Wild gardens of Acadia Corporation: 1916-1945 Cambridge, Mass., 21 April 1921 Dear Mr. Dorr: Henry L. Eno told me some weeks ago about the proposed transfer of the Marine Biological Station from Harpswell to Salis- bury Cove. It seemed to me a very desir- able achievement. Does it not suggest the completion of the organization of the Wild Gardens of Acadia and the organization of a committee to raise an endowment for it: The sooner it is announced the better. I hope your health has been pretty good this winter, and that you are taking some care of - yourself. Sincerely yours Charlest Elist Mr. George B. Dorr Draft of Dorr's edits of WGA article to appear in Sieurde,Honts Publications. THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA AUGUST, 1918 The Wild Gardens of Acadia was organized as a corporation on December 2, 1916, for the purpose of continuing and making per- manent the work commenced in the formation of the Sieur de Monts THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA National Monument on Mount Desert Island, situated in the old PREAMBLE TO DEED OF INCORPORATION, DECEMBER 2, 1916. French province of Acadia. We, the undersigned, desire to be incorporated for educational This work, entered on eight years before, had resulted during and scientific purposes, to wit: (1) for acquiring by gift, purchase, the previous summer in the establishment of the first national lease or otherwise, real estate within the area of the State of Maine bird and wild life sanctuary east of the Mississippi and north of draining into the Penobscot Bay and River, the Bay of Fundy, and Florida, and in conserving under national control for the use and the sea lying between said Bays, to enjoyment of the people some five thousand acres on Mount Desert hold, develop and improve for the purpose of making a permanent Island, including in a single tract its highest mountain peaks and exhibit, of scientific, educational and artistic value for the public much of its finest scenery. benefit, of trees, shrubs, herbs and other plants and of striking scenic The objects of the incorporation are: features: (2) for forming bird and other wild life refuges and gardens: I. To continue the work initiated on Mount Desert Island (3) for the experimental growth of plants not native to the region and make it the first step in the development of an eastern and and publishing reports thereon: (4) for publishing studies, illustra- seacoast national park, leading the way in an extension of the tions and descriptions of the region's native life and landscape: national park system eastward into the older and more densely (5) for furnishing opportunities for observation and study to students peopled regions of the country. of plant life, of gardening, forestry and landscape art: and (6) for II. To co-operate with the Secretary of the Interior and preserving and developing to the full the natural interest and beauty National Park Service in securing such a development for this of the lands acquired, which may however be sold, exchanged or park as will utilize to the full in an intensive way, such as its otherwise disposed of in any part that may seem best to the members lesser area compared with the great western parks makes possible, of the corporation with reference to the purposes of incorporation, the value of its position on our coast, the interest of its scenery, and or to their ability to carry out these purposes. the interest of its historical associations. 11. III. To make it serve the widest purpose that it can (1) as an instrument in the cause of wild life preservation in America; (2) as a means of study for naturalists in every field, marine as well as land; and (3) as an opportunity for observation, by students, archi- tects, gardeners and planters, of our native plants growing under natural conditions in a beautiful and uniquely various setting. IV. To extend elsewhere in that region, as opportunity may come, the establishment of favorably situated sanctuaries for the preservation of its birds and native animals, its trees, its wild flowers, and its spots of exceptional scientific interest or landscape beauty. V. To give such publicity to its work and aims and to the ideas inspiring them as will extend their influence and make them useful in awakening a love of nature and an out-door life. Two years have passed since the Government acceptance of the Mount Desert reservations to form the Sieur de Monts National Monument, and nearly as much since the first tentative incorporation of The Wild Gardens of Acadia. During these two years: (a) The lands of the Monument have been extended till it now STATEMENT OF AIMS includes all but a single one of the Island's major peaks, with por- MADE AT THE TIME OF INCORPORATION IN 1916 tions of the shore. THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA is a corporation formed (b) A publication series has been initiated, under the title of I. For the purpose of developing in co-operation with the the Sieur de Monts Publications, dealing with wild life and land- Government the unique educative and wild life conservational oppor scape conservation, with the bird life and the plant life on Mount tunities of the Sieur de Monts National park upon Mount Desert Desert Island, with its woods, its coastal setting and its human story, Island. together with that of the old Acadian province of which it formed II. For the gradual acquisition and establishment, in specially a part. selected areas elsewhere than in the park, of wild life and forest (c) The monument, though still a monument technically, has sanctuaries where the life native to the Acadian region - plant, bird won a recognition from Congress that has led to its being given this or other animal - may find shelter and opportunity to perpetuate year, alone among the national monuments, an independent appro- itself under natural conditions in an undisturbed environment. priation; and to the introduction of bills-now passed by the Senate III. For promoting observational and experimental studies and favorably recommended in the House - for its establishment in the Acadian native life, marine as well as land, migratory or per- as a national park, the first to the eastward of the Rocky Mountains manent, plant, animal or insect, and publishing reports thereon. and the recognized exponent of a policy of national park extension IV. For the experimental introduction, trial and exhibition into the older and more thickly settled regions of the country. of plants from other regions. (d) Lands on Mount Desert Island, important for its purposes, V. For the publication of any material, descriptive, scientific are now held by the Wild Gardens Corporation, and it holds ease- or historical, that will increase the interest to the public of the ments also over other lands, variously situated on the Island, for Acadian region, its life and landscape and its bordering ocean. bird sanctuary, for the protection of the landscape, and for foot and other rights of way. it 10/1 (e) The Wild Gardens of Acadia is, further, now engaged with the National Forest Service in seeking the establishment by Congress of a Mount Katahdin National Forest which will introduce the For- est Service as an educative and conservational instrument into the Acadian region and establish it all the heart of the most extensive forest district in the east paralleling its development in other sec- tions to the west and south and creating under Government protec- tion a much needed breeding ground and refuge for the region's game. ODUCED AT THE NATIONAL MARA,CP,,6679. ARCHIVES CCF, 1907-39. Azadia. Miscellanous depotal Reports Annual. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK 1921. (2N) BAR HARBOR, MAINE Arrival Rpt. OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT LNP sept. 10, 1951. Dece Lr: 1 excloting 00/0 of V annual report. to 12. lbright to the reviler report of two very interesting 10 orts, :,: Johnson Johns University for the Dotarist in lafayette the other by Lejor Moore on "Doinntific J port;inties O the Lafayette Lational Purch Both papers upe or greut value, comin as they do from men widely known in : e scientific world. I trust that they may be found userul in connection with my report. Cordially yours, The Director, Supt. National Davir service, Deportment of the Interior, shington, D. C. the The most important event in connection with the Dark that has happen- ed during the past year is the establishment on its border, attracted by its are once, of that promices to become one of the great biological stations, morine and land, of the world. the Wild Gardens Or' Mosdia Corporation, ap- breached last rell by the Harpswell Laboratory for Biological Research formerly : dioned at Humswell on Jusso 32/7, inine, placed at its disposal for a new home a tract of land it had been holding for such purpose upon the Island's northern shore; 011 this a laboratory building has been constructed, research votic has been carried 011, 3114 lectures given upon marine biology. Ultimately it is incented to cover every field of biology, animal and VG. etable, represented on Mount Desert Island or in its neighbring ocean, one the presence of the Luboratory, with the men D; distinction in all branches or natural science -Rich it will Grass to it, and has indeed already to it this season, will add an element OF extraOrdinary scientific interes t to the National Park Professor Ulric Dahlgron of Princeton, the director of the Laboratory, status as the result of hic sunder's exploration of them that the occan waters Series Mount Decart are RECO tionally rich in northern fauna and flora and in feverable oportunities Lor their study; and two of his essociates who leave been staying the land area of the Park, &C a living enceun of the region in reposible life, Dr. Suncon 0. Johnson, Professor of Botany at Johns Hopitins University, and Major Barriugta Moore, former president of the Ecological aciety of America, have kindly risten, at the Park superintendent's request, photoments to include in this report, which 210 herowith expended. -2- Reproduced at the National Archives R679 UP S, Centra Siles 1907-39/Box 4, File 121, of 1. Citation: Quarters 101 Corresp. located DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR in sepalate NATIONAL PARK SERVICE file. Above and 1822 LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK your P9-2. BAR HARBOR, MAINE OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT July 15, 1922. communicate Dear Mr. Cammerer: I write in answer to your telegram of July 14, regarding lease for office quarters, carpenter shop and garage for present fiscal year; and asking that I expedito request for approval of the same, giving full details. To take them seriatim $ The Park office is