"George Dori's Vision for 'Garden Approaches to Academational Park." Chebacco VI (2005). George Dorr's Vision for "Garden Approaches" to Acadia National Park Ronald H. Epp Nearly ninety years ago, the Founder of Acadia National Park, George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944), published a plan for developing "Garden Approaches to the National Monument." This little known essay is one of several that develop the Acadian plant sanctuary theme wherein Mr. Dorr argued for permanent exhibits of hardy plants in the form of "garden walks" extending from the park toward Bar Harbor. This article will look at two key expressions of Dorr's approach to gardens as interfaces between natural and cultural habitats: the gardens at his home and the Wild Gardens of Acadia. Dorr is well known as a trail builder who laid out pathways to previously hidden sanctuaries. He established the Jesup Path, the Wild Garden Path, and the Cadillac Path to connect Bar Harbor to botani- cally interesting areas. The gardens he envisioned are a blend of nature's unpredictability and the human desire to impose order. From the time that he was 25 years of age, Mount Desert Island was Dorr's home, and the two garden projects considered here were one developmental element in his complex array of strategies to conserve the matchless grandeur of the island. The Gardens at Old Farm In late 19th-century New England, dependence on the land for subsistence was still an imperative. However, for the wealthy who summered on this island, gardens were not designed to meet the nutritional needs of the household. Instead, statuary, fountains, stone- work, and water features were incorporated into increasingly elaborate gardens that symbolized the status of the owner. The garden concepts of the park founder, however, were tempered and framed by his family experience in Massachusetts. Chebacco : The Magazine of the Mount Desert Historical Society. VI . (2004) The importance of household gardens is repeatedly expressed in The Bar Harbor Record characterized Old Farm as "one of the most the surviving manuscripts of Dorr's maternal grandfather, Thomas Wren attractive showplaces of the village. "4 Following Dorr's death in 1944, Ward (1786-1858), whose Canton (MA) farm featured "a garden of an Park Superintendent Ben Hadley would describe this late 19th-century acre prepared for fruits and flowers." Dorr's maternal uncle, Samuel garden as "among the most extensive and best kept" in Bar Harbor.5 Gray Ward (1817-1907), a financier of great renown, "had a passion That this garden was well maintained for at least half a century we learn for gardening and manfully ploughed and planted in the beautiful sur- from a lengthy Bar roundings of Lenox," a simple Berkshire village that Dorr frequented Harbor Times article as a youngster. of 1928 on Old Farm which characterized Following his father's 1868 purchase of more than a hundred the plantings as an acres of Compass Cove real estate, George Dorr and his parents "old fashioned garden began a decade of travel abroad interrupted by the death of his sole by the sea," containing sibling, his elder brother William. In part to offset this loss, the sufficient plant Dorrs' travels were protracted and centered on visits to a great variety diversity as "to fit the of European gardens. The George Bucknam Dorr Papers at the Bar taste of any flower Harbor Historical Society Museum contain more than a dozen essays lover." Nonetheless, that detail their visits to both modest and grand European gardens it is puzzling - and The House at Old Farm, Bar Harbor, C. 1916 and his subsequent historic research into their origins. Dorr was more perhaps an indication impressed with the simple gardens of both English and American that the gardens were in decline - that the Old Farm gardens were not cottagers. The reason for his preference is unambiguous: because included in the three days of MDI garden tours organized for the highly their modest efforts brought beauty into the monotony of their lives. celebrated 1934 annual meeting of the Garden Club of America. Historically, the maternal side of his family was beset with furor Unfortunately, documentation of plant location at Old Farm is hortenensis - the term used by English gentry to indicate a passion almost entirely lacking. We know that a rose garden lay to the northeast for gardening. "The site my mother, father, and I chose for the of Dorr's home, screened by the rock ridge to the east that ran down to Oldfarm house in the fall of 1878, was the broad, flat top of an old Compass Harbor. Cedar hedges enclosed garden paths that led visitors sea-cliff, facing north to the Gouldsboro Hills across the long reach of to huge vegetable gardens intermingled with flowers and fruit trees. Of Upper Frenchmans Bay."3 The Main Street property faces east toward lasting historical significance are the impressive Old Farm photographic Compass Harbor just north of Schooner Head Road. Following the images taken by Herbert Wendell Gleason, one of the foremost New 1880 completion of Old Farm, Mary Gray Ward Dorr (1820-1901) England landscape photographers of his day, who documented the early and her son George acquired local plant stock and also transplanted 20th-century botany