southwest Harbor Public Library (SWHPL) has a 1921 photograph of "Pulpit Rock" at Thunder Hole off Ocean Drive.
This one is mentioned in a 1960 newspaper article: "As the flying spray obliterated vision of much of the pulpit rock at the side of Thunder Hole …"*9




Pulpit Rock - Thunder Hole today




SWHPL Collection of Photographs #11895

Pulpit Rock - Cadillac Mountain summit  1935

Another SWHPL photograph, of October 1935, identifies a pulpit rock overlooking Bar Harbor and the Porcupine Islands from the summit of Cadillac Mountain.

Why have these five pulpit rocks since disappeared from our awareness? Are there more pulpit rocks on MDI? Until we get the answers, have fun finding and enjoying them. Here are their GPS locations:

Bar Harbor Shore Path:           N44° 23.444'  W068° 12.083'            
Cadillac-Dorr Gorge Trail:       N44° 21.556'  W068° 13.211'
Maple Spring Trail gorge:        N44° 19.993'  W068° 16.876'
Thunder Hole:                         N44° 19.237'  W068° 11.318'
Cadillac summit:                      N44° 21.216'  W068° 13.306'

Pulpit Rock locations

Legend:   Trails     Park Loop Road     Carriage Road

 Footnotes:

1 Sketches of the Coast of Maine and Isles of Shoals, with Historical Notes, by B. F. De Costa. New York. 1869, pp. 130-131.
2 Map of Mount Desert Island. Colby & Stuart. 1887.
3 Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association Path Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island. Bates, Rand and Jaques. 1896. Map of Mount Desert Island. Bates, Rand and Jaques. 1896.
4 Bar Harbor Record. July 1, 1896, p. 5.
5 Francklyn memorial location: N44° 21.904'  W068° 13.254'  The Park had removed the memorial for maintenance by November 2012 and plans to reinstall it later this summer.
6 Path Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island. Bates, Rand and Jaques. 1906.
7 Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island. Bates, Rand and Jaques. Revised 1937.
8 Path and Road Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island. Bates, Rand and Jaques. Revised and published by William Jay Turner. 1941.
9 Bar Harbor Times. September 15, 1960, p. 1.