"A Common Landscape: Farrand and Dorr on Mount Desirt Island far I and farm. Bar Harbor. 8/4/2019 Garland Farm season's end BAR HARBOR - The final grew at her home, Reef Point Open'Days at Garland Farm of in Bar Harbor. the season are Thursday, Sept. This exhibition presents a 19 and 26, from 1-4 p.m. The unique opportunity to view farm is managed by the Beatrix high-quality images of nearly Farrand Society. one hundred vouchers from This year's Herbarium Ex- Farrand's Reef Point Herbari- hibition celebrates the gardens um, organized into five groups of five people who mentored based on the gardens of Dorr, Farrand: George Dorr, Ger- Jekyll, Robinson, Sargent and trude Jekyll, William Robin- Wharton. son, Charles Sprague Sargent Close inspection of the ex- and Edith Wharton. Their per- hibition provides insight into sonal gardens reflected their their gardens: Dorr's native ideas and philosophies, and plants, Jekyll's herbaceous pe- contained plants that were in rennials and roses, Robinson's some way important to each of heaths and bulbs, Sargent's them. rhododendrons and native The exhibition showcases plants and- Wharton's eclectic some of the plants that these plant collection. five people grew in their own The 2019 Herbarium Exhi- gardens, illustrated by printed bition is free and open to the vouchers from Beatrix Far- public. Visit beatrixfarrandso- rand's herbarium of plants that ciety.org. THE BEATRIX FARRAND SOCIETY 2019 SEMINAR TOUR Beatrix Farrand, C. 1900. Courtesy of the Tankard Collection AUGUST 4TH, 2019 LUNCH & LECTURES GARLAND FARM 12:30 - 3:30 JUDITH TANKARD WILLIAM ROBINSON GERTRUDE JEKYLL CHARLES SPRAGUE SARGENT CECE HAYDOCK EDITH WHARTON RON EPP GEORGE DORR ERICA DUYUM THE HORTICULTURAL IMPORTANCE OF GEORGE DORR'S MOUNT DESERT NURSERIES 4:00 - 5:00 GUIDED TOUR OLDFARM 5:00 - 6:30 WINE & OYSTERS LOCATION TBA THE BEATRIX FARRAND SOCIETY P. .O. Box 111 Mount Desert, ME 04660 THE BEATRIX FARRAND SOCIETY PLEASE JOIN US ON AUGUST 4, 2019 (12:30 TO 6:00 PM) AN EXPLORATION OF THE IDEAS OF FIVE PEOPLE WHO SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCED YOUNG BEATRIX FARRAND As an esteemed friend of the Beatrix Farrand Society, you are cor- dially invited to our sixth annual seminar and curated tour. This event will be a scholarly look at five remarkable people whose ideas significantly influ- enced young Beatrix Farrand. Lectures given at Garland Farm will include Judith Tankard on William Robinson, Gertrude Jekyll on Charles Sprague Sargent; CeCe Haydock on Edith Wharton; Ron Epp on George Dorr; and Erica Duym on the horticultural importance of George Dorr's Mount Desert Nurseries. As it was with previous seminar tours, besides presenting a thor- ough review there will be fresh information that will contribute to our un- derstanding and appreciation of Beatrix Farrand and her work. After the lectures the tour will be of Oldfarm, the property of George Dorr, which had the finest garden on the coast of Maine when Farrand was young. The tour will show what was there when George Dorr was alive along with a discussion of estate's significance in both its architecture and landscaping. The event is both a scholarly exploration and a fundraiser for the Beatrix Farrand Society. The last five years' very successful seminar tours, coupled with funds obtained through the ongoing generosity of our mem- bers and donors, has enabled us to restore the entrance facade of the Far- rand wing and the fence/balustrade that surrounds the entrance garden. We were able to retain the historical nature of the replaced flat roof, replicate the balustrade, replicate wood roof gutters and restore the front facade, all consistent with National Register guidelines and historical photographic evidence. The end result is visually outstanding while incorporating con- temporary building conservation practices. We hope that this year's seminar and tour will be equally successful and will help us with the ongoing restoration of the entrance garden, as well as other much needed and worthwhile projects that include the restoration of both the gardener's and potting sheds. You have been invited because of your past support of the Beatrix Farrand Society or because a Seminar Committee member recommended you as someone who might be very interested in this event. However, given the nature of the property we will visit, we have limited attendance to 35 people. Please note that lunch will be included as well as a wine and oyster reception after the tour. We appreciate any contribution you can make toward our ongoing res- toration work at Garland Farm, but in order to participate in this special event, we request a minimum contribution of $250 per person, of which all but $125 is tax-deductible. Sincerely, scan Scott Koniecko, President We anticipate that the seminar and tour will be oversold, so please com- plete and return the enclosed reply card at your earliest convenience if you can join us on August 4th! P.O. Box 111, Mount Desert, Maine 04660 www.beatrixfarrandsociety.org 1 I Page A Common Landscape: Farrand & Dorr on Mount Desert Island Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D