From collection Creating Acadia National Park: The George B. Dorr Research Archive of Ronald H. Epp

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Metadata
1901-02
1902
Completed Tinaline
1901
9/05
-ACTPR-See - 1896,
- Publication of Charles Elist foodscape
see 1900,
Archtret b cw Eliot.
MT DESERT NURSERIES
- Trip to Grand Conyon
- Death of
mary Dorr 10/21/01
-Fund - Death of raising 9/22/07
Dorr (9/79/02)
Energon Hall, Howard
- - Dedication of Dorr Menorial
(8/29/47) of of discuss Judgetetors
intensive
7/6
Sorridaracter
achetron Borendaries
actrade (8da)
- Dorris involvest in HCTPR
many many death by
(incompareted 9/12/01 preceded 5 weeks
see BHVIA, 7/9/01. *
- Origins of HETPR, Dorr's
Story, pg. 3-5
- -Dorr on Harvard Uniting
Comm. Noted on "Philosoph
at Haward "by H. Minsterberg
Note @ Munsterberg on
overcrowded conditions in
Dane Hall ee add HGM
see 1900.
- GBD to SA Elid (11/11/24) on
origin of HeTPR + LNP. Park
begins at Seal Herber meeting
- algin's of Aeadra (Ne 2/26/92)
to Drury.
-Harriage of Jr.to Abby
( 10/9/01)
- Teddy Coonvelt leaves North
Creek train station (9/14) to asicn
Prendency following McKmilagrassas,
-Athletic field future paid
office site acquired GBD
george B. Dorr
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK
BAR HARBOR, MAINE
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
November 11, 1924.
SA.
/
Dear Dr. Eliot:
I am sorry there should have been delay in sending
you the publications. There are only two or three that might
be of use to you. The Park is still in the making and its full
story is not written.
What I enclose is: (1) A Government publication, issued
three years ago and entitled Rules and Regulations but contain-
ing as its main contents a paper by myself, on the region and the
Park; (2) A publication written by Mr. Robert Sterling Yard,
executive secretary of the National Parks Association, who
spent the summer of 1923 at Southwest Harbor and wrote the paper
on his return to Washington. Certain others, of a historical
or descriptive nature, were issued earlier, under the title
of The Sieur de Monts Publications, at my own expense, but
I cannot at the moment put my hand on copies of them.
The Park had its inception in the meeting called by
your father in 1901 at Seal Harbor to discuss the formation of
a corporation for acquiring and holding in the public interest
scenically important lands upon Mount Desert Island. It was
attended by less than a dozen people, whose names I do not
all recall but which could be recovered doubtless from the
2.
records of the Corporation. That Corporation was modelled,
as you know, on the one founded by your brother in the State
of Massachusetts.
The year previous, 1900, I had endeavored to get a
tept
forestry association started on the Island with a similar aim,
1900
but had got no further than some promises of subscription and a
forestry survey of the Island by the then recently established
United States Forest Service, which approved the. project. This
was dropped on the formation of the Public Reservations Cor-
poration, which was granted freedom from taxation by the
Legislature at its next ensuing meeting.
The Trustees' first gift of land came from Mrs. . Charles
D. Homans, consisting of the Bowl and Beehive tract at the
southern end of Newport Mountain which she had purchased in
connection with her home below upon the shore by Schooner
Head. This was not till the summer of 1908, seven years after
organization.
1908
My own active work in connection with the Corporation
resulted from this gift and the encouragement it gave. The
following autumn and winter I secured with the aid of Mr.
John S. Kennedy the summit of Green Mountain, which I held to be
the one spot on the Island most liable to disfigurement, having
had two hotels upon it in my memory and a cog railroad up its
side from Eagle Lake to supply the second.
3.
Newport, Pickett and Dry Mountains followed, secured
through individual gifts; Pemetic, Jordan, and Sargent through
subscription. Dondemnation rights granted the Trustees for
the protection of the Eagle Lake and Jordan Pond water supplies,
after a campaign of education, resulted in acquiring the entire
drainage basins of these lakes, linking the mountain tracts to-
gether.
At the end of four years, in the autumn of 1912,
reservations so extensive had been secured as to endanger the
1912
Trustees' charter rights and freedom from taxation, our counsel,
Judge Deasy, told me, unless development of the tract in the public
interest -- more than its mere holding -- could be shown. It was
necessary, in fact, to defend it that winter before the State
Legislature, which I did. In consequence of this, it was de-
-
cided, after consultation with President Eliot, president of the
Corporation, to offer its major holdings to the National Government
for a Federal reserve.
President Wilson's administration was inaugurated
the following March. I went to Washington and had a talk on
1913
the subject with his Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Franklin K. Lane,
who received the plan encouragingly. A year later I went again
carrying deeds which were submitted to the Public Lands Commission,
who examined them and reported favorably on a cceptance but
required perfected titles and that the tract to be thus accepted
by the Government should be bounded by a single line.
4.
Two years later, in the spring of 1916, I returned to
Washington with deeds that were passed upon as satisfactory,
conveying a tract bounded by a single line and free from any and
all rights or easements -- leaving outside the tract to be
accepted by the Government lands held by the Trustees that could
not be connected with it physically or over which private or
corporate rights of one kind or another still existed.
After conference with the Biological Survey and
other friends of the project at Washington, and with the
approval of Secretary Lane, it was decided to offer the tract
to form a national monument under the Monument Act passed
under President Roosevelt in 1906. This required action only by
the President and the Secretary of the Interior. No funds
were involved, the lands being conveyed to the Government in free
gift.
After various obstacles that threatened the project
had been overcome, and a delay of some months, the tract was
finally proclaimed by the President as the Sieur de Monts National
Monument, in a proclamation drawn up by the Secretary of the
Interior, on the 8th of July, 1916. Two years later it received
its first appropriation for protection, maintenance and develop-
ment from the Government, accompanied by the statement that
its status should be changed to that of a national park, in
which class it belonged. That fall a bill, making it a
5.
Lafayette National Party
National Park, was approved by the Public Lands Committees
of Congress and passed by both Houses. This bill was
signed by the President in February, 1919, during hiss
brief return from France.
643
18 Connonwealth Avenue,
Boston,
May 1, 1901.
President Eliot,
Harvard University,
Carbridge, Mass.
My dear Mr Eliot,
T. enclose the proof copy of a circular which a special
committee, formed to co-operate with our visiting connittee on philosophy
J.
and
for the purpose of getting funds for a special educational library
at Harvard, is about to send out, together with a somewhat longer state-
ment by Professor Hanus of the work that is being done in his branch
and of its present need.
The committee wishes to obtain for its circular, besides the en-
dorsement of the visiting comittee on philosophy, that of a few names
of weight which will approve its scheme and the value of the end it has
in view to those to whom it is about to send it, and I trust that you
will allow us to use your name in such endorsement, as I think it in- -
portant to the success of the undertaking that it should be recognised
as having your approval of its aim aid of the statement the committee
makes.
I have spoken of the matter to Mr Charles Francis Adams, as chair-
MON of the overseers' committee by which our visiting comMittee was
appointed, and he has endorsed, as such, the copy T enclose.
T remain
Yours sincerely,
George R.Doss
LEARNED HAND,
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW,
25 NORTH PEARL STREET.
Albany, New York, June 19,1901
Yeays 93. Don eg
Dear sir
I am very glad that Haffrued to better
first subscriber to the proposed building for
Philosophy in Cambridge and Jam only
sorry that my contribution could nother
more
substantial. His a project which
much, as take it, to Haward and the
is very in part ant to me and would to mean
whole community which Haward
committer may be success ful in getting
influrners. Vean only wish that the
Enough money to build a suitable building is
confident of being able to grt the even
Profissor minu studing writes our that he whole
4150000; s euffase he has cour means of
knowing his prosprets.
With many thanks for your mind letter of
Very sincerely yours,
brained # end
HUA. Harvard University. Subscription Records:
for Emerson Hall.
1901-1905.
ISOI
1902
1902
1902
1902
1905
1903
BAR HARBOR'S MERRY SEASON.
Special to The New York Times.
BAR HARBOR, July 6,-The season here
has been somewhat backward. but. once
started. it now promises to progress right
merrily, for never were there so many peo-
ple here at this date on previous years or
so many people who were willing to enter-
tain. The Fourth of July was the curtain
raiser of the Summer show. In the evening
the first dinner dance was held at the Kebo
Valley Club and was extremely patriotic
it was all Stars and Stripes, red, white,
and blue bunting, and a medley of National.
airs. Among those who entertained at din-
uer were Edmund Pendleton, A. C. Barney,
Waldron Bates, Mrs. William Draper, A.
H. Hinkle, and Mrs. John Harrison. Some
of the well-known people present at the
dance later were Mrs. J. Biddle Porter, Mr.
and Mrs. William Lawrence Green, Mr. and
Mrs. Megargee Wright, Mr. and Mrs. John
J. Emery, Mr. and Mrs. E. G. Fabbri, Mrs.
James W. Gerard, Mrs. A. L. Edwards,
Mrs. C. B. Wright. Mercer Biddle, Mr. and
Mrs. William C. Allison, Mrs. Burton Har-
rison, Miss De Courcey, the Misses Seely,
Miss Taylor. Mr. and Mrs. S. F. Sharpless,
and Mr. and Mrs. George Quintard Horwitz.
Following the affair at Kebo a number of
suppers were given at Sproul's.
The unprecedentedly warm weather and
the furious electric storm of last Saturday
have been a seven days' wonder. It is al-
most impossible to find any one who can
recall a week in June or July so warm as
this last one. There was no rellef to be had
out of doors from the strong sun and heated
airs, and the cottage people kept almost al-
together to the protecting shade of the
porches. If they appeared at all it was to
drive late in the afternoon out around the
cliffs. The storm did considerable damage.
The home of Francis W. Lawrence, brother
of Bishop Lawrence, was entirely destroyed
by fire, started by a bolt of lightning. For-
tunately there was no one in the house at
the time except the servants, who escaped
without damage. The Lawrence family
arrived the following evening and for the
time being are staying with Bishop Law-
rence. The other cottages to sustain injury
were Stanwood, the home of Mrs. James G.
Blaine, Mosley Hall, and the residence of
William C. Allison.
Thus far the season has been somewhat
backward. The hotels have been a week
late in opening, yet the managers declare
that they cannot meet the demands for
July and August. The only reason that can
be assigned is that the unusual weather
has prevented all entertaining. This is the
first week that the larger hotels have been
open. The Malvern Inn and cottages are
thoroughly booked. Among those who have
rented the latter are Mrs. Charles B.
Wright, Tanglewold: Mrs. Anna W. Per-
kins, the Griffin; Mrs. James W. Gerard,
the Canary; Mr. James P. Haggin, the
Dutch; Mrs. Van -Nest, Kebo: Hugh Mc-
Millan, brother of Senator McMillan of
Michigan. the Richardson: Mrs. A. E. Platt,
Cornersmeet; Elizabeth K. Anderson, the
Geranium. Among the early arrivals at the
inn itself are Mr. E. J. Curley, the Ken-
tucky millionaire; Mr. and Mrs. Abercrom-
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
BAR HARBOR'S MERRY SEASON.
Special to The New York Times.
New York Times (1857-Current file); Jul 7, 1901; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times
pg.2
pg. 16
resort, which for so early in the season is
He formerly owned and occupied Elsinore.
unusual. The Pot and Kettle Club. which
which is one of the most beautifully ap-
was formed last year very much after the
pointed cottages here.
Idea of the Rabbit of Philadelphia, will
Mrs. Cadwalader Jones is at Reefpoint.
greatly miss Col. Morrell. The picturesque
Her daughter, Miss Beatrix Jones, is with
little grill will open about the 15th of the
her.
month. A little later, when the organiza-
Mrs. Martin Van Buren of Fishkill-on-
tion of the sporting club at Petit Manan has
the-Hudson has visiting her Mrs. Hamilton
been thoroughly established, it will attract
Emmons. Mr. Van Buren will arrive later
many persons to Bar Harbor for a short
in the season.
visit. Cottages are being built there by
Miss Stevens of New York has Chantier
members of the club, and two or three day
for the season. With her is Mrs. William
trips for hunting or fishing will be pleas-
B. Wright.
ant diversions.
Dr. and Mrs. H. Lawrence Sheldon of
Now that the idea of a polo field and
Lakewood are recent arrivals. They will
running track has gained ground. the addi-
occupy their cottage for the Summer. The
tional attraction of having the English and
Sheldons will not go into society much,
American college championship take place
but live, on the contrary, a very quiet, re-
here is being very much talked of. It is
tired life.
the intention of those who are interested in
Mrs. Howard Munnikhuysen has the
the matter and who hope to see such a run-
Newman cottage. Miss Grace Munnikhuy-
ning track constructed by next year to in-
sen and Miss Bessie Munnikhuysen are
vite the managements to consider the pos-
with her.
sibility of bringing the meet to Bar Har-
Mr. and Mrs. Lea McIlvane Luquer of
bor. The coolness of the climate and the
New York are at Eagle Clfff. Mrs. Luquer
general atmospheric conditions being more
is very much interested in the work which
like those to which the Englishmen are ac-
is done here for the education of children.
customed than elsewhere would make it a
Mr. and Mrs. Dave Hennen Morris, who
fair ground for contest.
are at Boque Chitto, are almost never
The Louisburg opened Saturday. The
seen apart. Mrs. Morris is seldom seen at
guests who have already registered at the
society functions. The same is true of her
hotel include Mrs. Seth E. Sprague, Miss
sisters. Mrs. William J. Schieffelin and
Hooper. Mr. and Mrs. Otls Norcross, John
Mrs. E. G. Fabbri.
A. McDonald. Miss M. F. Smith, Mrs.
Mr. and Mrs. J. De C. Ireland of New
Barnes, and Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes.
York are visiting Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J.
The Newport and cottages are rapidly
Davis, Mrs. Ireland's parents.
filling up. Mr. and Mrs. S. F. B. Biddle of
Mr. and Mrs. Francis Burton Harrison.
Paris will pass the Summer at the Whit-
who were married last year, have Mizzen-
tington cottage. George Thatcher and
top for the season.
Hamilton Thatcher of Boston. accompanied
The first golf tournament of the season
by Lawrence Gourlie of New York, are
took place Saturday over the course at
other arrivals.
Kebo. There was a large list of entries,
Mrs. Hollins. Miss Hollins, and Miss
and the course was in excellent shape. It
Edith Hollins of New York are at the Bel-
is a popular diversion to drive out to the
mont for the Summer. Miss Hoy and Miss
opening play and take luncheon al fresco
Willing. who have been at Lynam's. have
at the club. The racket and tennis courts
rented Rexcourt for the season. Mr. George
at Kebo promise to become popular this
F. Bowden and family of New York will
season.
pass the Summer at the Potter cottage.