situated on a plot of ground cornering on two of the principal streets of Bar Harbor, Park Park Road and Main Street. The length of the plot upon Park Road Office is two hundred and six (206) feet. The length of it upon Main Street is eighty one (81) feet. The Park Road frontage faces the principal park of the Town, the Bar Harbor Athletic Field, from which shady foot-paths extend to the mountains of the National Park, a mile and a half away. The site the Park office is on was created for it, wga. the land being donated for the purpose to the Wild Gardens of Acadia, a corporation formed for the purpose of cooperating with the National Park Service in the development of the Park. M The Park office was built upon this site by the Wild Gardens of Acadia, and designed for its purpose. It was built on the first establishment of the Park as National Monument, and has TH HE FOUNDING of the Mount Desert Nurseries at Bar plants as Harbor in 1896 on lands of one of Mount Desert Island's gardening earliest farms was the first step taken by Mr. Dorr in the sequence Publ that led through various stages to the establishment twenty years later time to tir of the Country's first eastern and only seacoast National Park, the Nurseries, present Acadia National Park. The wonderful adaptation of the coastal regions of eastern Maine to the vigorous growth and brilliant flowering of the hardy perennial plants of the famous early English and Colonial gardens and their successors, plants gathered through centuries for their beauty's sake from all the North Temperate regions of the world, led Mr. Dorr, before thought of the National Park arose, to attempt the establishment of what he termed, after the English fashion, "Wild Gardens" gardens of naturalization for the exhibit and experimental growing of these and other hardy garden plants---in a beautiful valley near Bar Harbor with the sheltering background of the Mount Desert hills. He failed to obtain the funds and backing necessary to this project and the plan ultimately gave way before the larger scheme of the National Park, successfully carried through. But the vigor and beauty of these plants as they bloomed and flourished in this uniquely favorable region remained in his mind and is leading now to the establishment, on a lesser scale, of such an exhibit in connection with the Mount Desert Nurseries, from which the thought first sprang, in areas set apart for the purpose; and all who are interested in hardy gardening, here or elsewhere, are invited to come to observe the ries at Bar plants as the work proceeds and learn of the material for beautiful ert Island's gardening and landscape planting in this region. e sequence Publications on the progress of the work will be made from Y years later time to time and may be obtained on request to the Mount Desert al Park, the Nurseries, at Bar Harbor. of eastern of the hardy nial gardens S for their e world, led attempt the nion, "Wild experimental a beautiful and of the sary to this er scheme of e vigor and this uniquely ROSY LOOSESTRIFE AND THE NATIVE CAT TAIL now to the SELF PLANTED IN A BROOKSIDE GARDEN nection with st sprang, in sted in hardy observe the DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ACADIA NATIONAL PARK [7/2/1915] The Delano Wild Gardens stretch from the Spring en- trance road and lawns to include the wooded valley of Trout Brook, which they follow to the Tern and thence to the Town road, coaleseing with the Kane Path entrance from the road. In accordance with Mr. Lynam's desire to keep concise and brief the deed by which the Wild Gardens of Acadia trans@ ferred to the United States their right and duty to maintain and develop these Gardens as an exhibit of the native woodland flora, full detail of description of the locus was omitted es not ne- cessary and the brook valley as its central feature alone WAS mentioned. The right and duty transferred by the Wild Gardens of Acadia to the United States is to maintain, develop and extend the footpath system of these gardens in accordance with the adonted Wild Gardens plan and to create along these paths favorable opportunities for E representative, educational and attractive growth of our native woodland plants, adding to the soil as needed, and maintaining, and in due course of time replacing as replacement shill be required, their piped irri- gation system from the Tarn, which waters also the Museum and Sieur de Monts Spring lawns. (sgd) George B. Dorr. Long Field The Long Field I rember walking out to one Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1879, when our Oldfarm house was building and we were boarding at the DesIsles House in the village. Colonel John Markoe and Mrs. Markoe were spending the summer in a house nearby which they rented from one George Douglas, of whom there is incidentally a tale to tell, and it was with them and a gay group of younger folks who were staying with them that I was walking. Tall spruces of the native wood that had covered it had just been out and the ground was being cleared of roots, the soil sold and hauled away to make the lawns of summer homes along the Bar Harbor shore. There was then no town road that led to it, nor to the Great Meadow beyond, which remained hidden from any view from any public road until twenty years later, when I planned and built the road connecting the County road to Otter Creek with the Town way to Harden Farm. Entranoo to it was obtained only by a haul-way around the northern end of Strawberry Hill, avoiding the brook which swept the narrow gorge below from side to side. Some sections of this early way still remain, for few things are more enduring than a roadway once established, however crude. The Great Meadow basin was then completely looked away, shut in by woods, no road approaching it. A single farm, called after its owner 'Harden Farm, t reached down to it on the northwest, at the foot of the Kebo range, and a right-of-way road lod to it from Cromwell Harbor road to give it entrance. Climbing one looked down on the Meadow from its enoirolement of mountains; else, near as it was to Bar Harbor, it remained -- when life was at its fullest in the big hotel days and early period of summer home construction - unvisited and unseen. But an old Indian trail, leading through the Gorge from the northern shore to Otter Creek, ran past it on the west, around the mountain base, along whose line I later built the beautiful Hemlook Road past Sieur de Monts Spring. 3 In 1899, to obtain for my mother and our friends and neighbors on the Eastern Shore a short and pleasant drive, not leading through the Twon but connecting with its western side, I made the Town a favorable offer to obtain the right-of-way and build a road around the Western side of Strawberry Hill, connecting the Otter Creek county road with the Town's right-of-way road to Harden Farm, limiting the Town's expense to $2,500, an estimated one-half of what the road would cost, making myself responsible for the rest. The Town accepted, the road was built for me by the Mount Desert Nurseries and opened to use in the Spring of 1900. This road, opening up for the first time the Great Meadow basin made a beautiful quiet drive for use with horses. The meadow, its drainage blocked by the silting up of the brookbed, was a bog, with wild cranberries growing amid swamp grass on its eastern side, which turned to beautiful color in the later season, while on its western side, and embayed by the extension of the forest onto it grew the swamp-loving rhodora, mingled with Labrador pea and similar wild plants of the northern bogs, and forming brilliant sheets of color every spring. 4. Road construction requirements were simple in those horse-driving days, I drained the road-bed well and graded it, using such material as I found along the way and the Town has never had occasion since to make expenditure upon it, other than on surfacing it for motor use. Fifteen years later, when motor cars had come in use, I built, owning then the land, a road around the Meadow's southern end, continuing my e arlier road, so that people coming from Seal Harbor or beyond might take this shorter, better route to reach the Building of Arts for concerts, flower shows and the like, XYX/ the Kebo Valley Golf Club, with its nine-hole course, or summer residencesodn Bar Harbor's western side. 5. When, in 1930, Mr. RockefeAler, having acquired the land on the Island's ocean front, from Sand Beach to Hunter's Brook, asked the Town 1f it would surrender to the Government its Ocean Drive that he might build,for the Park, replacing it, a motor road along this whole magnificent stretch of shore, bridging the Creek, and the Town agreed, he included in his offer the construction of a road connecting the Cadillao Mountain road where it rises over Great Pond hill with this ocean drive. His offer accepted, he brought surveyers down from New York to study this connection, who worked the whole following summer through, consulting also, in regard to it, eminent landscape architects, before giving the route publicity. But the result was not a happy one, limited as the study was to lands the Park already owned. And ultimately Mr. Rockefeller, giving the lands he had acquired for carrying out the plan, withdrew from his offor, leaving it to the Govern- ment to continue with it,placing it for execution with the Federal Bureau of Roads for further study. In this, familiar with the whole territory as I was, I was able to help. The road originally surveyed was laid out over the Great Meadow's boggy bottom, where construction would be costly and no compensating view could be obtained. at high level The road I had laid out and built/around the Meadow basin was clearly the place where the roa should go. In this, once stafted, all agreed, but none had thought it possible the Town would yield the road to the Government. I thought it would, if given good p rmanent connection with the road when turned over to the Park and thi 8 connection Iwas in position to make possible through my ownership of the Long Field, the one traot still left to me of the land I had originally secured for my Wild Gardens project. This I gave. The Tonw, the matter being laid before it at its next annual meeting, agreed, and my road of thirty odd years before round the Meadow's northern end and eastern side, was taken for the new Park road, leaving free from road construction the lake like meadow bottom and incidentally saving the Government a full half its estimated oost. In making my gift to the Government of the land down the Long Field, which alone made it possible to obtain the Town's consent to the relinquishment to the Government of its road around the Great Meadowm I asked in return one thing: The construction, planting and maintenance of a path