"Picturing the Creation of, Acadia National Park I. Smisbury P.L.Simisbury, eT June 17,2019 Acadia National Park: a History with Ronald Epp, Ph.D. Monday, June 17, 2019 2 PM highly prized Acadia first national River, established east of the park origins and early history were neglected its centennials park and the until the 2016 about the National Park coastal unique Island an the author National Park: The of Creating Biography of George B. Dorr. Contact Cyndi Larsen at 860-673-9712 clarsen@avonctlibrary.info with any questions. Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Rd, Avon, CT www.avonctlibrary.info Sponsored by the Friends of the Avon Library. Armchair Adventurer Programs Simsbury P.L., March 20, 2018 I. Thank You. Signed copies of book available afterwards. II. Overview: Environmental ethics professor and Lizzie led me to GBD. Travel to MDI, raised questions about park origin and founders. Authors of prior pubs-not archival--never left MDI to pursue MASS origins. Jamaica Plain origins-Harvard-Ist - travels in Europe. Time with Howards. Grandson of Thomas Wren Ward & Samuel Dorr, Boston Brahmins Oldfarm and increasing engagement with Dr. Eliot-HCTPR in 1901. Importance of Place. Lakeview Place, JP.; 3 Park St.; 18 Commonwealth Ave Original intent-talks and papers led to full bio for 2016 Centennial III. Not an armchair traveler 1. 1868 trip to MDI, acquisition of Oldfarm, 15 years of age. 2. Harvard travel with Charles to G.B. and Dorset family roots. Mt. Snowden 3. 1874-78 European travels 4. Oldfarm established (1880) & island-wide exploration by foot. 5. Followed Henry Thoreau's exploration of Maine North Woods (1891) 6. Dorr Eastern Mediterranean Trip in 1892 7. August 1902 trip with Professor William Davis to SW, then north through Canadian Rockies to mountaineer in region of Lake Louise, B.C. 8. November 1902 Thanksgiving at Biltmore with Vanderbilt & Olmsted climbing 6,600 foot Mt. Mitchell. 9. Bowditch brothers and Dorr tour Virginia hot springs, July 1903. 10. Six weeks (1904) exploring Yosemite and Eastern Sierra. 14,500 Mt. Whitney IV. Conservation Ethos 1. Dorr's conservation ethic has New England roots, emerging from the writings of George Perkins Marsh. Man is despoiling Nature, personal greed at the expense of social goods (Presidents' College). 2. Charles Eliot's vision for the Maine coast (in Sargent's Forest & Garden). In 1891 established TOR. Death in 1897 spurred father to write biography and apply vision to MDI with the 1901 creation of HCTPR. (refer to T. Roosevelt's oath of office in Buffalo-rise of Progressivism). 3. Travels West provide experience for administration of public accessible sanctuaries. Land donations beginning in 1908 result in legislative effort to take away power of eminent domain. By 1913 nearly 5,000 acres, shift to WashingtonDC has 4. Stephen Tyng Mather & Horace Albright of the Interior Department support Dorr's effort to create the first national park East of the Mississippi. Elaborate about concerns over Hetch Hetchy decision (and moves of President Trump). 5. Antiquities Act, presidential authority in 1906 to create National Monuments. When Dorr encountered Congressional resistance-born out of an unwillingness to believe that citizens would freely donate something of value to the government, and then insist that it be accessible to all-he took the A.A. option. 6. National parks grew out of a minority conviction in national inferiority. After all, 19th-century Americans had nothing to compete with the cathedrals, museums, and institutions of Europe except the natural beauty and wonders of its landscapes. The Romantic artists of the 19th-century had fostered such an appreciation. But they needed protection against commercial use. And when the railroads cut through such landscapes, tourist traffic accelerated the protectionist movement. 7. WWI environment. Pres. W. Wilson signs Sieur de Monts N.M. Act in the summer of 1916-as the nation gears up for war--and six weeks later the NPS is established. Mr. Dorr, its administrator, was sixty-three years of age. Publicity! In 1919, the monument was promoted to full national park status-with Dorr as superintendent-and named after one of America's benefactors, Lafayette. A decade later it was renamed Acadia. 8. New force on MDI. John D. Rockefeller Jr. Provides funds for Dorr and works out arrangement with HCTPR for his carriage road system. In 1926, Charles W. Eliot died in Northeast Harbor. Could Dorr and JDR Jr. work together? Especially within a rapidly expanding NPS as other parks came into being east of the Mississippi? 