of the island.8 their Massachusetts hardy flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants to Mount Desert Island, experimenting to determine whether they would Dorr repeatedly and unequivocally states that the origins of Aca- adapt to local conditions. Over the next two decades the Old Farm dia National Park are to be found at Old Farm. "It was the wonderful guest book reveals entries from friends and celebrities commenting on beauty of the flowers that grew SO naturally and simply in my mother's the beauty of the grounds. garden by the sea at Oldfarm that, more than aught else, led me along the way, step by step and all unconscious of the greater goal to which public garden was established by the wild gardens committee of the it would lead me, to the founding of Acadia National Park."9 This Bar Harbor Garden Club. Volunteers still maintain plant communities claim is no gratuitous figure of speech. Dorr envisioned what could that replicate native species found in similar habitats throughout the be realized on a grand scale throughout the island based on what had park. Visitors delight in experiencing the botanical diversity of the been achieved at Old Farm. However, nowhere does Dorr envision the park within a three-quarter acre plot of land. However, Dorr's original entire island transformed into a sanctuary. concept of the "Wild Gardens of Acadia" was far broader in scope and found its origins in a different time and place. Nearly sixty years after his parents purchased Old Farm, George Dorr gave public expression to a series of arguments for conserving The year 1901 is the historic benchmark for an organized island- this property. Both the Coolidge and Roosevelt administrations were wide effort to conserve Mount Desert Island. Harvard University offered the property as a summer White House, in part to enlarge President Charles Eliot called together a group of conservation-minded public awareness of the charms of the property and ensure its survival MDI residents to establish the Hancock County Trustees of Public beyond Dorr's lifetime. The elderly - and now nearly blind - park Reservations (HCTPR). Over the next fifteen years, Dorr was the founder argued eloquently and incessantly that Old Farm should be HCTPR executive officer who negotiated the acquisition of more than incorporated into the Park. By implication, his family property and its 5,000 acres of land. As Dorr recounts in The Story of Acadia National gardens could easily be enjoyed by Bar Harbor residents. In 1942, the Park, achieving National Monument status (in 1916) was critical government accepted the property, two years prior to Dorr's death. to realizing national park status. In order to achieve full status as a National Park, several initiatives were undertaken to ensure that the Immediately following the end of WWII, the park service natural environment would be handed down to future generations in questioned the value of Old Farm. Following extensive administrative a non-degraded state. 11 review, the decision was reached that the operational expenses associated with preserving and maintaining Old Farm for public use were too heavy As monument "custodian," one of Dorr's key objectives was for the park service to bear. The Dorr home was razed, the grounds to expand public awareness. Conceptually, Dorr's vision of the became overgrown through neglect, park service public information geography of the "wild gardens" ranged from Nova Scotia south to about the property was reduced to a minimum, no signage was evident the Penobscot Bay, and its natural variety embraced flora, birds, and identifying the property, and for the last sixty years only the most other wildlife. However, at a practical level the geographical range knowledgeable local residents have made use of it as a place of historic was limited to Hancock County and initially focused on the landscape repose. Some current residents still regard the razing of Dorr's home and between present-day Dorr and Champlain mountains. As a result of longstanding government neglect of this historic property as shameful. close analysis, Dorr was convinced that these few acres contained all No gardens survive. the requisite elements for a plant sanctuary - including convenient access. To that end he developed "three hardy garden walks" to the The Wild Gardens of Acadia area from Bar Harbor. Since 1961, the phrase "The Wild Gardens of Acadia" (WGA) has been identified with the thriving public garden containing more than Although the Sieur de Monts Spring property had been purchased 500 native species situated adjacent to the Sieur de Monts Springhouse. in 1908, it was not until December 1916 that the WGA was formed. Thanks to an offer from then Park Superintendent Harold Huber, this Composed of leading summer and permanent residents of Mount Desert Island, its purpose was to develop a seacoast national park that would not only conserve Acadian flora and fauna but provide "an opportunity for observation, by students, architects, gardeners, and planters, of our native plants growing under natural conditions in a beautiful and uniquely various setting." "12 Dorr's plans for the WGA were much more ambitious than what the organization could realize within the emerging