over it and across the Great Meadow beyond, connecting the Town with Sieur de Monts Spring and the mountain trails which rise from it. This path, long since pla nned and partly built, lies wholly in its course over land of my giving and recalls, being full of association for me, my Wild Gardens plan which led on to the Park's oreation. To this, referred to Washington, the Government, represented by the National Park Service, agreeed, as it did also to my having the plants intended for it grown in advance in-m under my direction by the Mount Desert Nurseries. The opportunities and purpose of The Wild Gardens of Acadia are variously set forth in the Sieur de Monts Publications issued by it jointly with the National Park Service. One such paper, No. V, written by Professor Fernald, chairman of the Department of Botany at Harvard University, tells of the value of the undertaking from the botanical standpoint. Another, No. XV, by Mr. Forbush, the Massachusetts State ornithologist and III one of the leading authorities upon bird life in the country, deals with its importance in relation to bird life. A third, No. II, includes a report by Dr. Mayer, Marine Biological Expert of the Carnegie Institution, on the value of the opportunity it offers for marine bio- logical research. A letter, separately printed, from Mr. Graves, director of the Forest Service, tells of the value of the opportunity it offers in the line of forestry; and one, contained in No. XVII, from Mr. Grant LaFarge, vice-president of the American Institute of Architects, tells similarly of the value it may be made to have in relation to landscape architectural education. A statement on Mount Katahdin, endorsed by the National Forest Service, is made in No. XVIII. A full list of the Sieur de Monts publications to date is printed on page 7. Direct ? 9.13. Acticon, Raine Tisky 24 July 1919 Dear Vr. Dorr: Is the tine you are giving showing people about the Park general in the interest of the Park or of The VE14 "ardens of Acadia? It seems to no that the interests of the latter enterprise should be vigorously promoted this: summer. I hope your exponditures on photographs can be utilized in favor of both the Park and the Cardons. I thank you for your information about Fraxinella. I have tel4 Dr. Abbo that I will attend his tree planting at the Spring; but I have not yet hoard from him on what day the ceremony is to cone off. Is he waiting for peace to arrive! If co, he had better attack the Senate minority with all his might. I should not wonder if Mr. Brookinge nude a good contribution to the Cardens, if you can get him interested in the educational side thereof. You know, of courso, that he is the Business Manager of the Washington University of St. Louis. Sincerely yours [C.W.Eliot] Mr. Goorre B. Dorr 1. 6/ Notes by the Wild Gardens of Acadia on plants, native on hardy in this climate, that can be used in permanent planting to add to the beauty of the home or landscape in this region. Sconitum Eohinacea purpurea Oenothera Acorus Calamus Eohinopa Paeony Alyssum saxalile Epilobium Pentstemon Althea Rosea Eryngium Phloxes Anemone Forns Platycodon Antherioum Fritillaria Polygonatum Aquilegias Funkias Papaver orientale Armeria Gentians Ranunculus /Artemisa Helianthus Rook Gardens /Aster Helenium Rudbookia Baptisia Hesperis Saxifraga Caltha Palustria Heuchera Soilla Campanulas Hibiscus Sedum Conualaria Hebernaria fimbafata Crocus Irises Streptopus amplexifo- lius Cypripodium Lathyrus Spring Bulba Chrysanthemum Lily Solidago Homerocallin Taraxaoum Clintonia Borealia Lobella Thaliotnum Thyme Delphin1um Lupins Tradescantia Trillium Dianthua Lyohnia Trollius Tulip Dicentras Lythrum Typha Viola Diotamnus Myosotis Verbascum Yuooa Digitalis Narcissus Nymphaea odorata BAR HARBOR, MAINE SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS Nots: XXII The Wild gardens of Acadia appears in Several different The Sieur de Monts National Monument and expressions: The Wild Gardens of Acadia: A Reprint (a) Steur de Monts from the Journal of the International Garden Club Arboretion and Wild gardens; (b) Delano wird Gardens; (c) garden Approaches to Lafagette N.P. (d' I the Acadian Plant Sanctuary (e)Wild gardens of Acadia Corporation. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Reprinted from J.I.G. E.I,# I (August 1917 Pp. 507-52 The Sieur de Monts National Monument and the Wild The Purpose Gardens of Acadia A deeper purpose has lain behind the formation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gardens of Acadia: To quicken interest By George B. Dorr in the preservation of the beauty and freedom to the people of our great national landscapes from the Mississippi Valley eastward, where human HE Sieur de Monts National Monument is the occupation is so rapidly extending; to lead the way in providing, in inspir- first National Park, other than military, to be ing scenery nationally guarded, means within general reach for the whole- established in the East. In its historic asso- some enjoyment of nature and an out-door life; and to aid, in a critical ciations it is the oldest in the country, ante- period when opportunities that cannot come again are swiftly passing, in dating by some years the landing of the Pil- the conservation of the Continent's native life through the establishment grim Fathers on the Plymouth Shore. It is of Wild Garden sanctuaries wherein it may be handed down to future gen- also the only National Park bordering upon the sea and exhib- erations in undiminished wealth of genera and species. iting the beauty and the grandeur of the ocean. To all of us National Parks and Monuments, wherever situated in regard to human who come from eastern stock, that frontage on the sea, that centers or on whatever scale, are intended by the Government to represent broad outlook on the North Atlantic, has peculiar interest. what is supreme in their own type, and of national interest. Ultimately, That sea it was which brought its founders to America, through no great expression of the Country's native life or landscape should fail of representation in them. The time has passed when matters of such kind danger and hardship, and gave their race the spirit of indepen- can be regarded sectionally. But beyond such action by the Nation, States dence and adventure from which our Nation sprang. This and communities and men of leading should extend the movement until Park, also, rising from the ocean front, links itself as none other America becomes, as it has so strikingly the opportunity to be, a land can, not placed as it upon a harbored coast, with the Nation's where beauty and landscape freedom and the charm of living things shall greatest possession, the navigable waters that border on its coast lie within the reach of all-both rich and poor-who crave them and are within the three mile limit and which in Maine, whose coast- responsive to their presence. No greater safeguard for national sanity or line is formed by the flooding of an old land surface worn by more wholesome influence upon the national character can be secured than streams, are fronted by twenty-five hundred miles of picturesque through a wide-spread love of Nature among the Nation's people, men and and broken shore from Portland to St. Croix. These National women in whatever station. And the time is coming when such a stabilizing waters of the ocean border, commercial use apart, constitute the influence, nation wide, and opportunity given the intellectual workers of the greatest public recreative area on the continent in the summer Country, on whom the burden of its business rests, to find occasional relief in Nature and draw fresh inspiration from her unfailing interest and charm season, and the most democratic, for on them a man, if he so will be of priceless value. choose, can, single handed, sail his own boat from port to port along a many-harbored shore, anchoring where no private rights exist and drawing from the sea such food as money cannot buy except along the coast. Between this recreative area with its 3 ANPA. B6 F6 30 boundless freedom and the National park system stands, sole link as yet, the Sieur de Monts National Monument, accessible by sea from every eastern port and fronting on it with a boldness and a beauty unapproached on our Atlantic Coast and rarely equalled in the world. De Monts was the founder of Acadia, one of the three great provinces into which France divided its possessions in America, the others being the River of Canada-the lands bordering on the St. Lawrence-and, of later foundation, Louisiana, the whole great territory lying to the westward of the Mississippi and draining into it. Acadia, like Canada, was a word of Indian origin apparently, used by the early fishermen and traders, which appears for the first time in the Commissions issued to De Monts by Henry of Navarre and his Lord High Admiral, Charles de Montmorenci, in December, 1603. Acadia then included, by the Commissions' terms, the whole vast territory lying between the latitudes of Philadelphia and Montreal to-day, and stretching indefinitely westward. Later it became restricted, by English and Dutch occupations westward, to the country draining to the ocean between the Kennebec and the St. Lawrence-Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Cape Breton. These bounds it held, through constant border warfare, for a century and over, and it is this long possession of its coast by a great friendly nation without whose aid our independence never would have been achieved that the Sieur de Monts National Monument commemorates in its historic aspect. In this aspect three figures stand out beyond others: De Monts, the soldier of ancient noble family, the follower of King Henry in the Huguenot Wars and governor of Pons, a city of refuge for Huguenots in southwestern France; Champlain, the gallant sailor and discoverer to whom Mount Desert Island owes its first description and its name; and-two generations later- Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit and first owner of Mount Desert Island, by a royal grant from Louis XIV still on record at Quebec. On it-upon its eastern side- he lived, he and his wife, sole occupants worthy at that time of 4 5 B6 F6.31 mention, according to a census of the people dwelling on the October 7. Went up the river, a fine channel having several openings Acadian Coast which Sir Edmund Andros, governor of New and bays of different breadths from a mile to a quarter of a mile. In England, had prepared in 1688, with intent of conquest. For a some places the rocks were almost perpendicular to a great height. The like purpose, a hostile expedition against Boston and New York, general course of this river is north, 5 degrees east, and it is not less than Cadillac himself four years later