9. One hundred years ago, March 1918, what was Dorr involved with in his sixty- fifth year? Ten days earlier news spread of an outbreak in Kansas of Spanish influenza. Despite inoculations, over the next six months death rates increase to 195,000 in October alone, and by June 1919 675,000 would lose their lives, more deaths than WWI,WWII, Korea, and Vietnam combined-and the typical victim was of the same age as those in combat. Globally upwards of 40 million died! Amid such uncertainty Dorr and JDR Jr. were much involved with extending the non-public carriage roads into the growing interior of the park-and the beginnings of public concern about federal decision-making without local review. Meanwhile Dorr is recovering from influenza and preparing for congressional subcommittee hearings on national park status. Yet on this very day, 100 years ago, he pens a letter to Eliot stressing adequate budget appropriations "for no national park is better fitted than SMNP to give refreshment to work-wearied people [for it alone] is accessible to vast and crowded human [metropolitan] centers." 9. Legacy: Page 301, 304. V. Lost Collections: Original Research Findings 1. Howard Castle 2. Crane Estate TOR Archive : Charles Eliot Scrapbook 3. Hale and Hamlin Attorneys, Ellsworth, ME: John A. Peters Library 4. Douglas Chapman Archive Simsbury talk Slide show Avon P.L. 6/17/2019 1. Separise on Cadillae 26. Power of Sure 2 Pastoral N.E. carrert 27. 1857-> 3 RW Emerson Concord here 28 Central Park 1876 4 RW Emerson 29. Hanvard Lodging 5 S. G. Ward 30 President Eliot 6 Thomas Wren Ward 31. GBDDr grad. 1874 7 Park Street 32 George: Rosalind Howard 8 boston Common 33 Howard Castle Brideshed E.Wayal 9 Public garden 34 Lake Como 10 Highlawn at Tangleood 35 old from -extect 1888 11 Jamaica Powd 36 LL u -intertor 12 # 18 Commonwealth Ave. 37 Performance at Old form 13 Back Bay Develop. 38 Ladies at Play 14 Commonwealth Ave 39 Hotels in 1880's. 15 Map Maine 40 Star Rock 16 treduced Church 41 Cog Railwag 17 Church UDI 42 Patle Trail devel. 18 of Saed Beach 43 Chicago World'Fast 1893 19 MDI Map 44 Charles Sprague Sargent 20 Bar Harbor 45 MDNurseries, 1896 21 Stearship in 1868 Dorr's to MDI 46 " " " 22 Sails 47 " " 11 23 Eagle Lake 48 Marq 9 pay Ward Dorr 24 Rusticators 49 George W. Vander bit Dr Rock/Trail Exploration 50. Biltmore RE 1:10 2:20 Z 51. 7.L. Olmoted 76. Roads+ 52. it Mitchell, N.C. 97. B.Forred 53. C.W. Eliot 78. S.de Monts Nat. llon. 1916 54- C.Eliot, MA-PUb-Res. 79. Lafayette N.P. 1919. 55. HCTPR 80. Leave B.Deasy 56. EmersonHall 86, EBD 57. Mt. Whitney, Sierras 82. 20-Mule Team Boray 58. The Mount 83. Stephen Tyng Mather 59. TR + John Muir-Antig.. Act 84. Mather it. Party 60. Doug Brinkley on TR 85. " u u 61. Gi Pinchot 86. GBD, 1919 D.C. gathering 62. Hetch Hetchg. 1913. 87. RR Posters 13. Sieurds Mexts Spring 88. Motoring Conditions 64. " " " 89. Park-to-Park Highway 65. Homeo's gift- The Bowl. 90. Int. Sea Franklin have 66. " 1908 " -Bechive 69, Mother to Albrought 67. Burlding of the Arts '06 92. Mother at ANP 68 Jesup ML '16. 93. JDR Roads/Bridgest 69. MDIBL 94. " " n Gatehouses MO. Abbe Uuseum 95. Dare DEliot-Jordan Pord 7). Jackson holo 96. Path Commutter 72. JAX, Genomic Res. 97. AMC, Echs hake 73. JDR Jr. 98. geogi Repper, NEH TH Eyrie 92 Mt. Katahdin Climb 75 Rockefeller-foreity 100. Mesa Verde N.P., Colorado 2:30 1:40 3 101 C.W. Elist abit 102 Colonial Williamsburg 103. Mother Plague, 1932 104. NPS Mangers 105. CadillacSummit Road Dedicates, 1932 10b. CCC 107. CCC 108. oldform gathering 189. Map re schoolic schoolic t Igle outtout 110. Schoolic 111- Isk authout 112. Dear saving oldfarm 113 Doer's Acadea N.P. publicator 1942 114. John A. Peters. 115. Does Nt. 116. Ruing 117. Kere Bums 118 2016 NPS Centennial 119. FOA Journal 120. CANP 2:50 1/12/2019 Xfinity Connect Inbox Re: Acadia program at the Avon Library Cyndi Larsen 10:50 AM To RONALD Hi Ron, Here are a couple of other dates: Mon., 6/17 at 2:00, Mon., 6/24 at 6:30 or Tues., 7/2 at 6:30. I think that I would keep that talk focused on Acadia but feel free to take it in another direction if you'd like. Please send me a couple of sentences about the emphasis of your program for my flyer, which T will be doing soon. Cyndi Cyndi Larsen Reference Librarian Avon Free Public Library 860-673-9712 X225 On Thu, Jan 10, 2019 at 1:49 PM RONALD < eppster2@comcast.net> wrote: Cyndi, My wedding anniversary is June 20th so I would prefer another date. Regarding my fee, $50 is suitable for such a venue. Since you have chracterized my tralk within the context of travel programming, do you think the audience might have a special interest in not only the travels of the Father of Acadia but also the effects of automobile travel on the new Mational Park Service? Loooking forward to hearing from you. Best, Ron Epp Sent from XFINITY Connect Application Original Message From: clarsen@avonctlibrary.info To: eppster2@comcast.net 7/30/2018 Xfinity Connect Inbox Avon Library program Cyndi Larsen 11:45 AM To eppster2@comcast.net Hi Ronald, Thank you for introducing yourself to me last week. I am definitely interested in having you do a program on Acadia. Can you please send me some information? Best, Cyndi Cyndi Larsen Reference Librarian Avon Free Public Library 860-673-9712 X225