structures of the new National Park Service (established in 1916). For example, the WGA aimed at an ever expanding collection of trees, plants, shrubs, and flowers drawn from near and afar "through costly expeditions sent to far offlands." Due to a lack of sponsorship, these botanical expeditions were not realized. However, the Dorr Papers contain scores of detailed descriptions of successful propagation of native and non-native plant species. As a student of horticulture, Dorr's experience taught him that gardens of native species attract interest as much as hybrid gardens which also include non-native species. It is likely that hybridization experimentation was carried out by staff at The Mount Desert Nurseries, ront Dr. and is Since de Monty a commercial enterprise that Dorr established in 1896. For nearly fifty years it would provide most island residents with the plant materials necessary for their gardening and landscaping needs. CATALOGUE HERBAC EOUS PROSTES Dorr was not able to develop the specific wild sanctuary we visit unseries for Terry years have made a secialty of the Her- allection of these to comprises the best varieties ob- today because he could not secure sufficient endowments to generate The numerous Mar varieties introduced from year to exted by them, Unite alone which have shown some the return required. Instead, the WGA functioned as an umbrella OVR retain They at the year or the older kinds are organization which acquired land, developed horticultural communities, and new which UNIT in 1.0 with the most desirable and preserved the island scenery. enter was Et, pleasantly scented, lower fragrant, growing Ten brief publications celebrating the natural landscape of the island were sponsored by the WGA and form part of the twenty used medium height, late. he deeper on the under side. three Sieur de Monts Publications which were published between 1916 1: and 1919. 13 These widely circulated pamphlets were educational tools that provided the public with the cultural, historic, and scientific tall; grand rationale for conserving even more of the available island. Authored by Dorr and other researchers, three of the publications are horticultural essays that emphasize the distinctiveness of Acadian botanical specimens. Unfortunately, it is difficult to gauge the 7 Bulletin of the Garden Club of America 11 (Sept. 1934): 2-40. success of these publications. 14 8 The Gleason photographs are included in a digitized collection of If gardening is the effort to produce organic beauty, "to several hundred black and white images of common and rare indigenous compose an organic whole with a number of related parts," then plants recently made accessible at the Acadia National Park Sawtelle Research Center. Mr. Dorr's gardens exemplify this definition. 15 The Old Farm estate and his diverse efforts with the Wild Gardens of Acadia provide the evidence. 9 George Bucknam Dorr Papers. B2. f. 6. For a fuller view of Dorr's horticultural interests we would need to examine his contributions to the Bar Harbor Village Improvement 10 Curator Office Files ("Oldfarm"), Acadia National Park Sawtelle Society, the development and impressive growth of his Mount Desert Research Center. Nurseries, and his intriguing relationship with landscape gardener Beatrix Farrand. 11 Dorr was likely familiar with Edward L. Rand and John H. Redfield's first systematic study of the Flora of Mount Desert Maine (1894). See also Bar- Ronald Epp is writing a biography of George Bucknam Dorr, the first such rington Moore & Norman Taylor's Vegetation of Mount Desert Island, Maine, effort to document his historical significance as a conservationist. Dr. Epp and its Environment (1927). is currently Director of the University Library, Southern New Hampshire 12 "Wild Gardens of Acadia: Statement of Aims and Purposes." Rock- University. efeller Archive Center. Rockefeller Family Papers. III. 2. I. B98, f. 969. 13 "Garden Approaches to the National Monument" is number XVII in this series. ENDNOTES 14 Thomas W. Ward (a cousin of George Dorr, and not to be confused 1 Thomas Wren Ward to John Ward, 18 July 1854, Thomas Wren Ward with his grandfather) pens a September 30, 1917 letter of appreciation to his Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. B1, f. 15. cousin for the "beautifully printed and illustrated Sieur de Monts publica- tion." The specific influence is clear when Ward writes that he wishes he "had 2 Edward Waldo Emerson. Eighty Years of the Saturday Club: 1855- known of [the publication] while on Mt. Desert as it would have spurred me 1870. (1918), 108-16. to explore more in detail the northern trails from the Bar Harbor side that I have missed." Thomas Wren Ward Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 3 George Bucknam Dorr Papers. B1.f.14. Dorr often used "Oldfarm" B8, f. 5. rather than "Old Farm." 15 Mariana G. van Rensselaer, "Landscape Gardening: A Definition," 4 May 8, 1901. Garden & Forest 1 (Feb. 29, 1888). 5 Acadia National Park, Sawtelle Research Center. History of Park Man- agement Records. B2. f.1. Letter to R. W. Shankland. March 30, 1949. 