Visiting Mrs. Linzee at the Yellow cot-
tage in the Field are Miss A. D. Torrey
and Miss M. E. Torrev of Boston.
Mrs. Patterson and Miss Patterson of
New York were among the arrivals Friday
and will be shortly joined by Judge Patter-
son.
As a preliminary to the yachting season
there is a great deal of scratch racing in
the bay. Everybody seems to have become
infected with the knockabout fad. and if
you haven't one of the trim little thirty-
footers you are without honor in. the com-
munity. The regular races will begin the
second week of July and will be held week-
IV. A special class for sloops has been
formed, and it is hoped to establish a fund
similar to that of the Newport Yacht Rac-
ing Association, which will go to provide
prizes for an annual Tegatta.in August.
The Gardiner Shermans, who were abroad
last year. traveling on the Continent,/have
returned here.
Mrs. Alexander Van Nest, whose daugh-
ter was married to J. Stewart Barney last
year. will return in a few days, and has
taken one of the Malvern cottages for the
season. Owing to the death of her brother-
In-law. Charles Carroll Jackson. she will be
very quiet this Summer. She has come to
Bar Harbor in order to be near her sister.
Mrs. Jackson. who is at Llangolen.
James B. Haggin has taken the Dutch
cottage for the season. Mr. Haggin cuts
a noticeable figure on the drives with his
spirited turnouts.
Mrs. Alfred E. Platt, sister of Mr. Albert
Clifford Barney, has rented Cornersmeet
for the Summer. The cottage is at present
occupied by Mrs. Dehon and, Miss Dehon.
who will move to the Malvern.
Mr. Hugh McMillan, ex-Senator Mc-
Millan's brother, has taken the Richardson
cottage for the Summer. Mr. McMillan is
another of those who have returned to Bar
Harbor after an absence of several seasons.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
18 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
July 1st, 1902.
Curator Gray Herbarium,
GRAY HEPEARIUM
Cambridge, Mass.
For
study
be
Written
obtai
Dear Sir,
In reply to the circular sent me this spring and which
I now seem to have mislaid I enclose you my check for $10.
towards the maintenance of the Herbarium,
I also wish to ask you whether there is any book or pub-
lication which I can ootain which would aid me in studying the
flora and forest growth of Arizona and Utah, and similarly of
Oregon, Washington and the Canadian Rockies. I am just
starting West for Colorado, to most Professor Davis in southern
Utah. and join him in an expedition down the western side of
the Grand Cañon where I shall be for some weeks. And later
I shall probably go un by way of Oregon and Washington and
spend a few weeks camping out either there or among the Cana-
dian Rockies, and any book, not too bulky to carry, which would
help me to identify the plant life in either of those regions
I should be glad to know of. What is the best way, also, of
preserving the flowers and leaves of plants for later study and
identification when one is on a camping trip where weight is
of importance and space valuable.
As I leave for the West in the middle of the day tomorrow
Apr
2
I should be glad if you could let me have some word in reply,
if you can conveniently do so, by this evening's mail 80 that
I might receive it in the morning.
If not, will you kindly
write to me to await me at the post office at Provo. City, Utah,
where I shall be about the 10th of this month, and oblige
greatly
Yours truly,
good order
The committee on Trees reported as
follows, being the same report read at the
last meeting of the Managers. and upon
motion it was voted that the same be accepted:-
July 9th, 1901.
Report of Work Done by the Bar Harbor V. I. A. Tree and Road-Side
Committee Since Last Season.
quite
The work of this Committee has extended out in various and different
directions during the past year. It has in the first place carried on
its usual work of tree-planting in the village; it has, next, made the
trees
experiment of planting, for future shade along the narrow strip of grass
between the road and side-walk along a good part of that portion of Main
Street which extends out from the village toward the beginning of the
Schooner Head Road. If this experiment succeeds, as there is good reason
to think it will, it will prove an important one as it will within a few
years, as the work is carried on, lead to connecting the shady path sys-
tems that lie outside the village upon either side with the village itself
matter
by more or less continuously shaded walks. Another 11000 of work
to
which this committee has given thought and work, as it also did last year
as well, is the establishment of an efficient 'system of surface drainage
for the broad, flat piece of low-lying ground in the town which extends
from Cromwell's Harbor Brook to the South Street region, and westward;
289
it regards this drainage as of great importance for the present and still
more for the future health of the town, an opinion in which it is strongly
supported by the town's health officers who have stated it as their opinion
that the accomplishment of this work is of the first and vital importance.
The sum of 2500. was accordingly appropriated last March by the town for
was
initiating the work and placed in the hands of the road commissioner,
by whom it will
be begun during the present year.
Yet another piece of work accomplished this year by the committee
is the opening of a piece of new road in continuation of Ledge Lawn Avenue,
running through the valley of Cromwell's Harbor Brook to connect with
the Harden Farm Road, built two years ago, which will materially shorten
the distance as well as lessen grade for people driving out from the
central and western portions of the village over the Otter Creek Road,
and also
give the village a shorter and more easy access to the Bicycle
Path
and
the
Fair Ground. Your committee has also been instrumental
during the past year, in obtaining the removal of the town's stone crusher
from the Schooner Head Road, where it was a source of much annoyance to
some of the owners of valuable property lying opposite to it upon the
shore, as well as a disfigurement to the roadside and an injury to the
salable value of the valuable land that adjoined it upon Strawberry Hill.
The town has now acquired land of its own for this purpose from which a
practically
indefinite supply of stone can be obtained at a decidedly
lessened cost, so that the change will tend
materially toward
the gradual improvement of the roads about the town. A foot path has
also been opened up through the woods by this committee, from the Otter
Creek Gorge to near the commencement of the new road built by the town
at Otter Creek last year, a distance of from two and a half to three miles
in length, and running on the western side of the water-shed to the Creek
290
where remarkably level grade can be obtained throughout, and it is hoped
that with the consent of the owners of the woodlands that it passes through
,
and the support of those interested in horsehack-riding, that an easy
and attractive bridle path, the only one that, seems at present to offer
itself in the neighborhood of Bar Harbor, may ere-long be built.
Work of the usual nature for the improvement of our more important
roadsides near the town, such as the removal of dead trees and broken
limbs and other similar work, has also been carried on by your committee
and
so far as its funds would permit; steps were also taken by it in the fall
looking to the establishment of a continuous and pleasant side-walk lead-
ing along Eden Street and connecting the town with the system of foot-
paths beginning at Duck Brook, an important link which remains to be
completed in our path system, but the narrowness of the roadway, and the
unwillingness on the part of some of the owners along the line of it to
co-operate in the work made its immediate postponement necessary.
Respectfully submitted,
George B wor
the shoken Committees + it VIA'S
for Committee
of
8/13/01 plan &
endorse
note HCTPR forned 9/12/1901
Rilationship
mis Dorr's deate Oct,1901
Lender
G.H.Lynam Seey BHUIA , 1904 N/A end begin
Charles W. Eliot to Parke Godwin
Asticou, Maine
12 August, 1901.
Mr. Parke Godwin,
Bar Harbor, Maine.
My dear Sir:
The ob ject of my note to you was to procure a
conference of committees from the Village Improvement
Societies of Bar Harbor, Seal Harbor and Northeast Har-
bor on the following subject: By what means can some
public reservations of interesting scenery be secured
for the perpetual use and enjoyment of all the inhab-
itants of Mount Desert, natives, cottagers and transient
visitors alike? Being myself a cottager near Northeast
Harbor, I have observed with regret the successive depriv-
ations which I and my family have undergone during the past
twenty years with regard to access to other places of
singular beauty and attractiveness. Place after place
where I was in the habit of walking or picnicing has been
converted to private uses, and resort to it by other than
the owner has become impossible. To secure for owners
of private places perpetual access to certain favorite
points of view, it seems absolutely necessary that some
(August 12, 1901)
2.
at least of these favorite points should be held by a
board of trustees, or otherwise, for the use of the
public. We have in Massachusetts a board expressly
created for this object, called the Trustees of Public
Reservations. This board has been in existence about
nine years, and already holds several valuable and beau-
tiful pieces of land, to the great advantage of the pub-
lic.
To give definiteness to this proposal I will mention
as examples of the pieces of land which I should think it
desirable for such a board of trustees to acquire for the
public of this island, Great Head, Jordan's Pond, Carter's
Nubble (Beech Hill), Flying Mountain and Valley Cove (Somes
Sound), some portion of Otter Cliffs, some portion of the
shore at the Ovens, some portion of the westerly shore of
Ironbound Island, Calf Island (Frenchman's Bay). Doubt-
less there are hilltops within agreeable walking or
driving distance of Bar Harbor which might well be secured.
The top of Asticou Hill and of Brown Mountain, near North
East Harbor, ought to be procured for public use.
I think it probable that some of the places mention-
ed could be procured by gift; others would have to be bought
(August 12, 1901)
3.
with money raised by subscription. In the last resort,
taking by right of eminent domain through a commission
created by the Legislature would be in my judgment desir-
able and expedient.
Any board of trustees or commission created to hold
such reservations ought to be authorized to make short
leases of portions of their holdings, in order to provide
restaurants and other means of public enjoyment at those
points to which the resort of the public proved to be
considerable. The present management of Jordan's Pond
is an illustration of what could be done in this way by
a suitable board of trustees or a commission.
I should be obliged to you if you would present to
the meeting of your Society tomorrow the principal sug-
gestions contained in this letter. If your society thought
fit to appoint a committee to deal with the subject in CO-
operation with the Village Improvement Societies of Seal
Harbor and North East Harbor, that action would, I doubt
not, be very acceptable to the other two Societies.
Very truly yours,
C. W. E.
[Charles W. Eliot]
Charles W. Ellot to George B. Dorr Esq.
Version.
Asticou, Maine.
12 August, 1901.
Dear Mr. Dorr:
I wrote to Mr. Parke Godwin a week
ago, or more, asking him to appoint a committee from
the Village Improvement Society of Bar Harbor to
confer with committees from the Village Improvement
Societies of Seal Harbor and North East Harbor touch-
ing the organization of a board of trustees or
commission to hold reservations at points of interest
on this island, for the perpetual use of the public.
Yesterday he wrote me a note (received this morning)
from which it appears that he has not appointed any
committee on behalf of the Village Improvement Society
of Bar Harbor.
Our conference is to be held tomorrow,
Tuesday, afternoon at four o'clock, at the Music Room,
near the cottage of the late Professor Rowland, on
Rowland Road, Seal Harbor.
Would it be possible
for you and one or two other gentlemen from Bar Harbor
to attend this conference in an unofficial capacity?
Mr. Godwin mentions that there is a meeting of your
Village Improvement Society on the same day; but he
does not state the hour.
(12 August, 1901)
2.
I have written to him this morning a letter in
which I have set forth the objects which our Society
had in mind in proposing a conference, of which I
enclose a copy herewith.
It will explain to you
the general purpose of the movement. I feel sure
that you will sympathize with it. I approach the
undertaking myself from the cottagers' point of view;
but I believe it to be a measure which all persons
interested in the preservation of this island as a
place for healthful enjoyments could unite in.
The
railroad and steamboat transportation companies ought
to take strong interest in it.
Very truly yours,
Charles W. Eliot.
George B. Dorr, Esq.
P. S.
I have just heard from Bishop Lawrence
that you will attend the conference. Please bring
some other gentlemen with you.
C. W. E.
2.
Version 2
Asticou, Maine,
12 August, 1901.
Dear Mr. Dorr:
I wrote to Mr. Parke Godwin, a week ago or more,
asking him to appoint a committee from the Village
Improvement Society of Bar Harbor to confer with com-
mittees from the Village Improvement Societies of
Seal Harbor and North East Harbor touching the organ-
ization of a board of trustees or commission to hold
reservations at points of interest on this Island, for
the perpetual use of the public. Yesterday he wrote
me a note, received this morning, from which it appears
that he has not appointed any committee on behalf of
the Village Improvement Society of Bar Harbor. Our
conference is to be held tomorrow afternoon at four
o'clock, at the Music Room on Rowland Road, Seal
Harbor. Would it be possible for you and one or two
other gentlemen from Bar Harbor to attend this con-
ference in an unofficial capacity?
Mr. Godwin mentions that there is a meeting of
your Village Improvement Society on the same day,
but he does not state the hour.
3.
I have written to him this morning a letter in
which I set forth the objects which our Society had
in mind in proposing the conference, of which I en-
close herewith a copy. It will explain to you the
general purpose of the movement. I feel sure that
you will sympathize with it. I approach the under-
taking myself from the cottagers' point of view,
but I believe it to be a measure on which all per-
sons interested in the preservation of this island
as a place for healthful enjoyment could unite.
Very truly yours,
Charles W. Eliot.
George B. Dorr, Esq.
P. S. I have just heard from Bishop Lawrence that
you will attend the conference. Please bring some
other gentlemen.
C. W. E.
HCTPR: ORIGINS
Dorr Papers (1.5) essay on origins of HCTPR lists following at Music Room meeting,
August 13, 1901
Rev. William Adams Brown
Prof. Edward S. Dana
Rt. Rev. William C. Doane
George Bucknam Dorr*
Charles W. Eliot
Richard M. Hoe++
John S. Kennedy*
Rt. Rev. William Lawrence
S.D. Sargent
William J. Schieffelin *
George L. Stebbins ++
George Vanderbilt*
* Journeyed together at Dorr's invite from BH to Seal Harbor on Kennedy's steam yacht
++ Represented the extensive David Dows-Cooksey Seal Harbor interests
To Bertrand E. Clark, Justice of the Peace, in and for
To
Borton
for
Hancock County, State of Maine.
The undersigned desire to be incorporated for social,
mortal,
charitable and benevolent purposes including the purpose of
response
facistic.
participant
or
mestrics,
acquiring, owning and holding lands and other property in
Relative = ever in wis 10%
said Hancock County for free public use, and improving the
He
use,
now
same by laying out and building roads and paths and making
Career:
will
other improvements thereon; we therefore apply in writing to
procided by I Camptor 58 of the
you as provided by Section I Chapter 55 of the Revised Statute
of Maine to issue your warrant directed to one of your appli-
it
you
-
^tended
cants, requiring him to call a meeting for the purpose of organ
requiring
Mr
onli
for
of
ization at such time and place as you may appoint.
Bar Harbor, Maine
August 29th, 1901
liengeReaser
LA John
LA. John
Feese L Statum
Edward men
Green e Statemis
Lea his Long
Charles In Eliok
Edward mean
Leave 2.2 Ling
L.C. Kimbace
Charles In Elion
L. b. Kimbace
Letter to the Justice of the Peace asking for incorporation of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations.
Signatures of all eight members are present. Original is difficult to scan. All signatures are original.
BAr Harbor, Maine, Sept. 10th, 1901.