drew up a "Memoire" for eight miles long in a straight line. At the end of it we turned into a bay, the French Court describing the coast between the St. Croix and there saw a settlement in a lesser bay. We went on shore and into and the Hudson, and in it thus describes the harbor at the en- Abraham Somes' log house, found it neat and convenient, though not quite trance to Somes Sound. furnished, and in it a notable woman with four pretty girls, clean and orderly. Near it were many fish drying. From there we went to a beaver pond where The harbor of Monts Deserts or Monts Coupés is very good and very we had an opportunity to observe the artificialness of their dams and their beautiful. There is no sea inside, and vessels lie, as it were, in a box. manner of cutting down trees to make them. We returned to our sloop There are four entrances. The northeast one is the best; it has nine fathoms about four o'clock. The gunners brought in plenty of ducks and partridges. of water. In the eastern one, there are fourteen or fifteen; in the southeast October 8. We observed sunrising but could not take its amplitude by one, there are three and a half, but in the channel there is a rock which is reason of clouds near the horizon. I went through the woods to the creek sometimes covered by the tide. In the western entrance there are three of Bass Bay. We went about a mile on the salt meadows, found it fine, fathoms and a half, but to enter safely you must steer west or southwest. the hay remaining there good, and the creek a pretty rivulet capable of re- Good masts may be got here, and the English formerly used to come here ceiving considerable vessels. In the evening I received several persons for them. on board proposing to be settlers, and it was resolved to sail the next morning if the wind would permit. Years afterward, when engaged in the founding of Detroit, Ca- dillac still signed himself in his deeds, the lord of Mount Desert Governor Bernard's possession of the Island was but tempor- seigneur des Monts Deserts, but presently both it and all of east- ary, for he was a zealous champion of the Crown in the struggle between it and the American colonies and when the break came ern Maine were lost to France on the battlefields of Europe and the next owner of Mount Desert Island was an Englishman, his American possessions, his mansion house beside Jamaica Francis Bernard, governor of the province of Massachusetts, to Pond-where he had received, coming out from Boston in a pro- cession of eleven chaises, a "rebellious" committee that included whom it was given by the province in reward for "extraordinary services," of a legal nature. John Hancock, Joseph Warren, James Otis, Samuel Adams and Governor Bernard made a voyage, in stately fashion with a Josiah Quincy-and his wild island on the coast of Maine, were considerable suite, down the coast from Boston in October, confiscated by the State of Massachusetts. Later, however, 1762, to view his new possession, and kept a journal, still ex- when the war was over, the State gave back to his son, John Bernard, an undivided half-interest in the Island, granting tant, which brings the Island and whole coast before us very vividly. He entered the harbor described by Cadillac and ex- shortly afterward, in a generous impulse, the remaining half- plored the Southwest Harbor shore, finding a path already interest to the grand-daughter of Cadillac, Madame de Gre- trodden to the Bass Harbor Marshes and many haycocks goire, with her husband-French refugees-on receiving a peti- stacked there. Four families were then already settled on one tion from them supported by letters from Lafayette. Finally, of the Cranberry Islands, and two at the head of Somes Sound, in 1794, the Island was divided between them by the Massachu- a true glacial fiord which he calls a river: setts Court, the western portion including the Southwest and Bass Harbors region and all else to the westward of Somes Sound, being assigned to John Bernard and those holding 6 7 B 6 F6,32 under him; the eastern portion, which includes Bar Harbor, Seal and Northeast Harbors, and the greater portion of the Park, to the de Gregoires, who made their home on it at Hulls Cove, and died there. Thus not only does the Park commemorate the founding of Acadia and early occupation of its region by the French but the titles by which its lands are held tell their own story, too, of Colonial governors and of the new-born State of Massachusetts' gratitude to France, expressed in the de Gregoire gift, for aid rendered in a time of urgent need, an aid that the United States are now re- turning in a need yet greater. The Park's historic aspect is but one, however; another to which special importance was given in the Park's founda- tion, is that of the value it may be made to have in wild life conservation. In this, the opportunity it offers is extraordi- nary. The Island's situation midway between sea and land, sharing in both climates; the boldness and variety of its mountain landscape, broken by intervening lakes and meadows and deep wooded valleys; and its position on a great coastal bird-migration route, with a widening continent beyond it to the north, combine to make it a wonderful place for shel- tering, preserving, and exhibiting the native life-plant, bird and animal-of the Acadian region, rich in species and repre- senting the whole great eastern section of the continent to the north of Portland. To coöperate with the Government in this, a corporation has been formed entitled The Wild Gardens of Acadia, to be gov- erned when its organization shall have been completed by a small body of trustees appointed triennially by a few of the leading Universities of the country, by a few Natural History Museums and Biological Associations, by the American Insti- tute of Architects and certain others interested in landscape architectural and gardening education, and by the Secretary of the Interior, head of the National Park System. The purpose of the Wild Gardens corporation is to pro- vide sanctuaries for the plant and animal life-the flora and fauna-of the Acadian region, places of special fitness where 8 9 B6.F6.33 that life in every valuable or interesting form may dwell securely and perpetuate itself in its natural environment; and to make those sanctuaries useful not only in conservation but as an opportunity for study, a source of pleasure and a means of information. The Sieur de Monts National Monument is to be looked upon in this respect as its accomplishment, and nowhere in the world perhaps is there an area of like extent better fitted for such pur- pose. It is the summer heat and winter cold in their extremes that limit, northward and southward, the distribution of plant and animal species, and both are profoundly influenced in the Park by the surrounding ocean with its great sweeping tides. In it, accordingly, plants of the sub-arctic zone grow along with others living in the mountainous portions of Virginia and the Carolinas; and coastal species with those of the interior. The Park itself is a remarkable piece of topography. A once solid granite mass some fifteen miles in length, facing the sea, has been carved by the greatest of all terrestrial erosive forces, ice and ocean-attacking it from opposite sides-into a dozen mountain groups, separated by deep lakes and valleys and an ocean fiord. Firm in its resistance as no sea-laid rock-limestone, slate or sandstone-can be, splitting into giant fragments piled like masonry and making wonderful foregrounds to the blue ocean plain beyond, it is an Alpine chain in small, while every frost- rent crack and crevice on it, bottomed with sand and humus from the slow weathering of the surface and the dropping leaves, becomes a miniature rock garden filled with northern plants-blueberries and mountain cranberries, the trailing ar- butus, mountain holly, and a host besides, while the bearberry with its shining foliage and brilliant, deep-red berries spreads out great carpets over the rock itself. At the mountains' northern foot, where the ice-sheet's way was checked, and occupying the dividing valleys, through which it ground its way with concentrated force, there are deep basins, excavated glacial-fashion from the rock. These are partly filled with water, making a series of lakes and mountain tarns; 10 11 36176.99 partly with peat and washed-in glacial sands and clays, the fer- tile detritus from a sea-laid-rock more ancient than the granite which is the bed-rock of the country. In them deep-seated springs well up, unfailing, clear and cold, keeping the basins full through summer droughts and creating ideal heaths and meadows for the growth of bog and meadow plants-the rho- dora, the northern kalmias, Labrador tea, the native lilies in their different species, the native iris, meadow sweet and meadow rue, the brilliant cardinal flower, wild roses, and a number of wild orchids. The woods in the Monument are exceedingly interesting, in- cluding as they do what are now perhaps the only fragments of primeval forest-untouched but for the early loss of their great pines-along the eastern coast, plundered elsewhere for its ease of transport. There is no forest in the world that has a more delightful floor, rich in the underplants whose home is in its shade and whose soil is the -leaf-mould-the accumulation of centuries perhaps in the slow-wasting north-which carpets it. Here a different group of plants displays its beauty the Clin- tonia, making great beds beneath the oaks and other hard- wood trees, with splendid leaves and the most beautiful blue- berries in the world; the Twin Flower, beloved of Linnaeus; the Dwarf Cornel, covering sun-penetrated spaces with its white flowers and red, clustered berries; the Rattlesnake Plantain, quaintest of northern orchids, which forms delightful clumps of mottled foliage spread flat upon the ground the Fringed Orchid and the Lady's Slippers; the Painted Trillium or Wake Robin, one of the most beautiful of woodland flowers; the Twisted Stalk with its drooping, brick-red berries; the Winter-Green and Partridge Berry; the Ground Yew that haunts the forest depths; the Ferns, the Mosses and the brilliant Fungi. In shrubs, too, Acadia and the Park are rich. The Blueberry grows so abundantly and fruits SO freely on the mountains in the Park that the Government has taken it for its emblem. The Wild Roses form great clumps along the roadsides and the banks of streams, flowering with a grace and beauty scarce any cultivated plant can equal. The Blackberry throws out long, 12 13 166 F6 3 35 graceful stems of bloom. The Sumach takes on a habit of singular luxuriance in this northern land and is an object of delight from its first leafing in the spring until it drops its flam- ing, red and yellow