Beatrix Farrand Society 2019 Seminar Tour August 4, 2019 As Acadia National Park celebrated its centennial In 2016, I traveled throughout New England on a Friends of Acadia book tour. My biography of the Father of the Park was well-received and I reveled in the moment, not considering what I would do after the hoopla died. Later, I considered options: (1) After fifteen years of Acadian research and writing, I could leave it all behind-a job well done. (2) I could investigate the wellsprings of Dorr's character through deeper inquiry into his ancestry. (3) I could research more fully the feasibility of a new biography of Charles W. Eliot, his landscape architect eldest son, or Mr. Rockefeller. Instead, I returned to my research files to investigate more deeply areas which were not fully developed in the Dorr biography. This afternoon, I will speak about one area: the intersections between Beatrix Farrand and George Bucknam Dorr. As Scott Koniecko put it, their personal connection was inevitable, yet the development of a lasting relationship was not. How did that relationship evolve? How did their horticultural careers differ? But even more importantly, I want to show how much value Farrand attached to Dorr's park making enterprise-a topic rarely addressed by Farrand scholars. [1] Complicating comparisons between Dorr and Beatrix is the issue of insufficient documentation. There simply is no surviving correspondence between the two. Whereas the Farrand biographers have rather fully covered her life, my inquiries have failed to disclose some fundamental features of Dorr's life that we all 2 I Page employ in appraising one another. There are no motion pictures of Dorr showing nonverbally what may have lay behind his movements, gestures, and interactions with others. Yet Beatrix would have known how Dorr's facial expression changed if nudged or playfully poked; Edith Wharton might have incorporated his behavioral responses and body language into her fiction. Although movies documented his ascent of Mt. Katahdin in 1925, I tracked the last reel of Pathe's documentation to a laboratory in southern France where the trail went cold. [2] So what, you might say, we have still images, but precious few for a public figure beset with visual difficulties and episodic blindness. All images of Dorr are black and white, SO the color of his eyes, hair, and complexion elude US. But most vexing is the absence of sound recordings of his voice. His speech-its pitch and powers-is nowhere to be heard. [3] After all, speech is the final result of selecting the preferred content from our thought processes-in a nutshell, a way into our mind and emotions. We are left with characterizations by his contemporaries, one being Charles W. Eliot's first disclosure in 1924 that Dorr "from his boyhood [has been] afflicted with a stammer which was originally very pronounced and conspicuous, and still is, although he has acquired remarkable control over it"(3/22/24. CWE to H. Work). Only one interview has come down to US, conducted by a journalist (B. Morton Havey of Bangor) in 1932. The main thrust of the article is that despite persistent inquiries, Dorr "talks but little of himself," echoing Eliot's words that Dorr "dislikes very much to talk even in private about his own qualities and achievements." We do learn, however, that he has "a merry twinkle in his eye, a good color in his cheeks, the kind of laugh you're bound to like, a lot of wit-and loves a prank." An interview of his chief clerk, Ardra Tarbell, nearly three decades after Dorr's death, reveals that "his moustache would curl up, you know when he was happy When he was down in spirits, it would sort of droop." [4] 3 Page Dorr was born in in the middle of a severe 1853 snowstorm in the new family home on Jamaica Pond where he spent the first decade of his life. [5] His maternal grandfather, Thomas Wren Ward-Barings Brothers financier and Treasurer of Harvard College--made a powerful impression on the young George. It is a central thesis of my book that Dorr adapted both professional and personal values of his granddad, applying them in service to his passion for preserving the aesthetic blessings found in Hancock County. Simply put, park making was in Dorr's hands a way to transform an elitist social inheritance into an all-consuming commitment to the preservation of public lands. Childhood included frequent walks beyond the pond, gathering plant materials and observing bird behavior on the Bussey Institution site of what would become-in 1872--the Arnold Arboretum. [6] This was a mile distant from Holm Lea, the estate of horticulturist-and distant cousin--Charles Sprague Sargent. Family prosperity was elevated during the Civil War when inheritances were received on both sides of the Dorr family.