Dear Sir:-
The meeting for organization, under agreement of association,
dated August 29th, 1901, is to be held at the office of E. R. Mears,
Bar Harbor, Me., on Saturday, September 14th, 1901, at three o'clock
P. M. Your are earnestly requested to be present. If for any reason
you cannot come, please sign and return to me this letter, with the
acknowledgment at the bottom hereof signed.
Yours very truly,
Mr. John S. Kennedy,
2.6 Deary
Bar Harbor, Me.
I hereby acknowledge and accept due, legal, timely and sufficient
service of the above notice.
UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Acadia National Park
Bar Harbor, Maine
February 26, 1942.
Newton B. Drury, Director,
National Park Service,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Director Drury:
I appreciate warmly the letter I received from you
yesterday concerning the recent editorial in the Boston
Herald.
The letters I have received personally, following
the press release sent out from Washington on January
seventh, and the editorial comment on it in the Boston
Herald, the New York Herald-Tribune and the Portland
(Maine) Sunday Telegram have all given me great pleasure
in their kindness and appreciation of my work.
It is a work I only started in upon when I was well
past the half-century mark and came to me through cir-
cumstances that almost seemed intended to place it on
my shoulders. Forces outside myself impelled me and,
as I have sometimes felt, helped me as the work went on.
What I have done throughout, I feel as I look back,
has been to recognize the opportunities that came to me
and to have the will to take them.
Again, with thanks, believe me
Sincerely yours,
GBD-0
Dup
Dictaphone - transcribed October 15, 1941.
I acquired the lands west of the Athletic Field and secured
the Park Office site at the beginning of my work for a major group
1901
of Public Reservations with the thought clearly in view of such an
approach to them as I am now offering the National Park which presently
sprang out of my undertaking. The Athletic Field, the fundamental
feature of the whole undertaking, I made safe for all time, ao long
as Bar Harbor will endure, by giving it to the Town with restrictions
against any building being placed upon it; the land west of it, held
personally for a time, I placed in the hands of the Dorr Foundation,
created for the express purpose of holding it, to insure its safety,
independent of myself, as a n essential feature In the approach I
planned to the Great Meadow, central to my scheme of the Reservations.
Those chosen to constitute the Foundation were people I felt
would understand and be in sympathy with the spirit of my work and
the end I had in view, and it is that corporation, hot I, that
controls it now and has the duty to see that my original plan for
a beautiful and undisfigured entrance from the Town to the group
of Public Reservations lands which I was gathering is worthy of the
whole and of what it leads to. The tract of land which the Dorr
Foundation corporation has reserved in its gift of the entrance to
the Park, the Park has no need of or use for at the present time
nor in the future so far as can be seen; all that the Park Service
officials at Washington desire it for, as I understand it, is to
make sure that no use will be made of it in the future alien to what
I now propose for the unique character of the whole as an entrance to
ancimportant National Park area. The members of the corporation
and
I with them, most gladly agree to septing
whatever can best secure
this purpose without sacrificing the purpose for which the reservation
was made, important also to the Park in my judgment and in theirs.
This land did not enter into the question when my bill for the taking
over by the Government of the National Park headquarters site and its
buildings was entered, not necessary to it, but was held in reserve
with the intention of offering it to the Government later in free
gift, when such plans as have now been adopted, plans with which I
am more than content, had been worked out. All that I or the Foundation
want is to make permanent so far as is humanly possible the opportunities
secured. It has great opportunities and should be as enduring
.
inthe accomplishment, if rightly done, as the Park itself,
I can see now danger ahead in the Park-Roundation control, nor what
I control myself which lies immediately beyond it. But beyond that,
between it and the actual entrance on the Park there is a good bit
to be done to make the opportunity that offers there secure and
developed to its best and fullest.
[G.B. Dorr]
Diotaphone - transcribed October 15, 1941.
I acquired the lands west of the Athletic Field and secured
the Park Office site at the beginning of my work for a major group
of Public Reservations with the thought clearly in view of suoh an
approach to them as I am now offering the National Park which presently
sprang out of my undertaking. The Athletic Field, the fundamental
feature of the whole undertaking, I made safe for all time, ae long
as Bar Harbor will endure, by giving it to the Town with restrictions
against any building being placed upon it; the land west of it, held
personally for a time, I placed in the hands of the Dorr Foundation,
created for the express purpose of holding it, to insure its safety,
independent of myself, as a n essential feature In the approach I
planned to the Great Meadow, central to my scheme of the Reservations.
Those ohosen to constitute the Foundation were people I felt
would understand and be in sympathy with the spirtt of my work and
the end I had in view, and it is that corporation, hot I, that
controls it now and has the duty to see that my original plan for
a beautiful and undisfigured entrance from the Town to the group
of Public Reservations lands which I was gathering is worthy of the
whole and of what it leads to. The traot of land which the Dorr
Foundation corporation has reserved in its gift of the entranoo to
the Park, the Park has no need of or use for at the present time
nor in the future so far as can be seen; all that the Park Service
officials at Washington desire it for, as I understand it, is to
make sure that no use will be made of it in the future alien to what
I now propose for the unique charaoter of the whole as an entrance to
2.
thoimportant National Park area. The members of the corporation and
I with them, most gladly agree to whatever can best secure
this purpose without sacrificing the purpose for which the reservation
was made, important also to the Park in my judgment and in theirs.
This land did not enter into the question when bill for the taking
over by the Government of the National Park headquarters site and its
buildings was entered, not necessary to it, but was held in teserve
with the intention of offering it to the Government later in free
gift, when such plans as have now been adopted, plans with which I
am more than content, had been worked out. All that I or the Foundation
want is to make permanent so far as is humanly possible the opportunities
secured. It has great opportunities and should be as enduring
***********. int the accomplishment, if rightly done, as the Park itself
I oan see now danger ahead in the Park-Foundation control, nor what
I control myself which lies immediately beyond it. But beyond that,
between it and the actual entranoe on the Park there is a good bit
to be done to make the opportunity that offers there secure and
developed to its best and fullest.
18 Commonwealth Avenue.
7, B. Sanborn leg.
Cenend Mass.
Original in the
Howard Gotlieb Archival
Wrand
Research Center
Boston University
Publication permission must be
secured from HGARC
I write is acknow-
ledge and thank you for
the interesting letter which
I received at the meeting
called by One committee
at Mrs Bulland's house
last week. I au Long
proh citality responsius is its time, in one
philosophies department that Emenson
should new lu felt W le the best efforment
of its frint I trust one building may become lin of
Relian un wit much regard,
Original in the
Sincerely your George Publication Howard secured Boston Research permission Gotlieb from University Center HGARC Archival must
be
Feb 18h 1902
OF HARVARD COLLEGE
Frederick L. Olmsted, Jr. 1896
Several proposals to construct the Charles River
Dam were made about the turn of the century. This
dam would create the Charles River Basin and
insure the conversion of the salt marshes and mud
flats along the river to stable park lands.
HARYAND
"Plans recently prepared by Frederick L.
Olmsted, Jr. and reproduced in an adjacent
column will provoke the interest of those
Harvard alumni who agree with him that a
new approach to the Yard from the Charles
might better the whole aspect of the Univer-
sity.
Minor changes in the planning of the
University property would serve to lend
grandeur to this undying feature and would
enhance the dignity of Harvard's topographic
situation."2
(The approach to the Yardfrom the Charles River
was only one feature of this plan, One can recog-
nize the numerous buildings (lightly shaded) pro-
posed for future expansion of the College in the
Yard and north of the Yard. Langdell Hall (1908,
1928-29) and Widener Library (1914-15) are the
only existing buildings which bear similarity of
CHARLES
RIVER
site and bulk to these many proposals.
1. The College Yard - - Harvard University, Arthur
A. Shurtleff, Instructor of Landscape Architec-
NOV
.
1896
.
ture, 1904.
SUCCESTIONS FOR THE
2. Harvard Alumni Bulletin, May 15, 1948, Re-
ORDERLY-ARRANCEMENT?OF- THE: GROVNDS OF HA
creation of 1898 publication.
PLANNING OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY
STUDY FOR DIGNIFIED APPROACH TO HARVARD
COLLEGE -- Olmsted Brothers 1901
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF DE WOLFE PARKWAY
Olmsted Brothers 1902
HARVARD YARD
The attempt to create a link between the College
Yard and the Charles River as proposed by Olmsted
reappears with alignment variations in these and later
proposals for the development of Harvard College
and vicinity.
MASSACHUSETTS
HARVARD ST.
3/6/1902
QUINCY
SQUARE
"The undersigned, graduates of Harvard, wish
DOMER
to call your attention to a measure now pending,
which it is hoped will provide at last the digni-
fied and suitable approach to the college grounds
for which the need has long been felt. The
Charles River Parkway has already been laid
KEY MAP
out, and is now being constructed, following the
ARROW
ST.
river bank along the Cambridge side. from Har-
vard Bridge to a point beyond the bridge cross-
ing from Harvard Square to Soldiers Field. This
ST.
will bring it, as may be seen on the accompany-
ing plan, within a short distance of the College
MT. AUBURN
Yard.
ST.
"What is now proposed is to construct a wide
park-like street connecting this river parkway
with Quincy Square, and thus provide a continu-
STUDY FOR
ous driveway, shaded with trees, and free from
DIGNIFIED APPROACH
car tracks, from the Harvard Bridge to Harvard
TO
College. It will also afford a more direct, as
HARVARD COLLEGE
well as more attractive, route between the Har-
DE WOLF ST. AND QUINCY SQUARE
vard Union and the University Boat House and
MALE
-
Soldiers Field."
ARE
3
ARROW
ST.
river bank along the Cambridge side, from Har-
vard Bridge to a point beyond the bridge cross-
ing from Harvard Square to Soldiers Field. This
ST.
will bring it, as may be seen on the accompany-
ing plan, within a short distance of the College
Yard.
MT.AUBURN
ST.
"What is now proposed is to construct a wide
park-like street connecting this river parkway
with Quincy Square, and thus provide a continu-
ous driveway, shaded with trees, and free from
STUDY FOR
car tracks, from the Harvard Bridge to Harvard
DIGNIFIED APPROACH
TO
College. It will also afford a more direct, as
HARVARD COLLEGE
well as more attractive, route between the Har-
DE WOLF ST. AND QUINCY SQUARE
vard Union and the University Boat House and
SCALL
Soldiers Field.
1
JUNE 1901
MILL ST.
GRANT ST.
RIVERVIEW AV.
*
COWPERTHWAITE ST.
4-4-B
P.
It is assumed that the continued interest in
the lands along the Charles and their linkage to
the College Yard may be attributed in great por-
tion to the activities of the Harvard Riverside
Associates.
"The Harvard Riverside Associates,
Messrs. Thomas Nelson Perkins 91,
Augustus Hemenway '75, Harold J. Cool-
idge '92, and James A. Burden '93, led by
Mr. Edward W. Forbes '95 solicited con-
tributions to acquire property in this area.
This organization was eminently success-
ful and when the property was turned over
to the University in 1909 something over
$ 800,000 had been spent on land aquisi-
tions. It was in this manner through the
initiative of Mr. Forbes and the generosity
of alumni that Harvard obtained the sites
for the freshman halls and much of the
land on which the houses were later erec-
ted. 2
I
A circular letter to the Alumni of Harvard
University, March 6, 1902, from George B.
Dorr, Secretary and Treasurer of analumni
group.
"The Evolving Shape of Harvard," illustrated
lecture November 1956, Charles W. Eliot
2nd, Professor of Landscape Architecture.
PLAN OF PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS FOR HARVARD SQUARE AND VICINITY
E. J. A. Duquesne 1913
TO Sarah Orne Jewett
OF MRS. WHITMAN
LETTERS
October 22, 1901 (after two deaths).
of symphony in the air, and I am a-prepar-
ing to return early, for late breakfast, in
And yesterday Mrs. Dorr was set free
short, after tea in this idyllic garden and
after so long a captivity, and now one may
an evening of large hospitality and happi-
believe walks freely in that sky at which
I had a real talk with Mrs. Ward
she has sat looking for these months past.
ness.
under the trees; and all this has been a
The days accordingly go on with slow
lasting pleasure.
So from out this shel-
dramatic footsteps, and one goes on with
ter (a word which takes on such inexplica-
them or glad or sad, but in any case strenu-
ble perfume as life grows longer) and on
ously set to the selfsame task. And Nature
has taken such a hand at the Game this
this lyric morning, I have this one word
with you. I think it is because you love
Fall. I have never known such splendors
me that I am here; and that is sweet.
and symbols, such announcements of "lib-
Heaven bless you !
eral friendship" and of high augury. My
August, 1900.
work has of necessity been in the shop, but
I found my escape in going straight to
I have listened and, I hope, learned some-
the Cathedral of Chartres yesterday morn-
what of these adorable open secrets of the
wide air.
ing.
For as I sojourned there from
May 15, 1902. ENGLAND.
the morning early, till long after sunset, I
was able to know something of the Sym-
One word with you
to-night, by
phony of colour which is daily played
the river Dart,
I am looking out on
there, and anything more matchless can-
one of the most romantic bits of English
not be, in this world.
scenery I ever beheld, - an idyllic loveli-
[ 106 ]
[ 107 ]
33
Sept. 29.1902
Ps-lof3
a meeting of the Managers was duly called
and held at the St Saurium Hotel on the above
date.
The reading of the minutes was dis puneed with
The Treasurer repisted follows:-
Total receipts 3,764.98
Expenditures 2,273,96
1,491.02
Dr mitchell presented the following resolution
and upon motion it was voted to spread the same
on the records, publish it in the Bar Harbor Record
and a copy tent to mr. Go. B.Dour and to mr.
Samuel G. ward, Washing ton.
MRS. CHARLES H. DORR.
E
At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the
Village Improvement Association held Monday
forenoon, September 29th at the St. Sauveur, Dr.
S. Weir Mitchell presented the following testi-
monial of esteem for the late Mrs. Charles H.
Dorr, which was adopted and ordered to be spread
on the minutes of the Association, and a copy sent
to the family :
Note: See also
Mrs. Charles H. Dorr, a member of this Board,
died in October, 1901, at the age of 81 years, soon
Box Harbor Record
after her return from this place to her home in
Boston. She was one of the original corporators,
when in 1888, we organized the Village Improve-
10/30/1901-sbit
ment Association of Bar Harbor. From that time
until her final illness by degrees lessened her phys-
ical ability, she was personally active in our work,
and was for many years an inspiring presence at
our meetings. When of late, she became unable
to attend, she still continued to exercise an ener-
gising influence, which was continuously felt in
all our lines of labour.
It was, however, as the head of our Committee
on Trees, that she was most valuable. To this im-
portant work she brought great experience, a cer-
tain loving enthusiasm and unfailing good taste.
Those who remember the ill-kept roadsides of for-
mer days, have to thank chiefly our late member
for the constant care which was given to removing
the dead trees and disfiguring rubbish from the
sides of our many beautiful drives. Few of the
new comers notice how free are these driveways
from unsightly wrecks of trees, or know how
much they owe to the watchful eye and ceaseless
thought of the woman whose loss we so much re-
gret.