foliage with the late autumn frosts. It is a home of the Viburnums, and the most beautiful species in the world-and the most difficult to cultivate-V. lantanoides, grows in it in wild profusion, lighting in June the shade of wood- land valleys with its pure white bloom. At no time, from the blossoming of the Amelanchier or Wild Pear in spring, along with that of the first Wild Strawberries and Violets, to the strange October flowering of the Witch Hazel and the clus- tered fruiting of the native Rowan Tree or Mountain Ash, is there a period when flowers or brilliant fruits are lacking to make the wayside beautiful. Each period has its own beauty, too: the awakening of spring with its swift northern progress and rapidly succeeding blossoms; the midsummer period of the Wild Roses' bloom; the autumn beauty of the Goldenrods and Asters, of fruiting Thorns and brilliant Ilex berries and the Wild Rose hips. Nor is there any place upon the Continent where the autumnal change of leaf is of richer color or more strikingly set off. The red clumps of Blueberry are glorious then upon the granite ledges, contrasted by the grey rocks and mosses and the dark rich green of the Pitch Pine. The Oaks upon the rocky slopes below, turned to glowing crimson, are splendid against White Pines and Spruces: The Beech leaves' golden brown, the golden yellow of the Birch and Poplar, the warm- toned red of the Swamp Maple and nameless wealth of color in the heaths it borders make wonderful, illuminated fore- grounds to the blue sea, the lakes or the enclosing bays as one looks down on them from the mountain paths. Viewed in this aspect, the Park is like a great Rock Garden set by nature on the ocean verge and needing only to be made accessible by entrance roads and paths; to have its woodlands cared for and protected against disease or fire; to have such injury as men have done repaired, rank growths give place to finer ones, and every spot within its bounds of special interest ACADIAN SCENE SERT ISLAND or beauty given its full value. And to be made, besides, as nature has singularly fitted it to be, a safe refuge for the region's 14 15 36.F6.36 native life-plant or animal-as thehuman tide sweeps over, pre- and many other Animals of the fur kind, all kinds of wild fowl, Hares, serving it in every finer form and handing it down-self-per- Partridges brown and black. But the most valuable part of this Island petuated in its natural environment-to future generations for is the extraordinary fine Harbour in it, which is formed by the Islands as their delight and profit. described on the annext Sketch of it. Codfish is ever taken in any Quan- The needs are clear, but the adaptation of a great coastal titys with very convenient Beaches for drying and curing them. Shellfish landscape to the annual refreshment of a multitude of men and of all sorts except the oyster, none of which we saw, fine Prawns and Shrimps. women seeking happiness and health and energy-physical and There lies from it a rock above Water, about 8 Leagues from the foot of mental uplift-after the confinements and fatigues of city life the great Islands, and 5 leagues from the Duck Islands, which is the nearest is a matter calling for the best intelligence and skill that can Land to it; this rock is dangerous from its being deep Water both within be given it. Rightly done, the benefit-not only to those who and without it, so that sounding is no warning; you will have 40, 45, and come but to the work they do elsewhere and the communities 50 fathom within half a mile of it; it is steep to all sides except to the East Point of it, where it runs off foul about Pistol Shot, but dries at low water, they serve-multiplied by the years, will be immeasurable; the Tide near this rock setts strong in and out the Bay of Funday; its to be wrongly done, a great opportunity will have been lost, perhaps seen about 3 Leagues, and appears white from being covered with gannetts forever. which breed and roost there. Its length is 500 fathoms from the N. E. The area is unique; there is no other like it. The problem is Point to the S. W. Point, and by an observation we took on it is in the to preserve in the midst of a great annual flood of summer visit- Latitude 44, 08N. I shall say no more of it, than that a good look out is ors the wild, primeval beauty and untamed, elemental charac- necessary, and without you strike itself, there is little or no danger of being ter which make it SO and combine with the cool summer climate very near it; and the night is the most dangerous time to see it. A Beacon and the presence of the sea to draw men to it. built of Stone of which the rock itself will furnish, about 50 or 60 feet high, would render it of little danger. The Harbour (of Mount Desert) is very convenient for naval Equip- An early description of Mount Desert Island found among ments from the Number of fine anchoring places and Islands, a very fine the Bernard papers in the Harvard College Library. rendezvous for fleets and Transports in case of an expedition to the West Indies, as each division of men of war and Transports may have different Mount Desert is a large mountainous island lying 10 leagues west from places to wood and water in, and Islands enough for encampment and Re- the Island of Grand Mannan in the mouth of the Bay of Funday; it is in freshments of men, without any danger of desertion or Irregularity. The the Latitude 44, 35 North, and Longitude 67, 20 West. It appears as the King's Dock yards might be supplied for many years with Sparrs from 27 continent from the Sea, but is divided from it by an arm running between inches and downwards to about hook span, Docks may be easily made for it and the Main, but at low water may be crossed by a narrow neck near Ships of the greatest Draught of Water. The above Island is about 30 the West end as the Inhabitants report. Its natural Productions are Oak, miles coastways, and 90 miles Circumference, not including all its lesser Beech, Maple, and all sorts of Spruce and Pines to a large Dimention, viz: Islands within a League of its Shores, which are supposed to be included in 34 inches diameter. Ash, Poplar, birch of all sorts; white Cedar of a large the grant of it to Governor Bernard of Massachusetts Bay by that Colony. size, Sasafrass, and many other sorts of wood; we know no name for a very N.B. There are great Quantitys of Pease sufficient to feed innumerable great variety of Shrübbs, among which is the Filbert. Fruits, such as Ras- Number of Herds and Cattle, a great Quantity of Cherries, both which are berrys, Strawberrys, Cranberrys of two sots, Gooseberrys and Currents. It natural to the Islands. has all sots of soil, suchas dry, wet, rich, poor and barren; with great Quan- It ebbs and flows in these Harbours 21 feet at Spring Tides, and about titys of Marsh, a number of Ponds, with runs fit for mills. Quantitys of 15 to 16 feet at common tides, which never runs so strong but a boat may Marble, and its generally thought from the appearance of many Parts of be sculled against it. Water is ever to be had in the dryest Seasons con- the Land there are Iron and Copper Ore. Its Inhabitants of the Brute veniently; the best anchoring ground in the world. Creation are Moose, Deer, fox, Wolf, Otter, Beaver, martin, Wild Cat, 17 16 ANPA. B6.F6 03.F9.18 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS [Important References] I. Announcement by the Government of the creation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument by Presidential Proclamation on July 8, 1916. First announcement of plan by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, in 1913. Offer of lands to the Secretary of the Interior. II. Addresses at Meeting held at Bar Harbor on August 22, 1916, to commemorate the establishment of the Sieur de Monts The opportunities and purpose of The Wild Gardens of Acadia National Monument. are variously set forth in the Sieur de Monts Publications issued III. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Bird Sanctuary. by it jointly with the National Park Service. IV. The Coastal Setting, Rocks and Woods of the Sieur de Monts One such paper, No. V, written by Professor Fernald, chairman National Monument. V. An Acadian Plant Sanctuary. of the Department of Botany at Harvard University, tells of the VI. Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the Eastern States. value of the undertaking from the botanical standpoint. Another, VII. Man and Nature. Our Duty to the Future. No. XV, by Mr. Forbush, the Massachusetts State ornithologist and VIII. The Acadian Forest. one of the leading authorities upon bird life in the country, deals IX. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as commemorating Acadia and early French influences of Race and Settle- with its importance in relation to bird life. A third, No. II, includes ment in the United States. a report by Dr. Mayer, Marine Biological Expert of the Carnegie X. Acadia: the Closing Scene. Institution, on the value of the opportunity it offers for marine bio- XI. Purchas Pilgrimes translation of de Monts' Commission. De logical research. A letter, separately printed, from Mr. Graves, Monts: an Appreciation. XII. The de Monts Ancestry in France. director of the Forest Service, tells of the value of the opportunity XIII. The District of Maine and the Character of the People of it offers in the line of forestry; and one, contained in No. XVII, from Boston at the end of the 18th century. Mr. Grant LaFarge, vice-president of the American Institute of XIV. Two National Monuments: The Desert and the Ocean Front. XV. Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island. Architects, tells similarly of the value it may be made to have in XVI. The Blueberry and other characteristic plants of the Acadian relation to landscape architectural education. A statement on Region. Mount Katahdin, endorsed by the National Forest Service, is made XVII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical in No. XVIII. Associations. Garden Approaches to the National Monu- ment. [G.B.DORR] The White Mountain National Forest. Crawford Notch in 1797. XVIII. An Old Account of Mt. Washington. A Word upon its Insect Life. A full list of the Sieur de Monts publications to date is printed on page 7. A Word on Mt. Katahdin. XIX. National Parks and Monuments. XX. Early Cod and Haddock Fishery in Acadian Waters. XXI. The Birds of Oldfarm: an intimate study of an Acadian Bird Sanctuary. XXII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gar- dens of Acadia. These Publications may be obtained by writing to THE CUSTODIAN, Sieur de Monts National Monument Bar Harbor, Maine. 