[7 The Dorr's new Commonwealth Avenue home was a stones throw from the stimulating gardening displays at the Boston Public Garden. [8] Harvard claimed him for the next four years. [9] What we know is that he was a tall lanky man, clean shaven except for the walrus moustache that seems to bulge from his upper lip. [10] Although he chose not to wear an official NPS uniform, he is always well-attired, favoring heavy tweed suits in the Winter and white light- weight suits or sport coats in the Summer, regardless of his level of activity. [11] Perhaps as a carryover from his rowing days at Harvard, he favors year round a straw hat with a stiff flat crown and brim, adorned with a ribbon around the brown. This "boater" became wildly popular during the 1920's. A lifelong bachelor, he was a family man, who spoke highly of his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles on both sides. He was fascinated with the experiences of the eight generations who first 4 Page came to Massachusetts. Dorr later researched and wrote detailed essays on his forbearers, now housed at the MHS and the NEHGS. Well traveled, he spent four years after Harvard studying the best that Europe had to offer. He was outgoing and social, a "clubbable" gentleman in the best sense of the word. A scholar, he is bookish and speaks with frequent reference to classical literature and "historical associations." But always present is the evidence of his phenomenal memory, SO very useful in policy discussions-sometimes annoying those who fault him for his alleged verbosity. [12] Following an initial MDI visit in 1868, the Dorr family returned ten years later to develop more than a hundred acres of farmland abutting Frenchman Bay shoreline between Cromwell Harbor and Sols Cliffs. It was a much larger canvas than the then four acres at Reef Point,[13] which might account in part for Beatrix's interest, not to mention the Dorrs use of ornamental shrubs and plantings from family properties in Massachusetts. Dorr's memoirs repeatedly identify the Old Salem and Canton gardens of his maternal grandmother, Lydia Ward, as the genesis for the composition of the Oldfarm gardens. [14] Family estates in Lenox were acquired in the 1840's when his uncles purchased property and were regarded -both then and now--as pioneers of the Berkshire cottage era.[15] The Dorrs routinely visited family members in their residences there and in his forties George inherited the Dorr property -called Highlawn-which was later incorporated into Tanglewood. During the first decade of the 20th century, he returned to Lenox to assist Beatrix's aunt, Edith Wharton, in developing gardens on her new property. [16] As I recounted in my 2009 article on the "Wild Gardens and Pathways at The Mount," additional study of the evolution of her garden might deepen our understanding of their connections-after all, it is the only property off MDI where Farrand and Dorr both were engaged professionally, Following his professional evaluation at the Mount In the Summer of 1904, Edith 5 I Page writes to him that he "left behind SO many fruitful ideas that I often feel you are not really gone, and must be somewhere about, ready to answer my new questions." The sincerity of her appreciation is her recognition of Dorr's contribution by designating the only physical feature of estate named for a person as the Dorr Path. Several months after her parents divorced, Beatrix wrote several hundred words about Dorr's home in her October 1893 journal. This is the earliest and most thoroughly documented record of the Oldfarm gardens, far more important than her signature-as well as her mother Mary-in the Oldfarm House Book a year earlier. This guestbook contains signatures, poems, photos and musical snippets covering a half century left by those who visited the Dorr family. [17] It is a unique chronicle of Oldfarm social life spanning a half century. Another milestones for 1893 included Beatrix's first published work which appeared in Garden & Forest, the groundbreaking journal of horticulture, landscape art and forestry edited by Arnold Arboretum director, Charles Sprague Sargent. According to the Jamaica Plain Historical Society, at 150 acres, Sargent's Holm Lea estate was a place "with overhanging branches and lanes clothed with a profusion of trees and shrubbery. Beatrix was given temporary residency on an estate that was of comparable size to Oldfarm with a greater range of hardy plantings. Beatrix's horticultural skills matured through interactions with the adjacent Bussey Institution students and faculty. [18] As Phyllis Andersen recently put it in an article in Arnoldia, at this time "the Arboretum was at the center of efforts to transform the practice of landscape gardening into the profession of landscape architecture." For those of you that have not read Gladys Brooks' Boston and Return, this delightful 1962 memoir contains an insightful profile of the regard that Sargent had for his student, Beatrix. [19] Leaving behind the "museum of trees," she accompanied Sargent and his wife to the phenomenally successful Columbian Exposition, Chicago's 1893 World's Fair. Although the statistical odds are against 6 Page it, she may well have bumped into Dorr in the massive Jenny & Mundie horticultural structure-1,000 by 250 feet, enough to hold eight 24 by 800 foot greenhouses. Before she left in 1894 for a European tour with the Sargents, we might imagine