The Committee, of which she was the head, has,
during its existance, planted more than 1000 trees
along the nearer roadways and encouraged success-
fully the setting out of vines and flowering shrubs.
As long as Mrs. Dorr was able she personally
superintended much of the work of this Committee.
When no longer able to do this she kept up an un-
failing interest in whatever we did to add to the
charm of the highways.
Her simple and unaffected love for the wide
world of out-door life, from the wild mountain
wood to the flowers of her own garden, made the
kind of work which occupied this Committee, most
congenial to her tastes; indeed nothing was more
interesting about this most interesting woman
than the quick joy she felt up to her last days in
all the varied aspects of nature; to feed this sense
of pleasure, she brought the eye of a skilled artist
and remarkable acuteness of observation.
Those who knew her in the more intimate re-
lations of life must feel that with her death some-
thing has gone out of their lives which can never
be replaced ; for indeed, this unusual personality
brought to nourish friendship-the utmost kind-
ness, wide intellectual sympathies and such dis-
criminative judgment in art and literature as was
prompt to discern and cherish whatever was best.
In the hours of her bountiful hospitality when
she liked to gather her friends and acquaintances
there is much to miss, for as a hostess, her ability
to draw out what was socially valuable in her
guests, was unsurpassed.
Those of her many friends on whom sorrow or
misfortune has fallen, found in her a rare insight
and a very uncommon skill in helping the hurt of
life's battle with a sympathy which was as true
as it was tender, and seemed to possess the cer-
tainty of instinctive appreciation.
We. of this Association, desire to express to our.
fellow members and to her family, our belief that
in the death of Mrs. Dorr we have met with an ir.
reperable loss.
Our personal relations to Mrs. Dorr permit
Autos in BH
35
pg-3-f3.
to say to all who loved her that we have grieved
over her death as that of an efficient counsellor, a
liberal helper, a woman who brought to our varied
forms of work, the charms of a distinct and effi-
OJEE
ciently useful character. In the truest sense we
offer them our sympathy, for none better than we
can know what this loss has been. We beg to as-
sure them that it has been most widely felt in the
whole community, which owed Mrs. Dorr so
much.
Noted that the matter of Horse driving on
the Bicycle Path be refund to Mr. Geo.B.
Derr, with the recommen dation that some
measure be taken to stop it.
The following committee were appointed
fn the ensuing year:-
STANDING COMMITTEES.
Committee on Trees:
George B. Dorr,
Mrs. John Markoe,
Finance Committee:
Charles Fry,
Mrs. R. B. Potter,
F. . C. Lynam, Chairman.
Miss Beatrix Jones,
J. M. Sears.
Morris K. Jesup.
J. S. Kennedy.
Village Committee:
Entertainment Committee:
Mrs. Cadwalader Jones, Chairman.
Mrs. Cadwalader Jones,
Mrs. W. L. Green,
Mrs. R. B. Potter,
Mrs. J. M. Sears,
Mrs. A. C. Barney,
Mrs. Hall McCormick,
Mrs. E. B. Mears.
Mrs. Frank Ellis,
Mrs. W. W. Seely,
Mrs. J. M. Taylor.
SPECIAL COMMITTEES.
Sanitary Committee:
Committee on Bicycle Paths and Newport Mt. Road :
Dr. J. Madison Taylor, Chairman.
George B. Dorr.
Wm. Fennelly,
Dr. E. J. Morrison,
Mrs. Cadwalader Jones,
Mrs. Clara Norris,
Committee on Parks:
J. S. Kennedy.
Dr. J. Madison Taylor.
Roads and Paths Committee:
Waldron Bates, Chairman.
Committee on Shannon Park:
Mrs. Robert Amory,
John J. Emery,
George B. Dorr,
Dr. Robert Amory, Chairman.
Charles Fry,
Herbert Jaques,
Charles Fry.
George B. Dorr.
Miss Beatrix Jones.
Julia Ward Howe Journal. 1901
946
-460-
Thursday, Oct. 17.
+
+ + In afternoon to town to visit Mrs. William S. Weld and
cousins, the Turners. Got caught by a shower while at Mrs. Weld's, who
kindly invited me to stay over night. she played to me on her pianola
and gave me two fine bunches of hot house grapes. I stopped at the Turner
house to leave the best bunch for Lizzie T. who is an invalid. Did not
dare to stay as the skies looked very threatening. Was badly chilled
by sitting in the carriage while Michael did the errands, and by the
long drive home.
Friday, Oct. 18.
Find myself well today, contrary to my expectations after yesterday's
exposure.
Saturday, Oct. 19.
Have writ a little "appreciation" for the Centenary of the New
York Evening Post.
Monday, Oct. 21.
Read my screed on the "Duties of Women" ordered by Collier's
Weekly and rejected by it, to the Woman's Alliance of Unity Church. The
meeting was at the parsonage. I read before the paper, my poem on the
death of our late President, and after it my poem on "Duty", which was
warmly received.
Tuesday, Oct. 22.
+
+ + Heard today that my old and valued friend Edmund Tweedy,
died
yesterday, aged ninety years. I hoped to attend his funeral but
only learned of it accidently in Dr. Brackett's house, as to take place
just at the time of my appointment. I would have postponed this, but
I had already sent my man and carriage down town. I felt badly about
this. Went later to Mrs. Rogers', to meet an acquaintance of many years,
Mrs. Dr. McClellan, once Abby Hare.
+
Was
much
worried
at
hearing that my son-in-law, David Hall, is seriously out of health.
A
month of rest is ordered for him, which I fear he will not take.
Wednesday, Oct. 23.
I am today in much confusion of mind. My friend in early youth
and of many years, Mary Dorr, died on Monday, 21st. I desire to attend
her funeral tomorrow but am expecting Cousin Mott and Mary Greene to
supper, having had once to put them off. Also am pressingly invited
to attend the King Alfred banquet at Delmonico's on October 28th,
having just telegraphed David Hall to make me a visit. What to do I
do not know. Mrs. Dorr's death is a relief from much weakness and
bodily infirmity. We were once very intimate but have grown apart,
although I have regretted her seeming neglect of me in these last years.
She was much interested in spiritualism and mind cure, both of which I
eschew. Other and younger people have gathered around her, of which I
am glad, yet a little jealous for the old friendship. + + + Did my
nonsense lines about Dr. Barker into Latin and Greek to send him, accord-
ing to promise; sending also the original English.
-461-
777.
Thursday, Oct. 24.
Had a very grievous time at waking, worrying about the Convention
of the State Federation at Springfield, which I promised to attend
and where I wish to be. Matters here seem to make it incumbent upon me
to stay by the ship, which I have decided to do. Went up with dear
Maud to Mary Dorr's funeral. In the cars met a Mr. Grosvenor, formerly
of Providence, who had danced to my playing one Christmas in early child-
hood. At the Dorr house found a wreath of laurel and violets over the
usual strip of crepe. Arlo Bates helped me up stairs, where George
Dorr took me affectionately by the hand and seated me next to Thomas Ward,
his uncle. Rev. Frank Peabody was the minister. Maud was much im-
pressed with his choice and reading of scripture, and with his remarks,
which were excellent; three hymns by the choir of Kings Chapel fairly
sung and very good in effect. The casket was covered with the choicest
flowers, as was the rest on which it was placed. Mary's old coachman,
Bennett, stood beside George, at, I suppose, the foot of the casket,
which was closed. Many old friends were there; no indifferent ac-
quaintances I should think. Dear Maud took me to lunch at the Victoria,
and put me in the car for Newport, where arrived safely in a tempest of
wind.
Friday, Oct. 25.
+ + Have thought much about Mrs. Dorr's life and death. This
last event opened to me such a panorama of retrospect -- Mary's visit
here in 1839, her engagement to my brother Henry, my visits to her in
Boston, Henry's death, our intimacy of many years and her singular
estrangement from me, during say the last five years. She always met
me
affectionately, but never sought me nor sent any greetings when I was
111, or at other times. Remembering now the delight which I once had in
her society, I am sad that our record closed with no postscript regard-
ing the old affection. of this she once said to my Maud: "Your mother
and I were once like hand and glove, but I have grown.'
Sunday, Oct. 27.
To church where heard a good sermon from Mr. How. Something on
the usefulness of the several gospels in giving individual views of
Christ's life and character, and on what each of us should do in illus-
trating the truth and power of Christianity in life. Went after service
to see my Turner cousins. Found Katie resolute and cheerful as ever;
Lizzie sadly changed, crippled by paralysis and very nervous. William,
the sculptor, is with them and very glad to be at home after many years
passed in Florence. In the evening gave Joanna warning, the thought of
which caused me much discomfort, yet it seems best. She took it not
unkindly, to my great relief.
Wednesday, Oct. 30.
The day being unusually bright and mild, I drove into town to call
upon Mrs. Maj. Gibbs and the Edward Potters. I found Mrs. Gibbs in
fine toilette, waiting to take Prof. Wolcott Gibbs to see the Berwind
mansion. Mrs. Potter was "not at home", whether truly or officially
I could only guess. I had a touching interview with her husband, who
although badly paralyzed, seems cheerful and interested in his music and
other things. He gave me a copy of his 12th Night Cantata, and described
a delightful Christmas, years ago, when he had performed it here at his
own house, with accompaniments of feasting and boar's head. This he
-467-
783
days.
Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Have written two stanzas of Battle Hymn in a Sunday School book
sent me last summer.
+
+
+
Wednesday, Dec. 11.
Lecture in West Brookfield.
+
+
+ Was much gratified to hear
that my performance had given great pleasure.
Thursday, Dec. 12.
Wrote all the A. M. on my screed for New York Journal, on the
observance of Sunday. + +
+
Friday, Dec. 13.
Luncheon Women's Aux. Civil Service Reform. + + + Rev. Lyman
Abbott took me into dinner. We had a very pleasant talk. I saw many
people whom I have formerly known, Carl Schurz, Prof. Proctor, Effie
(Shaw) Lowell. The speaking was not without interest, yet not what Mr.
Emerson would have called "memorable" Although not asked to speak,
(no woman was ), my reception was very cordial and gratifying.
Saturday, Dec. 14.
A day of comparative rest. Wrote my suffrage queries for H. B. B.
+
+
+
+
Sunday, Dec. 15.
Such a down pour that could not go to church, which I had much
desired to do.
Monday, Dec. 16.
+
+ + George B. Dorr called in afternoon and we had a long talk
about the long past, and especially about my brother Henry who was engaged
to George's mother. It seemed like getting into a crypt to recall the
scenes of that distant time. He asked leave to call again tomorrow.
Tuesday, Dec. 17.
George Dorr called again and brought a great number of letters
to his father from my father and from many other people. We had a good
sitting together. He described to me his grandfather coming in to break
the news of dear Henry's death to his family. Mary and her mother were
sitting in the parlor. Mr. Ward entered, his eyes streaming with tears.
"Is he dead"? asked Mrs. Ward. Mr. Ward folded his daughter in his arms.
As George told me this, which he had heard from his mother, the tears
came and his voice faltered. As he rose to take leave, I said: "Dear
George, I love to go over the past with you, but you must not dwell
upon it too much. The future is before you; you must think of it."
Thursday, Dec. 19.
Circolo
Italiano.
+
+ + Have writ in reply to George T. Downing
and others. these colored gentlemen having sent me a letter of thanks
902
243
1022. Feb. 3, 1902. Concord. To (William Torrey) Harris.
ALS, 1 p. MS: Concord Free Public Library, Concord,
Mass. Encloses verses by Channing to be "printed
in the J. of S. P." (Journal of Speculative Philoso-
phy?) Other verses are being sent to Mr. Salt in
., subject.
England to be published there.
J.W.
tated check-
1023. Feb. 13, 1902. Concord. To (William Torrey) Harris.
he letters of
TLS, 1 p. MS: Concord Free Public Library, Concord,
Mass. Remarks on an invitation to join a new "move-
Benjamin
ment in the area of speculative philosophy," a newly-
1831-1917.
found sketch of Milton published in the Classical
, MI, 1994.
Review, his own edition of Channing's Thoreau, the
Poet Naturalist, Asks after "the aged S. G. Ward"
and encloses a long quote of Ward's from a letter
to Ellen Emerson. The quote concerns Channing.
1024.
Feb. 13, 1902. Concord. To George B. Dorr. TLS,
2 pp. (copy). MS: Unknown. Sanborn's typed copy
in Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass.
Regrets that he will be unable to attend the meeting
at which the introduction of the philosophy 01
Emerson into the curriculum at Harvard will be
discussed. Gives his views on the matter.
1025. Feb. 16, 1902. Concord. To (Benjamin Smith) Lyman.
ALS, 1 p. MS: Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pa. Mentions death of James Thayer.
FBS plans to attend the funeral. Encloses notice
of a book written by Lyman's aunt and recommends
another by Allen Clarke as containing "much Phila-
delphia matter." Promises a copy of his article
on Gove and Barefoot and another of an article on
John Starke.
1026. Feb. 24, 1902 (?). (year obscured) Concord. To
Samuel L. Dutton. TLS, 1 p. (copy). MS: Unknown.
Sanborn's typed copy in American Antiquarian Society,
Worcester, Mass, appended to letter to Dr. Henry
Shaw (2/24/02 ?). Regrets that he can give no infor-
mation concerning a Dr. Greene, a physician in the
Civil War. Refers Dutton to the Rev. C. G. Ames,
pastor of the Church of the Disciples.
MAINE CENTRAL R. R.
FRENCHMAN'S BAY SERVICE.
TIME TABLE
OF
"SAPPHO."
STEAMERS-
NORUMBEGA, SAPPHO
and Sebenoa
In Effect Monday, Aug. 18th, 1902.
MAINE CENTRAL RAILROAD.
FRENCHMAN'S BAY SERVICE.
Running in Connection with Trains of the Maine Central Railroad (Weather Permitting.)
TRAINS ARRIVE MT. DESERT FERRY:
TRAINS LEAVE MT. DESERT FERRY:
No. 127 at 6.45 a. m. Daily.
No. at 7.25 a. m. Except Sunday.
No. 117 at 10.05 a. m. Except Sunday. (Freight)
No. 122 at 11.20 a. m Except Sunday.
No. 115 at 11.20 a. m. Except Sunday.
No. 116 at 12 05 P. m. Except Sunday. (Freight)
No. 1 at 1.10 p. m. Except Sunday.
No. 112 at 1.50 p. m. Daily.
No. 129 at 4.55 p. m. Except Sunday.
No. 114 at 4.55 p. in Daily.
No. 11 at 6.45 p. m. Daily.
No. 118 at 9.'5 p. m. Daily.
No. 341 at 10.15 a. m. Sunday Only.
No. 332 at 6.30 a. m. Sunday only.