4/25/15 "The Sierer de Monts National llanement ad the Will Garden of Acadia." G.B.Dar. Journal of the International garden Club I, #1 (August 1917): 506-523. Opposite title pac is page photoot CWE in Jesuet Field c temporay cross in background." (p.506) Otherwise Somes narrature +phato content except acticle coreleeds c list of SMP list of publications XXI. Atead of issue are adverti sements one from Mt Desert Nursered, annancior Publication editors state that "We are fortunate Publication of a "little brochiare "tiked Mount Deserts Review in having llr. George B.Dom to represent llaine through our chairman for Maine, llrs. gardiner Sharman. He has promeged us an article which we hope will appear in our reaxt issue Indeed, he represents all that part of the country called Aeadea 'Arcadia' [sic] and much that is hestorical adds to the interest of his work, Professor Sargent wehope to have for Classachusetts and to have his contubution for subsequent ) sfeer. Mr. John Hoir was our correspondent for California and one of our first meeber of the Club, and lose deeply regret his loss." Gpj 273). Original in UMess, Amberst International garden Club incorporated 5/29/14, honorary president Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, 500 members. Mrs llooris K. Jesup had an of affiliation. 2. (Janky 26) 2. But the Park that in great measure sprang from this apart, there is a far wider future, I feel, than any park can create in the beauty which these hardy, simple plants, that draw their life within the shelter- ing ground in winter as no woody plant, tree or shrub, can do, can give to our New England countryside at 80 little cost and labor, once they are appreciated and the ease in which they can be grown is understood. Ulric Dahlgren, the Wild Gardens of Acadia and the Move to Salisbury Cove FRANKLIN H. EPSTEIN O n May 10, 1921. Professor Ulric Dahlgren addressed the following letter to all Trustees of the Harpswell Laboratory. "Dear Dr. Wilson, Since my last report to the trustees the Laboratory affairs have gone rapidly and smoothly to a conclusion which seems to me to be a proper and fortunate one. Our agreement with the Wild Gardens Association having been signed I went to Bar Harbor to inspect the land which I found to be a very beautiful tract and well worth a year's trial if not permanent occupation, especially if we secure another tract at a later date on Otter Creek. Our shore line is one fifth of a mile long with great possibility of extension. A very useful and handsome Cove indents its western end and while covered for a greater part of its extent with trees and brush it has two clear, level stretches on one of which our first small Laboratory building will be erected. Dr. Conel who went with me to arrange for many rooms and some houses that can be rented by students and research workers during the coming sea- son and I made certain arrangements which will be explained in the accompanying report, in this let- ter, of our trustee meeting. This meeting was called by Dr. Kingsley for April 22nd, in the Wistar Institute of Philadelphia. At the meeting the work of your committee was ratified and the agreement and leases offered by the Wild Gardens were signed. I wish to call attention to some of the conditions under which we move to Salisbury Cove and to certain improvements upon the conditions first proposed. We go with our present organization intact not even being bound to put any one else on our board of trustees unless we feel that this would be the best thing to do. This feature is due largely to the generous attitude of Mr. Henry Eno and Mr. Dorr. I think that in the near future however, that we should proceed to strengthen our Board by some additions and to amend our by-laws and a com- mittee of Dr. H.C. Bumpus, Dr. Greenman and myself has been appointed to consider this matter - 15 - ULRIC DAHLGREN. THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA AND THE MOVE TO SALISBURY COVE and present it to the board at a meeting in the near future. There are several things that can be done, without changing our fundamental organization that will better our position greatly. The terms of the lease are of interest. We are leased this land without any time limit instead of for fifty or ninety years, the only condition being that we do no stripping and that we maintain a lab- oratory creditably. If we abandon it for two consecutive years it reverts to the "Wild Gardens associ- ation" which I consider a very proper provision. A copy of the lease and of a letter of interpretation of some of its conditions and an acknowledgment of this letter by the "Wild Gardens" accompanies this report. The outlook at present is as follows. The following research men will probably be with us for work this summer: Dr. Edward East of Harvard University Dr. Harold Senior of New York University Dr. J.H. Conel Dr. Howard Brown. Bacteriologist of Rockefeller Institute Dr. Duncan Johnson, Johns Hopkins University Dr. Snyder, Johns Hopkins University Dr. Warren Lewis, Johns Hopkins University and others are considering coming. But few students have applied for my course but the circulars have just been sent out and responses may be expected to our limit of twenty-five for this season. It is hoped that our trustees will help to send one or two students from each University with which they may be connected. Sincerely, Ulric Dahlgren" Dahlgren was no mere ivory-tower academic, but a canny man of affairs. On November 19, 1921 he wrote to Mr. B.B. Sanderson, an attorney of Portland, Maine, as follows: "My dear Mr. Sanderson, I received your first letter but was busy getting things in order to send you the documents you wish. The second letter came yesterday. When I was given the directorship of the Laboratory last year I found things in very poor shape and run down. The minutes were poorly taken and kept on loose-leaves by any one and interest in the Laboratory had fallen. The corporation members had dropped out until almost nothing but trustees were left and our one small building at South Harpswell was in disrepair. Finding that I could not get sufficient outside financial support at South Harpswell I went to some people at Bar Harbor (the Wild Gardens Association) and they were extremely anxious to have us move there. It seems that some years ago they had collected money from the public and bought a tract of land at Salisbury Cove near Bar Harbor to be used, as they told the donor, as a biological memorial to Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. For six years they tried to establish a Biological Laboratory there but nothing came of it as there are no professional biologists among them and their ideas of such an - 16- - FRANKLIN H. EPSTEIN FRANKLIN Bangor HANCOCK Farmington WALDO KENNEBEC OXFORD Augusta Pans KNOX ANDROSCOGGIN LINCOLN Auburn SAGADAHOC Wisconsel CUMBERLAND South Harpending Emigrants' Route June 1921 YORK Route of the Great Migration from South Harpswell to Salisbury Cove, 1921. institution are rather vague to say the least. Several proposals were made both by them and by us as to the terms on which we were to come which terminated in the agreement I am sending you. The lease was drawn up by one of their members, Mr. A.H. Lynam, a lawyer of Bar Harbor and when I objected to its, to me, transitory character he assured me that it was as good as a deed. That is one of the reasons why I have come to you as some one who can furnish us with an opinion in our interest. Since writing you I have been writing Mr. Lynam to ask for copies of their by-laws and incor- poration papers and have been unable to get answers from him. He answers about other matters entirely. I have read their by-laws last April 15 but was told that these were some years old and that I would be shown a more recent copy later ("soon" was the way it was put). I have also asked him if his Association has taken any action in regard to the clause in our agreement as to our becoming a mem- ber of their Association and having a representative on their board and he has failed to answer that. I also asked for a list of their members to which I have no reply. My confidence in the Association was due to their membership which I heard about from Mr. George B. Dorr, and Mr. Henry Lane Eno who stated that the members were both individuals and institutions such as Harvard University, Princeton University, other colleges and such individuals as Ex-President Eliot, Secretary Lane (now dead), Mr. Alessandro Fabri, Mr. Ogden and other Bar Harbor summer people. I learned during the summer that the Wild Gardens is one of the projects of Mr. George B. Dorr, a very remarkable man and a great idealist. In fact he is the whole association and Mr. A.H. - 17 ULRIC DAHLGREN, THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA AND THE MOVE TO SALISBURY COVE Lynam is the Attorney. When Mr. Dorr wants anything done he calls in whoever happens to be around tells them to "sign here"! At least that is my impression of the methods used. Personally he is most kindly if autocratic and we are on the best of terms. This is not true of all my trustees. I have talked these matters over with some of our trustees and have decided on the following course. Assuming that the Wild Gardens is able to lease land I want to know exactly what our lease means to us and what powers and tenure it grants. During the summer I collected money and put $4,000.00 into a laboratory building on the grounds. Also a $1,500.00 pumping plant. I will ask a few leading questions: 1. Under what conditions could they dispossess us of the land? 2. Could we take our building and pumping plant with us? 3. Could the Wild Gardens deed the land to the U.S. Government as part of the Lafayette National Park and would we then be controlled by the Park Management? 