the two of them walking together in Bar Harbor-- sharing their enthusiasm for the Exposition or comparing their interpretations of the most recent articles in Garden & Forest journal. Its editors would claim that landscape architecture was "as useful in the preservation of Yosemite Valley as it is in planning a pastoral park or the grounds of a country house. "(X [1897]). On reading this, I began to question whether the concept of "scope" (or extent or size) could-or should-be a factor in measuring achievement. As Dorr's self-designed botanical education matured into connoisseurship, in 1896 he invested his capital on a large scale by establishing the Mount Desert Nurseries. [20] As MDI garden historian Betsy Hewlett recently wrote, it "was Dorr's gesthetics of place that recognized the need for a [science-based] garden and plant center" on MDI. (B. Hewlett, Chebacco, 2016). Erica will shortly speak to this issue. [21] As is well known, the invitation from Charles William Eliot resulted in creation of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations in August 1901. Less well known is the fact that following his mother's death a month later, Dorr began to use new assets to purchase additional lands in order to create plant sanctuaries and "bank" these properties for future conveyance to the Trustees. Though repeatedly cautioned by Eliot and Mr. Rockefeller, eventually he depleted his inheritance in this overzealous public land acquisition activity. [22] At this time there are no records of park building discussions, let alone establishing a land trust under federal jurisdiction. Bear in mind, that prior to 1916 land held by the Trustees more often than not had no existing public access points, no market trails, no way station signage indicating areas of natural, historic, or scenic interest. 7 I Page Properties were being acquired but no effort had been expended to engage public use which runs contrary to Farrand's efforts to integrate the garden into the cultural life of the house. [23] In 1908 Trustees president, Dr. Eliot, brought an ailing Dorr news of the donation to the Trustees received from Eliza Homans. It was a large gift of land,[24] 141 acres on Champlain Mountain which included a glacial cirque lake called the Bowl and a 520-foot granite crag prosaically known as the Beehive, [25] a favorite subject of Hudson River School painters and photographers since then. The donor had a historic relationship with Dorr, for Eliza's brother, Thornton, had shared with the Dorr's the expense of buying Oldfarm in 1868 which he sold back to the Dorrs a decade later.[26] This gift energized Trustee George Stebbins who raised funds from Seal Harbor residents to purchase Pemetic Mountain, the western slope of Cadillac, and the South Bubble--a formidable 2,600 acres. Four years later Jordan and Sargent Mountains donations sheltered Jordan Pond and its water supply. Added to many smaller donations, nearly five thousand acres were in hand. Trustee opponents, a small group of island residents resentful of the land being lost to development tried to have the Maine legislature revoke the Trustee charter in 1913. The unintended consequence, was that Dorr outmaneuvered them. In his 1942 book, Acadia National Park, Dorr says that on his trip back from Augusta he thought of a solution to prevent a reoccurrence. I think the actual solution lies in a forty-page typescript letter that Dorr sent in late 1904 to his Bar Harbor neighbor, attorney David G. Ogden. He had traveled by train to northern California. Securing advice from Sierra Club officers, he embarked on a trip to traverse the largely unexplored Sierra Nevada Mountains. [27] My biography traces this very risky two month long trek-with a guide and pack animals-that led to the ascent of Mt. Whitney-and a week later Canadian mountain climbing in Glacier National Park. My point is that while the Trustees are in their infancy, Dorr shakes off 8 I Page Harvard and nurseries commitments in order to experience directly the challenges of the relatively new (1890) Sequoia and Yosemite national parks. It is here that he weighs the scope of western national parks against Trustee management of present and future Hancock County holdings-and appreciates in the expansiveness of the Sierras the merits of federal protection. Dorr was able to contrast the isolation of Western parks with lessons learned from years of European travel. [28] Public parks on the other side of the Atlantic were designed in ways that brought people of different classes together, spurring democratization processes-as had Central Park (established in 1853, completed 1873). Dorr now fully embraced the Olmsted goal of linking art, environment, and social purpose. In the years immediately prior to 1916 when the Sieur de Monts National Monument was created, Dorr was taking the first giant step toward what Garden and Forest editors had argued nearly two decades earlier: that "an individual park ought to be an organized work of art." In justifying federal acceptance of Trustee donations-and later monument elevation to national park status, and improved