No. 325 at 1.20 p. m. Sunday Only.
Ex
Ex.
Ex.
Ex.
Daily
Ex.
Ex.
Ex,
Ex.
LEAVE
Sun
Sun.
Sun.
Sun.
Sun.
Sun.
Sun.
Sun.
Daily
Daily
Daily
Sun.
Sun. Sun.
only only only
A.M.
A.M.
A.M.
A.M.
P.M.
P.M.
P.M.
P.M.
P.M.
P.M.
P.M.
A.M.
A.M.
P.M.
Mt. Desert Ferry
6 55
7 30 11 30 11 3)
1 20
1 30
5 00
5 00
6 50
6 5°
9 50 10 25
Sullivan
10 25
1 50
7 45
1 45
7 05
Hancock Point
8 05 11 40
5 10
Sorrento
10 35
7 10
8 20
11 50
2 15
5 25
7 25
Bar Harbor
1) 50
7 00
7 40
8 50 12 10
2 00
2 50
5 45
7 30
10 30 11 10
Seal Harbor
11 2)
2 35
7 50 8 30
6 35
12 or
North East Harbor
3 20
8 10
8 FO
6 55
12 20
South West Harbor
3 40
8 2
9 00
7 05
12 30
3 50
Ex.
Ex.
Ex.
Ex.
Ex.
Sun.
Sun.
Daily
Daily
Ex.
Ex.
Sun.
Daily
Daily
G n.
Sun.
Sun
LEAVE
Sun.
Sun.
Sun.
Sun.
y
only
only
A.M
A.M.
A.M.
P.M.
P.M.
A.M.
P.M.
P.M.
P.M.
P.M.
P.M.
A.M
A.M
P.M
South West Harbor
8 50
11 20
7 10
North East Harbor
2 30
9 00
11 30
7 20
Seal Harbor
2 41
9 20
11 50
Bar Harbor
7 40
3 00
6 40 10 00
10 30
12 20
1 00
3 15
4 05
Sorrento
9 00
5 45
8 50
4 05
10 30
12 10
3 50
Hancock Pt
5 30
9 25
9 20
10 45
12 30
4 10
Sullivan
4 35
9 40
4 30
Mt. Desert Ferry
10 00
7
20
11
00
11
10
1
00
12
45
1
40
4 45
4 45
5 50
9 40
9 45
6 25 10 15
4 45
Through Tickets between Bar Harbor, Sorrento, Sullivan, Mc. Desert Ferry and Hancock Point, 50 cents single, and
75 cents return, and on Wednesdays and Saturdays, only 50 cents return.
Between Bar Harbor: and Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor and Southwest Harbor, 50 cts. single. Daily Excursions 75
cts.
Between Mt. Desert Ferry, Sorrento, Sullivan and Hancock Point and Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor and Southwest
Harbor, $1.00 single. $1.75 Return. Daily Excursions $1.50. Between Seal Harbor and Northeast Harbor 25 cents.
Southwest Harbor, 35 cents. Between Northeast Harbor and Southwest Harbor. 25 cts.
IMPORTANT NOTICE. Maine Central Railroad Mileage Tickets will not be accepted on steamers in
Frenchman's Bay for actual miles travelled, but will be accepted in sufficient number of coupons to equal the
value of the single fare between the landings travelled.
GEO. F. EVANS,
MORRIS McDONALD
Vice-Pres.
F. E. BOOTHBY,
Gen'l Manager.
General Superintendent.
Gen'l Pass. & Ticket Agent.
Harbard University.
Cambridge. Mass.
[19cz]
Mont 10.
than les. Dorr:-
Jusio 1 noble his
of go the indeed- vivant 2e
quarter. Let the thank for
hereby for teaching this
point to we are Za for
T
have not the slightest doubt
HUA. Harvard Univers ty. Subscription
Records. Subscription for Emerson
Hall. 1901-1905.
that / y will go an nicely Jan
Lorry that you did hot add
addresses to whom to send
for ther gifts.
Ry the way last summer
June you the plody of 1000
from a lewyer in Alley, T
think his have was Haudi
he belorgs into the list too.
2.
3.
buy May 10.04
Jean Mr. Dors:-
Ines today more Luc -
coupal and thus I wired for for
that I have found apparently a
suitable by for four dinner
next the 18th seems
all right. I have removed my
leminary therefore ha another
date and
have asked Dana
Lie, Robbier, Pilmer, Teacher
Januer, Rogue Hames, Sandagers
to Reep that earning free to
this gives eleven persons anyhay
Third not know whether for
want to add still younger
members of the Department
D. learn, Miller, Hols, Yorker,
Norton would have rather
1/26/2020
Xfinity Connect Eugene L Roberts Collection Printout
RONALD EPP
1/26/2020 3:17 PM
Eugene L. Roberts Collection
To gordon_daines@byu.edu
Dear Mr. Daines:
I am writing to ask if you have an interest in possibly supplementing
your Eugene L. Roberts Collection UA562..
In his teenage years, Roberts developed a relationship with George
Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944), a subject I treat in Creating Acadia
National Park: The Biography of George Bucknam Dorr (Bar Harbor:
Friends of Acadia, 2016). This relationship began when Roberts
became a part of the Southwest geological research team led by
Harvard professor William Morris Davis, a friend of Dorr who
accompanied him on this 1902 adventure.
As a retired academic library director, I am familiar with Jonathan
Romine's 1984 dissertation on Roberts. While I devote only a single
page in my bio to the brief intersection of their lives, the Sawtelle
Research Center at Acadia National Park contains a January 2, 1903
five-hundred-word typescript letter from Eugene to Dorr which may
not be in your holdings--and a copy of which I offer to you.
In this letter he attributes to Dorr his success in "attending school by
teaching physical culture as a means of paying for the school year.
{and] that our experience together this summer has been a great help
to me in my work." He also remarks that his father had visited with
Dorr on a trip to New England that included a visit with professor
Davis.
Of course. I would be most interested in whether you have any
information on G.B. Dorr. I have quite an extensive file on professor
Davis should you wish to expand that aspect of Eugene's life.
By the way, since you are responsible for the Yellowstone Collection,
Dorr developed a deep relationship with NPS Director and
Yellowstone Superintendent Horace M. Albright who provided Dorr
with wise counsel in the last three decades of Dorr's life.
018
Part_2.jpeg (700x1093)
Notz: Below is a copy of G.B.Dorr's handwrittan entry in
a guide führerbucher, completed in late 1902 in
Glacier, British Columbia (see emails). This discovery
Peter Dreher extended my understanding of Dorr's t
6/2
102
l have had great pleasure
a climbing limit Christian Kaufusm
and I have felt throughent the
most lution Confidence in his
skill. his thought and his
faithfulness / Jease of perform
sibility The Climbs we made
together - and I will they my
have been many turn -- wen
hit Stephen, about's Pass, r
Duchesty Pass He Cam with
me to Glacin, togethe wit Cli.
Masle, a 4 Clinic Sii wonald
but those Mounted the ascent
Sept. 28th George R. work
Glacin M of Robler u.s.a.
1902
2.
Re: Inquiry: George Bucknam Dorr
Ronald Epp
11:01 AM
To Steven Holmes Copy Peter Dreher
Dear Peter and Steve.
What a surprise to receive your inquiry. I have have just moved from Pennsylvania to a new
home just west of Hartford CT and only yesterday was my Internet connectivity re-
established.
I do have information not disclosed in Creating Acadia National Park regarding Dorr's activity
in late September 1902.
Dorr was out West that summer with Harvard geologist William Morris Davis engaged in field
studies in Utah and Arizona. Before he departed he indicated in a letter to the curator of
the
Harvard Herbarium his hope to visit the northwest and Canadian Rockies. As I explain in my
book, he published "Two National Monuments" in 1917 about his adventure but not what
followed in late September. The Acadia National Park archives contain fragments of his
1902 travel diary. This documentation is in Pitman shorthand, a technique he and Charles
W. Eliot used. Much of this documentation is marred by a scribbling over the entries but
clarified by an occasional transcription in a hand other than Mr. Dorr. Because it appeared to
be such an unfruitful document I did not try to have it transcribed. BUT, in the entry for Sept.
24, 1902 is "Mt. Stephens [unintelligible] 3:30," written after several days of references to
activities around Abbot Pass and Lake Louise.B October 2 he is in Seattle and Portland.
I can send you copies of the entries if you provide contact information. I would very much
like to know more, Peter, about your project.ar more specific information on the source of
the Glacier reference to "George [B?] Dorr of Boston." I much appreciate Steve reaching out
to me and am curious as well about his inquiries.
Best,
Ron
Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D.
603-491-1760
3.
eppster2@comcast.net
On March 16, 2018 at 10:38 AM Steven Holmes wrote:
Peter -
Hi! I hope you are well. Thanks for the note, interesting to hear of your coming across Dorr in your own
research. Yes, looking at Ron Epp's biography of Dorr (page 113), it seems that GBD did take a Western
trip in summer 1902, with the Canadian Rockies as a possible destination - but the details are pretty
sketchy, with little evidence as to where he actually visited on the trip (see note 31 on overall lack of
evidence about the trip). So, I think your find might be of interest to Ron (whom I'm therefore including
in this e-mail) - it would be great to have confirmation, but it seems likely this was indeed Dorr, and your
info therefore may both nail down one destination on an otherwise hazy trip, and also shine a bit more
light on Dorr's development as a serious mountaineer - again according to Ron, this comes 2 years
before Dorr's much-better-documented trip to the Sierras, where he scaled Mt Whitney - maybe this
Canadian mountaineering served as preparation for that later success. The Swiss guide angle seems
potentially interesting too, given Dorr's European leanings (though I forget if he mountaineered in the
Alps or not ...).
Though again, would be great to have a smidge more data to make it all click. Maybe you have more
evidence on all this, Ron?
Cheers, Steve
Steven Pavlos Holmes, Ph.D.
Scholar-in-Residence at the Boston Nature Center, Mattapan, MA
Home: 21 Eldridge Road, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 USA
617-285-2832
Email: stevenpavlosholmes@gmx.com
Alternate: stevenjholmes@post.harvard.edu
https://facingthechangeanthology.wordpress.com/about-the-editor/
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2018 at 2:35 PM
From: Peter Dreher
To: stevenpavlosholmes@gmx.com
Subject: Inquiry: George Bucknam Dorr
Hello Steven Holmes,
I
just read your biography of George Bucknam Dorr in the Sept/Oct 2016 issue of Harvard
Magazine. And I was wondering if you might know whether Dorr did some mountain/glacier climbing
in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Silkirks around September 28, 1902.
I'm doing some research on Swiss mountaineers (i.e., guides) in Canada during the turn of the
century. I have a reference--written at Glacier, B.C.--to "George [B?] Dorr of Boston" climbing Mt.
Stephen and attempting to climb Mt. Sir Donald.
Could this be a George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944)?
Thanks so much for taking the time to consider my question.
Best wishes,
Peter Dreher
Olney, MD
212
4.
3/18/2018
XFINITY Connect Inbox
Re: Inquiry: George Bucknam Dorr
Dreher Peter
2:08 PM
To Ronald Epp Copy Steven Holmes
1 attachment View Open in browser Download
Dear Steve and Ron,
Thank you both for your kind e-mails. For the past few years, I have been researching several Swiss
mountain guides from the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who climbed in the Alps and in
Canada. Specifically, I am hoping to put together some biographies of Peter Kaufmann (1832-1903); Peter
Kaufmann (1858-1924); Peter Kaufmann (1886-1971); Christian Kaufmann (1872-1939); Hans Kaufmann (1874-
1930).
I
have been lucky enough to obtain copies of the Fuhrerbücher of some of the guides. As you probably
know these small "notebooks" are carried by the guides so that clients can write references or detail events
about excursions. One of those references was written on September 28, 1902, by George B. Dorr of Boston.
And now that you, Ron, mentioned some more details (e.g., Mt. Stephen, Abbott Pass), we can be sure it is
indeed George B. Dorr.
I have attached a copy of the Führerbuch entry. Here is what it says,
/ have had great pleasure in climbing with Christian Kaufmann and / have felt throughout the most confidence
in his skill, his strength, and his faithfulness and sense of responsibility-The climbs we made together-and
/ wish there might have been many more-were Mt. Stephen, Abbott's Pass, and Duchesnay Pass. He came
with me to Glacier together with Chr[istian] Häsler, to climbed Sir Donald but snow precluded the ascent.
George B. Dorr of Boston, U.S.A.
Sept. 28, 1902
Glacier, B.C.
Source: Kaufmann, Christian. Führerbuch, nach dem Reglement für die Bergführer und Träger vom 24.
Juni 1892. Interlaken, 1892, p. 102.
It is interesting that GBD became a serious mountaineer and that he later climbed Mt. Whitney. I would be curious
to
know if there was any further reference to the Canadian climbs and/or the guides. Sometimes Kaufmann's
Canadian clients sought him out in the Alps as well; but I know of no record of GBD climbing in Switzerland.
You might be interested in my article, posted on
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter Kaufmann (Alpine guide)
At the moment, I am working on a biography of Christian Kaufmann (1872-1939), which I also hope to post
on Wikipedia on the near future.
Yes, I would very much appreciate any further documents about GBD in the Rockies or the Selkirks. Thank you
both for your feedback on this.
Best wishes,
Note: See TRAVEL: 1902 Canadian
Peter
Rockies file elsewhere in
Peter Dreher
Olney, MD 20832
Dorr Archiva!
Harvard Magazine. 119, (Sept./oct. 2016), n.44-45.
VITA
George Bucknam Dorr
Brief life of a persistent conservationist: 1853-1944
by STEVEN PAVLOS HOLMES
ULY 8 marked the centennial of the founding of the Sieur de
tween the Yard and the Charles River. These tasks honed skills of
J
Monts National Monument in Maine, which within a few years
planning, negotiation, and administration on which he drew when
became the new National Park Service's first Eastern property.
he turned to conserving open space on Mount Desert Island.
The creation of what is known today as Acadia National Park was
In the 1890s, living at his family's home on the island, Dorr devel-
spearheaded by a wealthy Bostonian, George Bucknam Dorr, A.B.
oped a real interest and expertise in landscape gardening, founding
1874, who also served as its first superintendent.
the Mt. Desert Nurseries, working on other landscaping and con-
Dorr's Brahmin family lived in bucolic Jamaica Plain until he was
servation projects there (sometimes alongside future landscape ar-
seven, and he wrote later, "My earliest recollections are concerned
chitect Beatrix Farrand), and, further afield, advising friends such
with gardens Of his grandfather's home in rural Canton, he re-
as the novelist Edith Wharton on her estate in the Berkshires.
called: "There, in real country, with woods and a lake for neigh-
In 1891, President Eliot's son Charles, a landscape architect, and
bors, dogs and horses for companions, my brother and I grew up,
others founded The Trustees of Reservations in Massachusetts
springs and falls, till college days." His mother read him works by
"for the purpose of acquiring, holding, arranging, maintaining and
the Lake Poets, and "Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey, Carlyle
opening to the public, under suitable regulations, beautiful and
and Ruskin came to be part of me, grew into my being." In 1868, the
historical places and tracts of land" within the Commonwealth.
family bought property on Mount Desert Island in Maine, where
By the early 1900s, increasing threats to the scenery of Mount
Harvard president Charles William Eliot was a summer neighbor.