6 "The Garden at Oldfarm Manor," Bar Harbor Times. April 18, 1928. hebacco The Magazine of The Mount Desert Island Historical Society 5 Godly Discipline and Charitable Walking Icy, Corkserew and Whalesback MDI Placenames M George Don's Vision for Acadia National Park Beatrix Farrand: Landscape Architect A Russian in Retrospect: Lev Goriansky Volume VI 2004 LAUREN GIFFORD PHOTO THE VIEW ASTERN Fans of Mount Desert Island history are invited to voyage through the latest issue of "Chebacco" the Mount Desert Island Historical Society's annual magazine now on sale. "Chebacco" is named for a class of sailing vessels used by the island's earliest settlers. Articles in this latest edition in- clude one on descriptive place names on MDI and one on Beat- rix Farrand. A review of the first 50 years of the Congregational Church in Mount Desert is also included along with several other stories and many, many illustrations. The 100-page, soft- cover volume is available at local stores for $10 or direct from this society by calling 276-9323. Message Page 1 of 5 Epp, Ronald From: Epp, Ronald Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 8:56 AM To: 'MDI Historical Society' Subject: RE: Dorr's Garden: Epp Charlotte, Pleasant to talk with you yesterday. I've checked on the phraseology and punctuation that you asked me to persue. Here is how it is stated verbatim: "The site my mother, father, and I, together with our architect, henry Richards, chose for the Oldfarm house in the fall of 1878, was the broad, flat top of an old sea-cliff, facing north to the Goldsboro Hills across the long reach of Upper Frenchmans Bay." On the other matter of the spelling of "Old Farm" versus "Oldfarm" might I suggest that rather than the insertion of a "sic" we add when the place name is first used the following phrase : Old Farm (alternately spelled Oldfarm). That will remove any implication that he or we are using the place name inappropriately. Hope to see you on the 14th or 15th when I come up for my subcommittee meeting. Will you be in the office p.m. Tuesday or a.m. Wednesday of that week? Ron Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. Director of Shapiro Library Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 603-668-2211, ext. 2164 603-645-9685 fax Original Message From: MDI Historical Society [mailto:mdihistory@gwi.net] Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 10:23 AM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: Re: Dorr's Garden: Epp Dear Ron -- Thanks for the corrections/updates. I tried to send an email to you mid-week (last week) to thank you for your manuscript, which I have enjoyed very much. Unfortunately, my email wasn't working properly, and I must apologize for the delay. (I was away for a few days after that. ) I'll be emailing you with a few comments, but I note that your colleagues has already covered two of the words I wanted to ask about. I'll make the changes. 12/7/2004 HISTORICAL Massachusetts Historical Society 1154 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts 02215-3695 FOUNDED 1791 TEL (617) 536-1608 FAX (617) 859-0074 www.masshist.org November 18, 2004 Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. Director, Shapiro Library Southern New Hampshire University 2500 North River Road Manchester, NH 03106 Dear Dr. Epp: This is in response to your request to publish excerpts from a manuscript collection owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society. On behalf of the Massachusetts Historical Society, I grant you permission to quote from the Thomas Wren Ward Papers in the forthcoming scholarly article "Garden Approaches to Acadia National Park" to be published in volume five of The Journal of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society in 2004. The full citations appear below in our recommended citation format. Please note the full titles of collections. If you have any questions, please contact me at (617) 646-0532, or immilford@masshist.org Sincerely, Megan Milford Assistant Reference Librarian cc: William M. Fowler, Jr., Director Thomas Wren Ward to John Ward, 18 July 1854, Thomas Wren Ward Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. Thomas W. Ward to George Bucknam Dorr, 30 September 1917, Thomas Wren Ward Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. HUMANI The ROCKEFELLER ARCHIVE CENTER Rockefeller POCANTICO HILLS University 15 DAYTON AVENUE . SLEEPY HOLLOW . NEW YORK 10591-1598 our 1901 TELEPHONE (914) 631-4505 FAX (914) 631 -6017 November 5, 2004 Dr. Ronald H. Epp Director of Shapiro Library Southern New Hampshire University 2500 North River Road Manchester, NH 03106-1045 Dear Dr. Epp: Thank you for your letter of November 4. For the purpose of your article, "Garden Approaches to Acadia National Park," that will be published in The Journal of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, you have permission to cite and quote the document you mention in your letter. This permission, which is granted only insofar as the Rockefeller Archive Center legally may grant permission, is for this single edition only; any republication requires separate written permission. Thank you for your words about Ms. Hiltzik's assistance. She certainly is an outstanding staff member. Please send us a copy of your article when it appears, SO that we can list it in our bibliography. sent Sincerely, 2/21/05 Darwin H. Stapleton Executive Director DHS:md