federal funding-- what was emphasized were the islands outstanding landscape beauty, rich historical associations, impressive headlands uniquely combining sea and mountains, the variety of plant species on such a small parcel of land, and Hancock County recreational proximity to all who live east of the Mississippi River. [29] Once national monument status was authorized, Dorr started publicizing the new federal property., not waiting for the new National Park Service. [30] The little recognized Sieur de Monts Publications which Dorr published between 1916 and 1919 provide our best record of how he transitioned federal land in Hancock County Maine from monument to park status. In three years more than twenty articles appeared promoting the significance and benefits of this new federal property. 9 Page Pertinent to our publication discussion, he accepted studies from the botanists Merritt L. Fernald-a contemporary of Farrand-- and Edward L. Rand, the Champlain Society member whose keenest interest-like that of Dorr-was in the human side of science. Rand's 1889 Garden & Forest essay on "The Woods of Mount Desert Island" stressed that "trees must be spared not for the lumber they yield, but for the beauty they may add to the landscape [afterall] wild beauty means summer visitors as long as the island endures." [31] Rand and Champlain Society captain Charles Eliot only recently have been widely recognized as the first to ask island citizens to save the finer parts of its seaside communities. How their arguments were understood and applied by Dorr and Farrand will likely never be fully known but this too is a connection that deserves reconsideration. Having successfully overcome the gender barrier of her profession, Farrand likely felt empathy for the challenges the highly individualistic Dorr confronted. After all, at 62 years of age he became a federal employee-- subject to the ill-defined standards of the new National Park Service; furthermore, he had never earned income resulting from employment by another party. Evidence that she was aware of his new subordinate status is implied in her 1917 article for Scribner's Magazine on "The National Park on Mount Desert," published two years before the federal property actually attained national park status--the same month that Mrs. Jones gave Reef Point to Beatrix. [32] Therein she wrote of Dorr's "unswerving and far-sighted devotion to the ultimate usefulness of the island for the people at large." Farrand acknowledged his "self-sacrificing enthusiasm," in promoting the wild garden concept by integrating appropriate landscape plants to "attract a diversified bird population." She goes on to stress that Dorr "had always viewed Acadia as a plant sanctuary, a scaled-up version of the gardens he created with his mother at [Oldfarm]. and preserving the diversity of Acadia's flora and fauna was a key factor in [park creation and] preservation" (Catherine Schmitt, Historic Acadia National Park). 10 Page The Wild Gardens of Acadia that Beatrix had referred to was established in 1916. It was an umbrella organization-- separate from the NPS and the Trustees--that acquired land, planned horticultural communities, preserved island scenery, and published articles on the cultural and scientific rationale for conserving even more of the island. It has long perplexed me that Farrand was not a director of the WGA. Diane McGuire has stressed the two cardinal principles guiding Farrand's development of a property: first, pay close attention to the land and let the land dictate the form of the garden; second, pay close attention to the wishes of the client. [33] Only at Reef Point was Farrand able to experience the clientless liberality that Dorr had throughout the park for much of his administration. Well known is Beatrix's design of the Eyrie Garden, yet her involvement with Mr. Rockefeller in landscaping his carriage roads is less well known. [34] He responded in a phenomenal level of detail to her Road Notes about selections of specific shrubs, whether their heights would depreciate the aesthetic, or what percentage of dead evergreen branches should be removed. Her use of wild plants, shrubs, and trees to conceal and soften construction scars, to blend built structures with natural vegetation, and to screen from view the undesirable are techniques. Judith Tankard refers to Beatrix's decade long (1926-35) carriage road activity as "one of Farrand's most significant legacies in Maine" (Private Gardens, p. 115). Unlike her agreements with Mr. Rockefeller, federal constraints limited Dorr, at least in theory. The 1916 NPS Organic Act was based on a now well-known dual mission: that the parks be accessible for public enjoyment and use while being preserved unimpaired for future generations. In 1918 a policy statement added principles of landscape preservation and harmonization under the authority of engineers trained In landscape architecture. In applying these standards, local park administrators were more or less compliant in 11 Page their zeal to align park development and natural conservation (See Linda F. McClelland brilliant Building the National Parks, 1998).