Desert Island led to that model of private ownership of conserva-
The lifelong impact of Dorr's youthful stuttering is harder to
tion land being transferred to Maine: the Hancock County Trust-
gauge. Thanks most likely to a supportive family and the insights
ees of Public Reservations was created, with Charles William
of an understanding doctor, Edward Warren, A.M. 1826, M.D. 1829
Eliot as president and Dorr as vice president and executive offi-
(himself a stutterer), the condition proved no bar to his becoming a
cer. After initial land acquisitions and conservation measures, it
sociable and publicly engaged man. Warren's assertion that a stut-
became clear that negotiating the varied interests involved would
terer searching for a career should choose "that pursuit in which
require not a private organization but rather public ownership
his defect shall afford the smallest obstacle to his progress" may
and management, achieved with the transfer of the assembled
have supported Dorr in forging a new kind of profession suited to
properties to federal authority as a national monument in 1916.
his passions and abilities-including the very qualities of persis-
During his long tenure as superintendent, Dorr committed all
tence and tenacity required to manage his stutter.
his personal, social, and financial resources to the site's develop-
After college, Dorr largely spent time with his parents in Europe
ment-solidifying its status through designation as Lafayette
and in Maine. Around 30, though, he began a decades-long engage-
National Park in 1919 (renamed Acadia in 1929), expanding its
ment with philosophy. An early spark may have been his chance
holdings through negotiation with local landowners, and work-
meeting in Boston with Josiah Royce, whom Dorr then introduced
ing with John D. Rockefeller and others to create the park's fa-
to his friend William James. After Royce joined James in Harvard's
mous system of carriage roads. In contrast to the first Western
philosophy department in the mid 1880s, Dorr read Spinoza with
parks-claimed as "wilderness" and expropriated wholesale-the
him privately, exploring the unity of God and nature in light of new
gradual development of Acadia respected the legal and cultural
scientific theories such as evolution. Spinoza's belief in the exis-
precedents of its Eastern (and white) constituency. Yet in shap
tence of enduring order and meaning within the constantly chang-
ing a national park in "a peopled region where human associations
ing material world may have colored Dorr's growing appreciation
replace in a measure the appeal of far-reaching wildness made in
of the weather-beaten granite rocks and ceaseless waves of Mount
other parks," Dorr's vision of Acadia still offered "one great ele-
Desert Island, shaping (together with the Transcendental influences
ment of wildness"-"contact with the ocean and the sight from
of his youth) his later outlook on conservation as "not a question
mountainous heights of its great plain of waters stretching bound-
of breathing-spaces and physical well-being only; it goes far beyond
lessly away till hidden by the curvature of the earth."
that and is deeply concerned with the inner life of men."
Dorr's philosophy connections also led him to serve on (and
Steven Pavlos Holmes, M.T.S.'87, Ph.D. '96, is Scholar-in-Residence at the Bos-
sometimes chair) the department's visiting committee for two
ton Nature Center in Mattapan, Massachusetts. He is indebted to Ronald Epp
decades. He led fundraising for a new building, Emerson Hall, to
for his groundbreaking Creating Acadia National Park: The Biography
house the department and helped Harvard acquire properties be-
of George Bucknam Dorr (Friends of Acadia, 2016).
Opposite (clockwise from top): Eagle Lake and North Bubble Mountain, from the lake's north ml George B. Dorr on the Beachcroft Path on Huguenot Head; Mount Desert Island,
from Baker Island; and Dorr at Jordan Pond, with the Path Committee in 1923 for right). and with Harvard president Charles William Eliot (at
left)
The Biltmore inspires a gilded Thanksgiving - The Washington Post
Page 1 of 7
The Washington Post
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Food
The Biltmore inspires a gilded Thanksgiving
By David Hagedorn November 21, 2014
In the bustling, modern kitchen of a farm near Asheville, preparations for Thanksgiving dinner are in full
swing, providing a perfect snapshot of a farm-to-table movement taking root in western North Carolina.
The 25-pound Bronze turkey simmering in a water bath on the stove, to be later roasted in a wood-fired
oven, came from the farm's poultry yards. So did the eggs being hard-boiled and grated for the bird's corn
bread dressing. The on-site dairy produced the milk, butter and cream from the farm's Golden Lad Jersey
cows. The Queen sweet potatoes, White Plume celery, parsnips, onions and pumpkins getting peeled,
chopped, boiled, roasted or pureed were grown in fields below the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers.
Spinach and lettuce were pulled from the property's glass-roofed greenhouses.
Or SO I imagine. This Thanksgiving dinner, in my mind's eye, takes place not in 2014 but in 1902. The
farm is Biltmore, a 125,000-acre estate, and the house a 250-room French Renaissance chateau. "Many
novel dishes were set before the guests, the ingredients for which came from the good things raised on the
estate farms and which were the original product of Biltmore's astute chef," the Asheville Citizen reported
about that day.
* In November 1902
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5/7/2015
The Biltmore inspires a gilded Thanksgiving - The Washington Post
Page 2 of 7
Today, Biltmore - on much less land - is considered one of the nation's premier examples of Gilded Age
architecture. The home, still the largest privately owned residence in the country, is also Asheville's
biggest tourist attraction. What I didn't realize until I investigated, though, was just how visionary its
owner, George Washington Vanderbilt II, was. His goal that the house be self-sufficient, like the
European manors he much admired, made it an early example of a back-to-the-land focus that we now
take for granted. Vanderbilt's influence, in fact, changed Asheville's landscape and even provided the
backdrop for its current culinary boom.
When I toured Biltmore in July, my guide noted how seriously the Vanderbilts took special occasions and
mentioned that George's favorite meal was roast turkey and corn bread dressing. That set my wheels in
motion. I decided that as Biltmore approaches the 120th anniversary of the house's completion, I'd
develop a Thanksgiving menu as a tribute.
First, some background. Vanderbilt was the last of eight children born to William Henry Vanderbilt,
whose father, Cornelius, had amassed a fortune in railroads and shipping. Upon William Henry's death in
1885, George's two eldest brothers ran the family's business affairs, leaving George free to pursue
pastoral interests.
On a trip to Asheville with his mother, Maria, in 1888, Vanderbilt, then 26, was captivated by the Blue
Ridge Mountains and decided to build a country home there. Construction took six years, from 1889 to
1895. By the time Biltmore was finished, the locals, skeptical about a millionaire New Yorker turning
wilderness into manna, had been won over.
"Vanderbilt the farmer," wrote the Asheville News and Hotel Reporter in 1887, "has shown the
Carolinians the productive capacities of their Virgin Soil
by the scientific drainage, the improved
machinery, the importation of fine stock, the
lavish use of fertilizers, and the most up-to-date and
scientific methods
"
Vanderbilt employed the most talented people he could find, including experts in forestry, road building,
horticulture, agriculture and general management. Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., who designed New York's
Central Park, was the landscape architect, but he was more than that.
"A land use planner, really," says Ted Katsigianis, Biltmore's vice president of agricultural and
environmental sciences. "He convinced Vanderbilt that most of the land had to go back to forestry and
managed sustainably like a crop, because everything else east of the Mississippi that was accessible had
been logged."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-biltmore-inspires-a-gilded-thanksgiving/...
5/7/2015
The Biltmore inspires a gilded Thanksgiving - The Washington Post
Page 3 of 7
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Pretty much everything was grown and raised at Biltmore: grain crops, forage crops, field crops, fruits,
vegetables, poultry (hens, brooders, turkeys, ducks, game birds), Berkshire swine, lard hogs, Jersey cattle,
sheep, goats, bees. What couldn't be produced there was bought from Asheville vendors or brought in by
rail from the Northeast. In turn, the estate was selling enough products to be commercially viable by the
beginning of the 20th century.
Biltmore was cutting edge. Greenhouses (called forcing houses) supplied produce such as asparagus,
melons, tomatoes and lettuce in the winter. The dairy, Vanderbilt's pride and joy, was tiled in white
enamel for easy cleaning and had cold storage, ice and electric plants. Its three cattle barns were
temperature controlled in winter and turned into open-air sheds in the summer.
In 1898, Vanderbilt married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser, who was taken with Biltmore and involved herself
in the lives of the farm families, says Leslie Klingner, Biltmore's curator of interpretation. She advocated
literacy, created Biltmore Industries SO locals could earn money making furniture and handicrafts, and
established a School of Domestic Science for African American women. She promoted agricultural reform
and set up agricultural fairs and competitions.
Biltmore House was the apogee of modernity at the turn of the century. It had electricity, hot and cold
running water, a bowling alley, a 70,000-gallon indoor swimming pool, a gym, freight and passenger
elevators, dumbwaiters, forced-air heat, an in-house telephone system, a centrally controlled clock
system, an icemaking plant and refrigeration that used compressed ammonia gas to chill brine water.
What is striking about Biltmore's basement-level kitchen, preserved in its original condition, is how
brilliantly it was planned. With a bit of updating, you can easily picture a cadre of today's chefs happily
working there. It has a walk-in cooler and three reach-in refrigerators. The dry goods storage room was
lined in steel to keep it rodent-free. The spacious main kitchen, with its batterie of gleaming copper pots
and pans hanging over the work space, features a large coal-and-wood-fired stove and a wood-burning
grill. Separate rooms house a fruit and vegetable pantry, a root cellar for preserved foods, a pastry kitchen
and an enormous wood-fired rotisserie with an electrically operated spit for roasting meat.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-biltmore-inspires-a-gilded-thanksgiving/...
5/7/2015
The Biltmore inspires a gilded Thanksgiving - The Washington Post
Page 4 of 7
All the better for producing a special dinner like Thanksgiving's. Although we don't know what the house
served in 1902, we do know that the guests numbered 18, and many arrived in Vanderbilt's lavish private
rail car, the Swannanoa, just in time for the holiday. Some of the guests had been at Biltmore all month.
The meal was served in the banquet hall, 70 feet long and 42 feet wide with a 70-foot vaulted ceiling,
adorned with flags of the 13 original states, moose and big-game heads, 16th-century Flemish tapestries,
a triple fireplace and a pipe organ loft.
Seating for the dinner was in the French style, with George and Edith facing each other at the center of
the table and the guests of honor, noted architects Thomas Hastings and Charles McKim, at either head.
The writer Edith Wharton, who frequented Biltmore, sat to George's right. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., a
successor to his father's architectural firm, also attended. Olmsted Sr. died in 1903.
The oak dining table, 12 feet wide, could extend from 1/2 feet to 40. It was always set, says Klingner, with
a white damask tablecloth and napkins, all made by hand and most embroidered with the GWV
monogram. The Vanderbilts' burgundy-and-gold-bordered china was made in England by Minton and
Spode Copeland. Silver flatware featured an engraved Old English pattern from Frances Higgins, London,
1894. The delicate, feather-light crystal was Baccarat.
Dinner was always served at 8 and was always formal dress. There were seven or eight courses, up to 10
for special occasions. Oysters on the half shell were a favored starter, followed by soup (often consommé),
fish (bass and Spanish mackerel were popular choices), an entree (often an elaborate variety-meat dish),
a relevé (a roasted meat joint or bird, plus multiple vegetable and starch side dishes), salad and black
coffee, considered an aid to digestion.
I
developed my Biltmore tribute dinner mostly from one historical gold mine: a diary describing 14 weeks
of menus for luncheons and dinners served between Sept. 27 and Dec. 31, 1904. In addition to turkey, the
Thanksgiving menu that year included oysters, consommé, broiled Spanish mackerel, calf's brain cutlets
and Virginia ham. Many of the menus contain notations and changes added by Vanderbilt or his wife,
Edith.
You'll notice one major difference between my tribute menu and those served at Biltmore: I trimmed
mine to four courses, keeping in mind that you are unlikely to employ an English chef, a French assistant
and 12 other cooks, as the Vanderbilts did. (The 12 cooks were women, 11 of them from Western North
Carolina.)
Advertisement
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5/7/2015
The Biltmore inspires a gilded Thanksgiving - The Washington Post
Page 5 of 7
The first course is something I'm calling Oysters Biltmore, bivalves on the half shell with bits of country
ham and a lemony scallion Mornay sauce that broils into browned, bubbling, cheesy perfection.
The second is a Waldorf salad update from Asheville chef Katie Button, owner of Curate and Nightbell. A
"salade" was always served before dessert at Biltmore dinners. The course was popular among wealthy
people in the early 19th century because lettuce, being SO perishable, was a delicacy. That the Vanderbilts
served lettuce grown in their own greenhouses in the winter would have impressed guests.
The preparation George Vanderbilt liked most for roast turkey and dressing was that of Ellen Davis, a
cook from Avery Creek, a few counties over, who came to work at Biltmore in 1899.
As it turns out, her turkey recipe, sent to me by Klingner, results in a terrific bird. In a covered pan on top
of the stove, Davis first simmered the bird in water covering its thighs, basting it regularly to keep the
breast moist, then roasted it in the oven until golden brown. That method produces braised thigh meat
that is tender and flavorful without overcooking the white meat: two hours for a 14-pound turkey. I added
extra touches, including a two-day dry-brining and butter under the breast skin to eliminate the need to
baste.
A pencil notation added in George Vanderbilt's hand to a luncheon menu for Nov. 25, 1904, reads, "Give
me puree of parsnip sometimes as a vegetable," SO I did, topping it with bruleed sweet potato disks as a
riff on sweet potatoes with roasted marshmallows.
Fried hominy appears often in the 1904 menus, usually as an accompaniment for duck. I fashioned cakes
from grits, hominy, spinach, bacon and Parmesan cheese and sauteed them to golden brown crunchiness.
Charlotte russe, a molded dessert of Bavarian cream surrounded by ladyfingers, was popular on the
Vanderbilt table. My version is a showstopper: pumpkin Bavarian cream encased in strips of gingerbread
and topped with caramelized pineapple, a fruit often served at the Vanderbilt table.
Advertisement
There's another reason to pay tribute to Biltmore this Thanksgiving: This year is the 100th anniversary of
George Vanderbilt's death, after an emergency appendectomy. So raise a glass to him, and to his
continuing influence.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-biltmore-inspires-a-gilded-thanksgiving/..
5/7/2015
The Biltmore inspires a gilded Thanksgiving - The Washington Post
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Soon after her husband died, at age 51, Edith sold off 85,000 acres of land to the U.S. Forestry Service,
ensuring that the land would be protected, as he had wished. In 1930, the Vanderbilts' only child,
Cornelia, and her husband, John Cecil, opened Biltmore to the public. After World War II, farms became
more specialized and Biltmore concentrated on its dairy operation.