4. Are we as a charitable institution subject to taxation of our lands? Our laboratories on these or rented lands? Dwellings used to house our personnel free of rent? Dwellings used in the same way with a rental charged? A dining hall in which we board our people at cost and buildings, boats and apparatus used by us to furnish supplies to other institutions for a price in order to raise money to defray our expenses? My idea now is to ascertain our position and if our lease is insufficient to give us the requisite independence to secure a neighboring tract of land by purchase or gift. One gentleman has offered me such a tract and we have an option on another that would be suitable. This option runs to February 1, 1922. I do not desire to press the Wild Gardens Association for information which they seem unwill- ing to give and I appreciate very much some things they have done for us, but their attitude indicates a desire to dominate which we must be in a position to correct. They have collected some money for our work as a gift to us and according to their general promise in the agreement and to more special verbal promises which they have not always fulfilled. In fact money has been solicited for the Laboratory and then applied without our consent, or in some cases our knowledge we believe, to other parts of their schemes of which they have many. Mr. Dorr has recently issued a pamphlet coming from the National Park Service in which our work is mentioned, without our name and in such a manner as to lead a reader to suppose that we were merely a part of the Wild Gardens and operating "in conjunction with the Government". My wish for the present is to avoid all trouble or accusation and to use your information and opinion as to our status as a basis for informing the trustees and planning our future movements. We will operate on the land next summer as usual without challenging the Wild Gardens in any way. Now as to our own reorganization I want to ask your opinion. What should we do about the Certificate of incorporation in view of the fact that we have moved from South Harpswell, Maine to Salisbury Cove near Bar Harbor? We may want, in view of our change, to change our name to some- thing like "The Mount Desert Biological Laboratory". Our by-laws are bad and insufficient and we want to change them. A committee of myself as chairman and Mr. Procter and Dr. Greenman has been appointed to look over them and propose a suitable set. We will decide that objects to be attained and bring them to you to tell us how to proceed to bring about the changes. - 18 - FRANKLIN H. EPSTEIN I am sending you by registered mail the following: Agreement Harpswell Laboratory-Wild Gardens Association A copy of our last circular with amended list of trustees. Lease Wild Gardens to Harpswell Laboratory with letter of interpretation. Certificate of Incorporation of Harpswell Laboratory. A copy of our present by-laws and minutes of meetings will follow as soon as I can get them from our secretary. Please do not communicate with the Wild Gardens or their attorney for the present but if you have access to any public records of their incorporation or other papers it might help to look them over. We want to keep on the best of terms with the Wild Gardens and have smooth running but we want to feel assured of our actual independence. With that certain, we wish to cooperate with them in every way and help them with their projects. I will write you again concerning our reorganization when our committee has decided on what we wish to accomplish." Very Sincerely Yours, Ulric Dahlgren" Finally, on August 28, 1923, Dahlgren wrote to George Dorr as follows: "My dear Mr. Dorr: After operating our Laboratory for nearly three years on the Weir Mitchell tract as leased to us by your Corporation we find that if we are to continue to grow and succeed, we must conduct our work on land to which we hold a deed. Two courses seem possible under the circumstances. One is to move the scene of our activities over to the neighboring eighty acres of land which we bought last September from Mr. McCagg and to abandon our lease from your Association. The other would be for you to give our Corporation a deed to the Weir Mitchell tract contain- ing a protecting clause to the effect that should we cease to conduct a biological laboratory on the tract, it would revert to the Wild Gardens Corporation in three years; the same clause that Mr. Ogden put in his deed to us for the land on Otter Creek Harbor. Our reasons for desiring this change of tenure are the following ones: 1st. We would not have to pay taxes on such parts of the land as were used for scientific pur- poses or for the residence of any of our officers, that part used for other residence would be taxable. 2nd. We find that possible donors are unwilling to contribute funds which are to be invested on land that we do not own, nor are we willing to invest the funds or the future interests of a growing scientific institution in permanent improvements on leased land. 3rd. In case of a change of personnel in the Wild Gardens Corporation there can conceivably be changes of policy that might seriously affect or embarrass our work. I do not need to dwell on the possibilities here involved. - 19 1 ULRIC DAHLGREN, THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA AND THE MOVE TO SALISBURY COVE We would not be able to accept the deed with other conditions attached than the clause of rever- sion in case we ceased to operate a biological Laboratory or attempted to sell. Personally, I hope that you can bring about such a change in our tenure so that we can contin- ue to use the name of Dr. Mitchell for our station and will not have the work of moving. This need of ownership is not prompted by any dissatisfaction with the Wild Gardens Association, which I much admire, but by the simple business reasons that I have mentioned above. Very sincerely your friend, Ulric Dahlgren Director." Within a month, the Wild Gardens of Acadia voted to transfer title to the Salisbury Cove property to the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, as indicated in the following letter from Dorr to Dahlgren. "Dear Professor Dahlgren: I have given the copy of the minutes of your special meeting of September 10th to Mr. A.H. Lynam, my assistant, and have asked him to send you a copy of the form of deed. As I have soon to go west for a National Park Conference. if the deed fails to reach you promptly or you have other mat- ters to bring up please write direct to him. You have my letter agreeing on behalf of The Wild Gardens of Acadia to making the transfer, and stating the few conditions. Judge Ingraham amended, out of his legal knowledge, two words in the inscription which I wrote, otherwise approving it. I send you copy of it in its amended form, which improves it without changing sense. I think with pleasure of the strengthened position which I agree with you in feeling full owner- ship will give the Laboratory, and am Sincerely Yours, George B. Dorr RECORD OF MEETING A meeting of the Wild Gardens of Acadia was duly called and held at the Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor, Hancock County, Maine, on Saturday December 1, 1923 at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. There were present: George B. Dorr, A.S. Rodick, and A.H. Lynam, being a quorum. Letters from Charles W. Eliot and Dr. Robert Abbe approving the transferring of the Salisbury Cove property to the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory were presented and read. UPON MOTION it was VOTED to authorize a conveyance in free gift to the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory of the property at Salisbury Cove now occupied by it and owned by the said The Wild Gardens of Acadia, excepting the Edwards lot; said conveyance to be subject to the fol- lowing conditions, to wit: - 20 - FRANKLIN H. EPSTEIN 1. That the Wild Gardens of Acadia be permitted to place and maintain by the public roadside near the main entrance, a bronze tablet secured upon a granite rock or boulder, rehearsing the history of the acquisition of the land and its gift to the Laboratory, and rehearsing also the memorial nature of the gift in association with the late Dr. S. Weir Mitchell of Philadelphia, whose name it shall bear as a station of the Laboratory and its intended chief station; 2. That the said land shall not in whole or in part, be sold, conveyed, or leased without the con- sent of the Wild Gardens of Acadia formally expressed in writing; 3. That the ownership of said land shall revert to the grantor if for a period of three consecutive years it shall not be employed actively and creditably for the promotion of biological research. A draft of the deed dated December 1, 1923 from the Wild Gardens of Acadia to the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory conveying the property described in the next preceeding vote was presented and read. UPON MOTION it was further VOTED that the President George B. Dorr be and is hereby authorized and empowered to execute, acknowledge and deliver said deed. The President reported that the arrangement made with reference to the property was that all excepting the Edwards Lot was to be conveyed to the Laboratory at the present time, that the Edwards lot was to be conveyed to Professor Dahlgren until such time as the Laboratory may be in a position to take it off his hands. whereupon it was VOTED to authorize the conveyance of the Edwards Lot to Ulric Dahlgren subject to the outstanding mortgage which is to be assumed and paid by him. A draft of deed dated December 1, 1923 from the Wild Gardens of Acadia to Ulric Dahlgren conveying the property described in the next preceding vote was presented and read. UPON MOTION it was further VOTED that the President George B. Dorr be and is hereby authorized and empowered to execute, acknowledge and deliver said deed. UPON MOTION it was VOTED to adjourn. - 21 - A Laboratory by the Sea The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory 1898-1998 EDITED BY FRANKLIN H. EPSTEIN THE RIVER PRESS SH rate Pack Dar LAW OFFICES WERE B.DEAS .BERT H. LYNAM DEASY. LYNAM, RODICK & RODICK AVID O. RODICK SERENUS 6. RODICK BAR HARBOR BANKING & TRUST BUILDING BAR HARBOR, MAINE November 28, 1932. Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 26 Broadway, New York City. Dear Mr. Rockefeller: I have brought up to Mr. Dorr the matter of the land holdings of the Wild Gardens of Acadia and also of Mr. Dorr's lands, other than his home property, suggesting that the Wild Gardens Incorporation is not satisfactory and also suggesting that me arrangement be made whereby the lands could be transferred to the Government, under similar conditions as to their use as now designed for them with the Wild Gardens of Acadia, and as a memorial to himself, his father and mother. He did not take kindly to the suggestion. At present it would be unwise, I think, to try to push it. I can, however, keep it before him and he may later feel differently. In the meantime I will prepare a copy of the terms of the incorporation of the Wild Gardens and the officers and members for you. Yours truly, S H ract Park Dav LAW OFFICES DEASY. LYNAM, RODICK & RODICK ALBERT H. LYNAM DAVID O.RODICK BAR HARBOR BANKING & TRUST BUILDING SERENUS 8. RODICK BAR HARBOR. MAINE November 6, 1933 Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York City Dear Mr. Rockefeller: Hill has handed me your letter of October 19th concerning a plan showing the Wild Gardens' land, Mr. Dorr's land and the land of the Park. When you first came in the summer I went over this matter with you here in the office showing the various pieces on the large map. There has been no special plan as yet prepared showing the exact relation- ship of the various parcels. I believe I told you during the summer while Mr. Dorr was ill that the Wild Gardens Corporation had con- veyed all but a very little of its land to Mr. Dorr. If you wish I will have Hill endeavor to make a plan showing what is now Mr. Dorr's and what is Reservaticn's and what is the Park, with relation to land now owned by you. There is one place where Hill informs me that deeds will have to be given to straighten the Park and Wild Gardens land out. This is near the Cld Guarry DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ACADIA NATIONALPARK August 18, 1930. Mr. .Lynam, Bar Harbor, Maine. Dear r. Lynam: To put on record with you as our intermediary init and while fresh in mind my understanding of the trans- action just completed between Mr. Rockefeller and myself, I write what follows: I understand Mr. Rockefeller to have offered, voluntarily, to pledge himself if I desired, to use, should he acquire them, the Sieur de Monts Spring and Great Meadow properties for a national park development and carrying out the project, of which he told me last summer as a "pine dream", for a.magnificent extension of the Park moo--road system; and that he would retain these properties if he acquired them no longer than might prove necessary to a good develop- ment, when he would transfer them to the Unites States. I told you that I would ask no pledge from him other than this statement, made thr ugh you, nor that he set, as you further told me that he offered, a time limit to his personal retention of these properties, for I desired that he should hold them till he had completed his develon- ment whether that were a longer or a shorter period. This understanding I rehearse and put in writing because it entered largel into my final decision to part with the Spring propertyk in which I had taken so long so personal an interest and which I had not thought to part with unless by my own gift. Yours sincerely, GBD-0 (sgd) George B. Dorr J.D. R. Jr. -2- 11/6/33 LYNAM. RODICK & RODICK on the side of Newport Mountain. He is I believe making surveys of this now, to determine exactly what and where the lines are. Yours very truly, Box3 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK ACADIA BAR HARBOR, MAINE OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT Noviate The Delano Wild Gardens stretch from the Spring en- trance road and lawns to include the wooded valley of Trout Brook, which they follow to the Tarn and thence to the Town road, coalescing with the Kane Path entrance from the road. In accordance with Mr. Lynam's desire to keep concise and brief the deed by which the wild Gardens of Acadia trans- ferred to the United States their right and duty to maintain and develop these Gardens as an exhibit of the native woodland flora, full detail of description of the locus was omitided as not ne- cessary and the brook valley as its contral feature alone was mentioned. The right and duty transferred by the Wild Gardens of Acadia to the United States is to maintain, develop and extend the foot-path system of these gardens in accordance with the adopted wild Gardens plan and to create along these paths favorable opportunities for a representative, educational and attractive growth of our native woodland plants, adding to the soil as needed, and maintaining, and in due course of time replacing as replacement shall be required, their piped irri- gation system from the Tarn, which waters also the Museum and leur de Monts Spring lawns. George B. was THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA PRECURSOR OF ACADIA NATIONAL PARK HARDY SPIRAEAS IN A NATURAL SETTING THE TALLER SPECIES IS A NATIVE OF KAMTCHATKA THE MOUNT DESERT NURSERIES BAR HARBOR, MAINE AUGUST 15, 1935 REEF POINT GARDENS LIBRARY In regard to the intended Sieur de Monts Arboretum and Wild Gardens, assurance will be needed that the gift of hitherto cultivated land for the purpose of experiment- ing with and exhibiting hardy herbaceous plants valuable for landscape work and pleasure gardening in the region centering around Acadia National Park shall not be sacri- ficed or injured by use the Mount Desert Nurseries might in the future make of the lands remaining to them. These lands and the opportunities they offer have been most carefully studied by me and others for years past with reference to such use, and the plan made could not be bettered whether for the Nurseries, in respect to their legitimate trade purposes, or for the Government, who, it is hoped, will be called upon to take up and develop the opportunities the gift affords. Careful study during these last twenty-four hours as well as earlier discloses no way so good of securing to the Government what it needs for the intended purpose than by easements, made in favor of the Government, for the permanent retention of the present lay-out -- of roads connecting with the Government roads as now definitely planned, as well as for the use, in the Nurseries' interest, of the existing plantation beds 2 . and established watering system, which could in no wise be deviated from without injury and loss. These easements, established on the present lay- out, it is understood will be made permanent and not subject to change by either party, the Nurseries or the Government. And to these roads and pipe-lines as established, the following permanent easements should be affixed: (1) That no use other than for plant growth and exhibition of the type desired for the Nursery purposes shall at any time be made, permanently or temporarily. The land was originally freely deeded to the Nurseries for this purpose and no other, and has always been devoted to that purpose; there shall be no change regarding this. (2) That no buildings whatever shall be erected or placed upon these lands, nor any use be made of them of a disfiguring nature, nor anything placed upon them of objectionable odor, save during the immediate applica- tion of chemical or other manures, and nothing at any time objectionable to sight, sound or smell. 3. (3) There shall be no shooting or trapping of birds or animals upon the area described, that which is traversed by the right-of-way roads, unless import- ant to the preservation of the plants grown or exhibited. And then only with the knowledge and consent of the National Park Service who shall preferably, if possible, carry out, in such case, the necessary steps itself. These restrictions, in the interest no less of the Nurseries than of the Park, may be extended or altered as experience may show to be advisable, but only with the expressed consent, given in writing, of both interests concerned. The land traversed by the designated right-of-way roads, to which these easements specifically apply, are those lying between the Way Road -- with the exception of the lands now deeded to the Government for exhibitional and scientific use -- and the Connors Entrance Road, and between the Park Road to the east and the public highway, the Schooner Head Road, to the west, from the southern bound of the so-called Hinckley Lot where the greenhouses, the Nurseries office and its other buildings are. These are lands forming, with those now deeded to the Park for exhibition purposes, a natural unit. 4. Another matter not yet spoken of in connection with the land now given to the Government for plant exhibition and study, is the maintenance of views over and across the lands retained by the Nurseries and traversed by the intended right-of-way roads. These views, carefully studied, are of prime importance to my plan and will need to be, at all odds, most care- fully preserved. [5:] That, if it seem desirable for simplicity of deed, a continuous boundary may be carried along the western side of the road intended for the Govern- ment, but that what lies within the lines of the two roads bounding the point on either side till they unite at the west, never having been used or con- templated for use by the Nurseries, shall be placed under the charge, for care and development, of the National Park Service, as it forms an important break in the else straight bounding lines of this road against the Nurseries cultivated lands. Owing to Mr. Harry Lynam's representations to me of how splendidly the Nurseries were doing under Mr. Dow's management, and at Mr. Dow's request made through him that he might have, in recognition of this, a share in the business -- which, as Mr. Lynam represented to me and Mr. Dow had represented to him, would stimulate and make permanent his interest in the Nurseries -- I offered to give him, when he was able to pay for it, which he said he could not at that time do but out of his salary as it came in, a 1/10th interest in the business, counting the latter to have an in- vestment value of $50,000, which, on his completing payment of the whole $5,000, the business continuing to prosper, I would make a 1/5 interest, representing, on the basis agreed upon, $10,000. Mr. Dow completed his payment of the $5,000 a short time before the commencement of the depression, thus becoming entitled to one-fifth of any profits the Nurseries might make and responsible for one-fifth of any losses. 2. When I returned from Washington in the spring of 1933, after the Bank had demanded payment of sums that he had borrowed from it in the Nurseries name, with my credit behind him, Mr. Dow, expressing to me his great regret for what had happened, told me that he had put up toward the demand all he had, this being his share of certain stock to the amount of four or five thousand dollars. This, on the terms of my gift to him and the responsibility for the Nurseries' losses he had assumed, was not above a tenth of the loss he had made while his name stands on the Nurseries books as owner of one-fifth and bear- ing responsibility accordingly. This leaves him in- debted, on his own account, for more than twice the payment he has made. Last year Mr. Dow found the means to purchase, from the properties offered for sale by Mr. Hamilton, a house along the road between Hulls Cove and the Bridge, and to erect, as a separate enterprise, an aquarium for the exhibition of sea plants to visitors, the total amount of which can not have been less than the sum for which he stands indebted on the Nurseries books and has SO far made no effort to make good. 3. . When I returned from Washington and Mr. Dow told me of the losses he had incurred, and in so doing made me personally responsible for, he said that it was his desire to go back to the original status and remain owner of the amount of stock for which he had actually paid, one-tenth of the amount we had agreed upon as their value, or $5,000, but he since seems to have forgotten this, if I understand him rightly, for he still, I find, continues to stand legally entitled to one-fifth of the stock, in position to receive one-fifth of the gain and to be responsible for one-fifth of the losses.