In the 1950s, the Cecils' two sons took over the estate's operations. George oversaw the dairy, his brother
William the house. The present-day historic site of Biltmore, still owned by the Cecil family, includes
8,000 acres. The balance of the land was inherited over generations by members of the Vanderbilt and
Cecil families.
When the dairy was sold off in 1982, William Cecil decided to return to his grandfather's original vision of
a varied, food-producing estate. In 1983, he replaced the dairy with a winery and hired Katsigianis, who
has a PhD in animal breeding, to establish a beef cattle operation.
"We started with Angus, added sheep in the early '90s, then a poultry program based on George
Vanderbilt's breeds and free-range pigs," says Katsigianis. "Seven years ago we started experimenting
with Wagyu genetics and now have a small herd of Angus-Wagyu crosses."
That's very 2014, in an 1895 kind of way.
Hagedorn is a food writer and former chef. He will join Wednesday's Free Range chat with readers at
noon at live.washingtonpost.com.
Recipes:
Oysters Biltmore
Parsnip Puree With Bruleed Sweet Potatoes
Corn Bread Dressing
Fried Hominy Cakes With Spinach and Bacon
Waldorf Salad
George Vanderbilt's Favorite Roast Turkey and Gravy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-biltmore-inspires-a-gilded-thanksgiving/...
5/7/2015
/
A Charming North Carolina Resort
Larles
sow
as run in from objects offered to the baby at a certain distance
Community
Grasping fessor at such objects was the sort of performance which Pro- off.
William
Willia
stinctive Baldwin seems most to have observed. It is obviously
etc.
directly or semi-reflex act; and I should much rather an in-
ries by connate paths alone, than by connate paths plus explain memo- it
of
plus choice, after Professor Baldwin's fashion.
The Ward,
fail, my opinion, to throw any positive light at all on the
I must in therefore conclude that Professor Baldwin's observations
question out of of whether we feel our motor-nerve currents as they vexed
our brain. In themselves, however, these observations pass
Sence:
very interesting as showing how strong stimuli may produce seem
definitely at localized re-actions than weaker ones. The baby grasped more
Eds.
trip
bright colors with the right hand almost exclusively.
WILLIAM JAMES.
Jane
Harvard University, Nov. 5.
1903
S.C.
39
Councine.
A Charming North Carolina Resort (1891)
New
To THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST:
Sir: I am just back from a fortnight's tour in the mountain
of North Carolina and Tennessee, and it seems to me a public
spirited thing to say to those of your readers who are fond of fin
landscape and to whom the White Mountains and Adirondack
are a twice told tale, that if they do likewise they will have thei
Tickets reward. Nothing can be easier or freer from hardships of kind
1/7/19
Nothing
thirty dollars; and from Asheville, Mount Mitchell, the highe
to Asheville from New York and return can be bought any fc
peak il east of the Rockies, can be reached, ascended (on horsebac
II
ell's need be), and the return made, in two days. The walk up Mitc
made. peak is the most beautiful forest walk (only five hours) I ev
Farther From Asheville, or still better Hot Springs, only a few mil
west on the same road, the foot of Roan Mountain can 1
only disagreeable part of the whole journey is a stupid wait of thr
reached in a day by rail, via Morristown and Johnson City. T
133
2
Comments: Letters to the Editor
Abbot against Royce
hours in the second rate Tennessee town of Morristown. The fam-
and with views that are simply magnificent opening out at every
ous Johnson City and Cranberry Railroad brings one in a couple
turn,
of hours to Roan Mountain Station. This railroad is perhaps the
If one just wants to see the quality of the North Carolina moun-
wildest and most romantic little narrow-gauge concern that the
tain country, let him take a ticket to Hickory on the Richmond and
world contains, being hewn for the most part in the solid vertical
Danville Railroad, and proceed up to Blowing Rock the next morn-
walls of a gorge down which a mountain torrent flows. One can
ing, and thereafter to Linville the Ideal. But if one have twelve
get to the top of Roan Mountain either by stage, by horse, or on
days at one's disposal, the whole trip, as I have described it, can be
foot; and there one finds magnificent views, and a large and fairly
easily made. It leaves on the mind an impression of simplicity and
good hotel. Coming down, and proceeding some eight miles to
richness combined. A multitudinous ocean of lofty hills, a virgin
Granberry (an iron mine, with an exquisite little sylvan hotel), one
forest of surpassing beauty, and an atmosphere of intensely colored
takes the stage for Linville.
light. Two weeks of "heaven-up-histedness," to use the expression
All your readers have heard of Asheville; perhaps not twenty
of an old Adirondack guide. We Northern tourists make a great
have heard either of Linville or of Blowing Rock. Linville is simply
mistake in not going farther away from home. September must be
the most high-toned and gentlemanly "land enterprise" to be found
an admirable month for the trip. But late June or early July will
on the continent Some twenty-five square miles of beautiful wilder-
show the woods all ablaze with the rhododendrons and azaleas.
ness have been bought; between thirty and forty miles of road have
W.J.
been already built, and as many more staked out for building, and
CHOCORUA, N.H., August 31.
harming modern hotel has been put up. This, with nine Queen
Anne cottages, an ice-house, a stable, a small store and post-office,
and some macadamized avenues in the square clearing, which forms
the centre of the hoped-for town, are all that the visitor finds.
Around them the primeval forest waves, and the eternal moun-
tainsstand 11 is Eden before the advent of the serpent. Not a loafer,
40
not a discordant touch or tone. The level is about 4,000 feet above
the sea, and the air, perfumed as it is with the forest-breath, is de-
licious. The roads are wonderfully laid out. The planner of the
Abbot against Royce (1891)
scheme, Mr. S. T. Kelsey, seems to have a genius for this work, and
the result is mile upon mile of evenly graded zigzags in various di-
rections, opening out at every turn views of extraordinary beauty.
These are the only roads I have seen in America which resemble
To THE EDITOR OF THE NATION:
the great Swiss roads. Alas, that they must as yet be of clay instead
SIR: Mr. Peirce's letter on this subject in your last week's is-
of macadam! If the twenty miles of drive from Cranberry to Lin-
sue unfortunately brings it before the larger public; and, since
ville are delightful, what shall be said of those from Linville to
Mr. Peirce professes to be a neutral judge, it may leave on your
Blowing Rock? They run through the forest over the mountain
readers an impression unfair to Prof. Royce if nothing more gets
sides, all the way by one of those wonderful roads, and must be
said. May I take a little of your space to record my opinion of the
seen to be appreciated Blowing Rock is a sort of inland Mount
merits of the case?
Desert in its early ante-fashionable days. Somewhat chaotic, a lit-
First, the facts. Professor Royce, one of the editors of the In-
1/c rough and crowded in its accommodations, with 600 visitors
ternational Journal of Ethics, wrote, in its first number, a review,
there when I passed through, mostly young people having a "good
seventeen pages long, of Dr. Abbot's 'Way Out of Agnosticism.
time," it bids fair to be a great summer resort ere long. Ten years
This review was altogether technical in character, but hostile in
ago il was wholly unknown to the outer world. It is a broad ridge
content, impugning both the value and the originality of Dr. Ab-
over 4.000 feet above sea level, with good roads in many directions,
bot's philosophy. Reviews of philosophical books in technical
LETTERS
Harvard
Facebook. The implication that it was only
Jr.) for an ascent of
HM
after the revelation of the inappropriate use
Mount Mitchell, the
of Facebook data by Cambridge/Analytica
highest peak in east-
Visit harvardmag.com
ern North America.
for additional letters.
Authors!
that it was necessary "to ask broader ques-
tions..." is not supported by the facts.
Yet their most
Were Faust and the members of the Cor-
lasting institutional contribution may have
poration and the Board of Overseers unaware
been as charter members of the Harvard
Miss the deadline for our
of the extremely numerous/reports in widely
Travellers Club, established in 1902 Under
Holiday Reading List?
read publications over many years regard-
Davis's presidency, speakers discussed their
ing the cavalier attitude toward user privacy
explorations of sites from the South Pole to
of Facebook leadership (e.g.: https://www.
Abyssinia. Dorr's home was the site of the
wired.com/story/facebook-a-history-of-
club's second meeting-which continues to
WE CAN DO IT
mark-zuckerberg-apologizing/?mbid=Botto
convey their enthusiasm to this day.
mRelatedStories),in conjunction with evi-
RONALD H. Epp
dence that the company leadership clearly
Farmington, Conn.
prioritized growth and profit over user wel-
In Peace
The Jaguars
fare despite protestations to the contrary?
Editor's note: Epp is the author of Creating
That
and Freedom
Our
Were the leaders of the University also un-
Acadia National Park: The Biography of George
aware of the repeated instances of Facebook
Bucknam Dorr.
COACH
having to "adjust" the numbers and meth-
ods for publicly reported advertising metrics
AMERICAN TRUTHS
BULLDOG
(e.g., https://www.forbes.com/sites/great-
ACCORDING to Casey N. Cep's review of Jill
speculations/2016/11/17/more-bugs-found-
Lepore's These Truths: A History of the United
in-facebooks-ad-metrics-to-the-dismay-of-
States (September-October, page 64), the re-
advertisers/#481foabe2a85)? One might have
vision from "these truths" being character-
thought that these widely reported and well-
ized as "sacred and fundamental" to "self-
known realities would have weighed heav-
evident" meant that those rights were "the
ily against inviting Zuckerberg to deliver a
stuff of science" and not "the stuff of reli-
Advertise your book in the
commencement address at an institution that
gion.." But the 7self-evident" precisely
Summer Reading List.
claims to prize, as its highest value, "veritas."
excludes scientifio/observation as the basis
NEIL GREENSPAN 75
of knowledge. We cannot, through scien-
THE DEADLINE IS:
Shaker Heights, Ohio
tific inquiry alone. discover that all mean
MARCH 14, 2019
are "endowed by their Creator with certain
IDEOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
unalienable Rights. And the Creator puts
Reach 258,000 Harvard
REGARDING the letter from David W.
religion right back into the picture-if not
alumni, faculty, and staff.
Thompson in the September-October is-
organized religion, at the very least Faith.
sue (page 2) decrying the lack of ideologi-
Regardless I have the highest degree of
Your book ad will include:
cal diversity at Harvard, I wonder just how
admiration for Lepore and look forward to
a book jacket photo, your
easy it is to have ideological diversity on a
reading her book
name and Harvard class year,
university faculty when almost half of the
MICHAEL JORRIN '54
and a short description -
ideological spectrum in this nation does not
Ridgefield, Conn.
accept science, changes long-held beliefs
totaling 8 lines of text.
on a dime, and believes truth is not truth?
ERRATA
Your ad will appear both
JOHN T. HANSEN, LL.B. '63
A PRODUCTION
in print and online.
San Francisco
posed the names of Charles
E. Gilbert III and join F.
For information about pricing
VITAE
Kotouc both
and ad specifications, go to:
WITHIN two years, profiles of George Buck-
Hunn Memorial Schools
Charles E.
nam Dorr and William Morris Davis have
and Scholarships twards
harvardmagazine.com/hauthors
Gilbert III
been published (September-October 2016,
in photo captions (Septem
contact Gretchen Bostrom
page 44; September-October 2018, page 44).
ber-October
at 617-496-6686, or e-mail
Neither profile mentioned the other alum-
In the first
classifieds@harvard.edu.
nus by name, though their relationship was
of Little Shards
tight-especially in 1902 when Davis invited
nance (September-Oc-
Dorr to join his scientific team to the Ameri-
tober page
can Southwest. Later that year Dorr returned
went MISSIDE from Michael
TURNTO PAGE 62
the favor by inviting Davis to join his com-
Schacher's name
John F.
to browse the I Holiday Reading List
panions (including Frederick Law Olmsted
We regres these
Kotouc
6
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018
Additional Information On Harvard Travellers Club:
August 29, 2018
William Morris Davis called together at the Harvard Union on November 15, 1902 a cadre of Harvard
men and others who he thought might be interested in "promoting intelligent travel and exploration."
Archibald Cary Coolidge, Copley Amory, Roland B. Dixon, and James H. Kidder present. Davis elected
President. Those registered at the first meeting did not include GBD.
In a listing of meetings between inception and the start of WWI (when disbanded for two years), 117
meetings or roughly about eight each year. A significant number of meetings had as their topuic the
exploration of Canada (excluding Alaska), with most in the Canadian Rockies (see items 30, 34, 47, 48,
67, 69, 99, 146, 159, 185, 196, 198, 201, 2016). Several speakers return, some up to a half dozen times.
W. Rodman Peabody speaks on the ascent of Mt. Mummery, Theodore Lyman and trips to British
Columbia, and Robert Blake on mountain sheep country of B.C, the first Canadian Rockies talk (Dec. 21,
1906). Could GBD have had a hand in program creation only four years after his travel there?
First meeting at a member residence is March 25, 1904 at Dorr's Commonwealth Avenue home.
Oddly, list of members has Dorr doer 1828-1932, voluntary resignation. Dorr not listed as Charter
member.
Other names with connections to GBD:
Bowditch, C.P., ernest, and Henry. Richard H. Dana, Charles E. Fay, E.W. Forbes, W. Cameron Forbes,
Richard W. Hale, F.L. Olmsted Jr., James. S. Pray,
Dorr not listed as president or vice president through the first three decades.
R.Epp
December 29.00
10/02
18 Commonwealth Avenue.
643
My dear President Uist
The situation is just
This unit regard is the
Harvard approach fund!
only $31000 have been
actually subscribed, and
affelent whom. as you
know. I telegraphed you
list IS be able is offer
Wrt less than $40000
possible on
Pages 2-
one
her
Ann HRA
Affletin asks the is lettein
kum as early as possible what
the action of its board June,
ite-, is, so that he may love
4w these in raisin, the anome
needed, if the decision is
fainable W new approach,
which du matter is push -
and for the fame Halm I
should be glad is
it myself-
Trusting it qua, go through
successfully. I am
Smeary Your
2.
them. however- The ground I gol him is unit
drais upon Was the offeritis he would, at press
extainly have (s lucenter to the , legislation from
the Summer residents, V then subsequent hostiliz
build- Mu Drog arranged the interned Viea
Wh j he should succed in gette leave . 15
present at it and I have had a tele-
gram from him today La, in that in vin of
this the Mumism pilition also would be with draw
GAn
[G.B Dorr]
NPS Form 10-900
OMB No. 1024-0018
(3-82)
Exp. 10-31-84
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
For NPS use only
National Register of Historic Places
received
MAY 22 985
Inventory-Nomination Form
date entered
20
See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms
Type all entries-complete applicable sections
1. Name
historic
Ellsworth Powerhouse and Dam
and or common
2. Location
street & number Union River less than one mile north from downtown Ellsworth not for publication
city, town
Ellsworth,
N/A vicinity of
state
Maine
code 23
county
Hancock
code
009
3. Classification
Category
Ownership
Status
Present Use
district
public
occupied
agriculture
museum
X
building(s)
private
unoccupied
commercial
park
X
structure
both
work in progress
educational
private residence
site
Public Acquisition
Accessible
entertainment
religious
object
N/A
in process
yes: restricted
government
scientific
being considered
yes: unrestricted
industrial
transportation
no
military
other:
4. Owner of Property
name
Bangor Hydro-Electric Company
street & number
Box 932
city, town
Bangor
vicinity of
state
Maine 04101
5. Location of Legal Description
courthouse, registry of deeds, etc.
Hancock County Registry of Deeds
street & number
city, town
Ellsworth,
state
Maine
6. Representation in Existing Surveys
title
N/A
has this property been determined eligible?
N/A
yes
no
date
federal
state
county
local
depository for survey records
city, town
state
7. Description
Condition
Check one
Check one
X excellent
deteriorated
unaltered
X
original site
good
ruins
altered
moved
date
fair
unexposed
Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance
The Ellsworth Powerhouse and Dam, completed in 1907, is one of the earliest
in Maine. The dam is an Ambursen type, or hollow, and is supported by cement
buttresses which are three feet thick, one hundred feet long, and from sixty
to seventy-one feet high. They form the supports of two large slabs of cement,
reinforced with steel bars, which extend entirely across the river and rest
on granite ledges. The seventy-one foot high dam, with a sixty foot spillway,
is located bwtween two granite bluffs which rise nearly one hundred feet.
Located at the foot of the western bluff, the Power House is of concrete
block construction and one-and-one-half stories high with a gable roof covered
with red Spanish tiles, Designed in a Rennaissance style, the building provides
a well-lighted interior with large round arched windows linked by a stone belt
course. The cornice has modillion blocks, returns and a Palladian window in
the gable end. An addition ont he rear of this structure repeats the original
classical motifs with round arched windows.
8. Significance
Period
Areas of Significance-Check and justify below
prehistoric
archeology-prehistoric community planning
landscape architecture
religion
1400-1499
archeology-historic
conservation
law
science
1500-1599
agriculture
economics
literature
sculpture
1600-1699
architecture
education
military
social/
1700-1799
art
engineering
music
humanitarian
1800-1899
commerce
exploration/settlement
philosophy
theater
1900-
communications
industry
politics/government
transportation
invention
other (specify)
Specific dates
1907
Builder/Architect James T. Leonard, Chief Engineer
Statement of Significance (in one paragraph)
The Ellsworth Powerhouse and Dam, located less than one mile from downtown
Ellsworth, is one of the oldest "peaking" facilities in the state, and repre-
sents a unique design, for the dam itself is hollow (called an Ambursen type,
after the designer). It consists of two thin steel reinforced slabs of concrete
support by concrete buttresses built at fifteen foot intervals. The dam is
ed
also the highest of its type ever constructed, and the granite ledge upon which
it sits insures longevity.
The engineer of the project was James T. Leonard, distinguished in his
field, who worked for the Bar Harbor and Union River Power Company (acquired
by Bangor Hydro-Electric in 1925). In 1928 Leonard wrote a report which contains
the following vivid and colorful description:
"Owing to the natural beauty of the surroundings, the great
height of the dam, and the architectural features of the power
house, the Ellsworth station is undoubtedly the handsomest power
station in New England. The dam and power house are located between
two rugged granite bluffs rising almost perpendicularly to a height
of nearly one hundred feet above the bed of the river; between these
primeval ledges stretches a massive dam of concrete and steel, rising
seventy-one feet above the bed rock, the highest power dam in New
England. The power house is located at the foot of the bluff on the
westerly side of the river, and is a handsome building constructed of
concrete block, with large circular topped windows nearly thirty feet
high; above these windows is an ornate cornice formed of concrete, and
the building is surmounted by a roof of red Spanish tiles."
9. Major Bibliographical References
Bangor Hydro-Electric News, Vol. 1, No. 2, January 16, 1928, Bangor, Maine.
Article by James T. Leonard, Engineer, Bar Harbor and Union River Power Company.
10. Geographical Data
Acreage of nominated property
2
Quadrangle name Ellsworth
Quadrangle scale 1:24000
UTM References
A
B
19 545240
4932260
Zone Easting
Northing
Zone
Easting
Northing
C
D
E
F
G
H
Verbal boundary description and justification
Assessor's Map 34, Lot 88
List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries
state
code
county
code
state
code
county
code
11. Form Prepared By
Arthur
name/title Frank A. Beard, Historian/Robert L. Bradley, Architectural Historian/Daniel Feeley,
Intern
organization Maine Historic Preservation Commission
date
April, 1985
street & number 55 Capitol Street, Station #65
telephone 207/289-2132
city or town
Augusta,
state
Maine 04333
12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification
The evaluated significance of this property within the state is:
national
state
local
As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-
665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated
according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.
State Historic Preservation Officer signature
Eale S.
title
S.H.P.O.
date
5/10/85
For NPS use only
I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register
Entered in the
date
6-20-85
National Register
Keeper of the National Register
Attest:
date
Chief of Registration
GPO 894-785
PRESERVING
HISTORIC
TRAILS
CONFERENC
ACADIA NATIONAL PARI
OCTOBER 17-19, 200(
SPONSORED By:
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
FRIENDS OF ACADIA
OLMSTED CENTER FOR
LANDSCAPE PRESERVATION
HISTORIC HIKING TRAIL SYSTEM OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORT
FOR
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, MAINE
Volume 1: History, Existing Conditions, & Preliminary Analysis
Draft, February 1999
DRAFT
Prepared by
Margie Coffin, Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
Project Manager
Jim Vekasi, Acadia National Park
Contributors
Karen Anderson
Christine Arato
Chris Barter
Don Beal
Brooke Childrey
Peter Colman
Patrick Eleey
Laura Hayes
Charlie Jacobi
Keith Johnston
Katy Lacy
Lauren Meier
Tracy Stakely
Stacie Van Wyk
Paul Weinbaum
Funding provided by
National Park Service Cultural Resources Preservation Program
Friends of Acadia
bid.
8.02
DRAFT
HISTORIC HIKING TRAIL SYSTEM
OF
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORT
FOR
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, MAINE
Volume 1: History, Existing Conditions, & Preliminary Analysis
ter for
rvation
Service
Q
OLMSTED
PATHMAKERS
CENTER
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORT FOR THE HISTORIC
for LANDSCAPE PRESERVATION
HIKING TRAIL SYSTEM OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
History, Existing Conditions, & Analysis
PATHMAKERS
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORT
FOR THE HISTORIC HIKING TRAIL SYSTEM
OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
Acadia National Park, Maine
History, Existing Conditions, & Analysis
Prepared by
Margaret Coffin Brown
Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
Project Manager
Jim Vekasi, Acadia National Park
Contributors
Karen Anderson
Laura Hayes
Christine Arato
David Goodrich
Sarah Baldyga
Charlie Jacobi
Christian Barter
Keith Johnston
Don Beal
Lauren Meier
Brooke Childrey
J. Tracy Stakely
Peter Colman
Gary Stellpflug
Mark Davison
Stacie Van Wyk
Paul Weinbaum
Funding provided by
National Park Service Cultural Resources Preservation Program
National Park Service Fee Demonstration Program
Friends of Acadia
Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
National Park Service, Boston, Massachusetts, 2006
2006
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1901-02
Page | Type | Title | Date | Source | Other notes |
1 | File folder | File Contents. 1902: Publication of Charles Eliot Landscape Architect by CW Eiliot; Trip to Grand Canyon. 1901: HCTPR-see 1896; see 1900;Death of Mary Dorr 10/21/01; Death of [?]Dorr 9/29/02; Fundraising for Emerson Hall, Harvard; Dedication of Dorr Memorial 8/29/47,intensive discuss of Dorr's character by Judge Peters; Dorr's involvement in HCTPR (incorporated 9/12/01) preceded Mary Dorr's death by 5 weeks See BHVIA 7/9/01; Origins of HCTPR, Dorr's Story, pg. 305; Dorr on Harvard Visiting Comm Noted on "Philosopy at Harvard" by H.Munsterberg; Note on Munsterberg on overcrowded conditions in Dana Hall HGM, See 1900; GBD to SA Eliot (11.11.24) on origin of HCTPR + LNP. Park begins at Seal Harbor meetings; Origins of Acadia (2/26/92) to Drury; Marriage of Jr. to Abby (10/9/01); Teddy Roosevelt leaves North Creek train station (9/14) to assume Presidency following McKinley's assas; Athletic field + future park office site acquiered by GBD | 09/05 | Ronald Epp | |
2-6 | Letter | Letter from Superintendent George B. Dorr to S.A. Eliot re:origins of HCTPR and ANP | November 11, 1924 | NHLA CWEII Collected Papers file 3077 | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
7 | Letter | Letter from George B. Dorr to President Eliot | May 1, 1901 | HUA. Records of the Pres. of Harvard U. CWE. B.36 | |
8 | Letter | Letter to George B. Dorr re: building for Philosopy dept at Harvard | June 19,1901 | HUA.Harvard University. Subscription Records: for Emerson Hall. 1901-1905 | |
9 | Records | Harvard University Subscription records and index to George Dorr letters | HUA. Harvard University Subscription Records: for Emerson Hall, 1901-1905, C.1 | ||
10-11 | Newspaper article | 1901 summer season in Bar Harbor | July 7, 1901 | New York Times. Jul 7, 1901. Proquest | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
12-13 | Letter | Letter to Curator of Gray Herbariaum from George B.Dorr re: trip west | July 1st, 1902 | Gray Herbarium Archives | |
14-16 | Report | Report of Work Done by the Bar Harbor V.I.A.Tree and Road-Side Committee | July 9th, 1901 | Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association. 1901. | Annotated by Ronald Epp. |
17-19 | Letter | Letter from Charles W. Eliot to Parke Godwin re: establishment of public reservations | August 12, 1901 | JML1,f.5 Dorr Papers | Annotated by Ronald Epp. |
20-21 | Letter | Letter from Charles W. Eliot to George B. Dorr inviting him to help establish reservation on Mount Desert Island | August 12, 1901 | JML 1, f.5 | Version 1 |
22-23 | Letter | Letter from Charles W. Eliot to George B. Dorr inviting him to help establish reservation on Mount Desert Island | August 12, 1901 | JML 1, f.5 | Version 2 |
24 | List | HCTPR: Origins; list of attendees August 13, 1901 at Music Room meeting | August 13, 1901 | Dorr Papers (1.5) essay | |
25 | Letter | Letter to the Justice of the Peace asking for incorporation of the HCTPR | No date | No source | |
26 | Letter | Letter from L.B.Deasy re: meeting for organization on September 14, 1901 | September 10,1901 | No source | |
27 | Letter | Letter to Director Drury from George B. Dorr re: editorial in the Boston Herald | February 16, 1942 | ANPA B3.F10 | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
28-29 | Manuscript excerpt | The Bar Harbor Athletic Field c1901 | October 15, 1941 | JML1, f.14.Dorr Papers | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
30-31 | Manuscript excerpt | The Bar Harbor Athletic Field c1901 | October 15, 1941 | JML 1,f.14 | |
32-33 | Letter | Letter to F.B.Sanborn from George B. Dorr re:Harvard Philosophy dept. | Feb. 18, 1902 | Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Boston University | |
34-37 | Textbook excerpt | Planning of Harvard College by Frederick L. Olmsted, Jr. 1896 | 1902 | Harvard University 1960: An Inventory for Planning. Cambridge: HU Planning Office.President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1960 | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
38 | Textbook excerpt | Letter to Sarah Orne Jewett re: Mrs. Dorr | October 22, 1901 | Letters of Mrs. Whitman. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1907 | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
39-41 | Newspaper article | A resolution presented by Dr. Mitchell on the contributions of Mrs. Dorr | Sept. 29, 1902 | Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association | Annotated with notes by Ronald Epp |
42-44 | Journal | Journal entries of Julia Ward Howe | 1901 | Julia Ward Howe Journal 1901 | |
45 | Date Page | 1902 | Ronald Epp | ||
46 | Index | Annotated Checklist of the letters of Franklin Sanborn, including one to George B. Dorr Feb. 13, 1902 | 1902 | Concord Authors: Sanborn F.B. subject. Ann Arbor, MI, 1904 | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
47-48 | Timetable | Maine Central R.R. Frenchman's Bay Service Time Table of Steamers: Norumbega, Sappho and Sebenoa | August 18, 1902 | No source | |
49-50 | Letter | Letter to Mr. Dorr from Hugo Munsterberg | April 10, 1902 | HUA. Harvard University Subscription Records: for Emerson Hall, 1901-1905 | |
51-52 | Letter | Letter to Mr. Dorr from Hugo Munsterberg | May 10, 04 | HUA. Harvard University Subscription Records: for Emerson Hall, 1901-1905 | |
53 | Email correspondence | Email from Ronald Epp re: Eugene L. Roberts | 1/26/2020 | Personal email correspondence of Ronald Epp | |
54-57 | Email correspondence | Email correspondence of Ronald Epp: George Dorr travels West | March 2018 | Personal email correspondence of Ronald Epp | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
58 | Journal article | George Bucknam Dorr: brief life of a persistent conservationist 1853-1944 | Sept/Oct 2016 | Harvard Magazine. Vol. 119 #1 Sept/Oct 2016, pp.44-45 | |
59-64 | Website | The Biltmore inspires a gilded Thanksgiving | November 21, 2014 | www.washingtonpost.com | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
65-66 | Textbook excerpt | Letter of William James re: a trip to North Carolina | 1891 | William James. Essays, Comments, + Reviews.Series: The Works of William James, F.H. Berkhardt,eds. Cambridge: HUP, 1987 | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
67 | Editorial | Response of Ronald Epp re: Harvard Travellers Club | 2018 | Harvard Magazine November/December 2018 | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
68 | Notes | Harvard Travellers Club | August 29, 2018 | Compiled by Ronald Epp | |
69-71 | Letter | Letter to President Eliot from George B. Dorr re: building railway | December 29, 1902 | No source | Annotated by Ronald Epp |
72-75 | Form | National Register of Historic Places Inventory: Ellsworth Powerhouse and Dam | May 22 1985 | United States Department of the Interior National Park Service | |
76 | Title Page | Reference: Preserving Historic Trails Conference | October 17-19,2000 | Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation | |
77-78 | Title Page | Reference: Historic Hiking Trail System of Mount Desert Island [draft] | February 1999 | Cultural Landscape Report for Acadia National Park | |
79-80 | Title Page | Reference: Pathmakers: Cultural landscape report for the historic hiking trail system of Mount Desert island | 2006 | Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation | Annotated by Ronald Epp |