[35] As Dorr approached his seventieth birthday and continued to aid Mr. Rockefeller's carriage road expansion, NPS Director Mather strongly desired to open scenic areas not previously penetrated by roads- and in Acadia this issue reached a flashpoint in 1924. There were island residents, however, who were uncomfortable with a federal presence--other than the postal service. Add to this the uncertainty associated with Mr. Rockefeller's growing carriage road system. [36] Some wealthy residents insisted that their views should carry greater weight due to the importance of their propoefrty investments. By 1924 a small group of Northeast Harbor summer residents -led by U.S. Senator (PA) George Pepper-criticized Dorr and Rockefeller at length in the press for civilizing intrusions into what they perceived as the little remaining island wildness. A hearing was held in Washington DC before the Interior Secretary that could have brought an end to both road extension and Dorr's park leadership. [37] Beatrix's lengthy letter of March 10, 1924 emphasized her four decades of residency on the island during which she was kept "informed of the progress of [park] road building." While she did not directly respond to the issue of wilderness loss-except metaphorically by stating that shells must be broken to create an omlette. What is of importance was park expansion for the "use of those generations that will follow ours." [38] Secretary Hubert Work ruled in favor of Dorr's management as roadwork resumed at Acadia. [39] Recently, fellow island historian David Hackett Fischer wrote an insightful article in Chebacco on island "lost landscapes." In the 18th and 19th century, open landscapes dominated--hayfields were farmed for sustenance and commercial value-as was the ocean. Orchards and shore pastures as well as old growth forested landscapes contributed to the aesthetics of the island. Only fragments remain. Today we are more attuned to the island wide threats due to species loss and its consequence for island life. Many 12 Page scenic features enjoyed by island rusticators are largely absent to the 21st century visitor.[40] Two years after the Pepper hearings, Charles W. Eliot died on August 22, 1926 at his home in Northeast Harbor. The Triumvirate-as Dorr, Eliot, and Rockefeller were known-had already demonstrated that a contained, contiguous, and publically accessible preserve remedied the exclusive property balkanization in place prior to their stewardship. Would Dorr and Rockefeller be able to carry forward park development without their senior partner? [41] Reef Point contained more than one Dorr enthusiast. Shortly before the arrival of the CCC, Max Farrand wrote an appreciative letter to Mr. Rockefeller (9/8/1932), yet he preceded his praise for the philanthropist by crediting Dorr whose "foresight and energetic devotion preserved many of the best parts of Mount Desert from desecration and desolation." (RAC II.2.I.B.110. f.1093). [42] Rockefeller's response was even more emphatic, for without Dorr "the permanent preservation of the beauties of this island for the use of all the people, would never have come to pass." [43] And the public that made their way DownEast during the Depression years would witness the enormous impact realized by the labors of a thousand men from various New Deal agencies working on thirty projects in the nation's smallest national park By the mid-1930's, eighty-three year old Dorr was increasingly debilitated with episodes of protracted blindness which made it more difficult for him to resolve his most pressing issue: that on his death the Oldfarm estate would be sold since it was not yet federal property. The preservation of Oldfarm within the boundaries of the park was his dominant concern. Lengthy letters followed omne another, each imploring the NPS to grasp the national significance of the property and alternative future uses of the estate, By 1940 his urgency prompted an end run around the Interior Department. Dorr offered President Franklin Roosevelt the gift of his home, a cultural landscape which could serve as "a summer home for the National 13 Page Executive." Referred back to the NPS, Dorr's letters continued the parade of dozens of well-considered reasons for NPS acceptance of Oldfarm. Despite the fact that his estate had complicated forms of indebtedness. Dorr's estate, however, was integrated into the park several months before the attack on Pearl Harbor-- to his very great relief. If you are wondering about Farrand's involvement in Dorr's life in his final years, she does not mention that she served as one of its seven Directors of the Dorr Foundation. [44] Established in 1938 as Oldfarm NPS negotiations continued, the Foundation set in place a complex interdisciplinary structure to ensure that Dorr's personal property, literary rights, Oldfarm structures, wildlife and plantings would be conserved for educational ends. Without the necessary assets, the plan was never carried out. Although its structure may have influenced the shaping of the both the Reef Point Gardens Corporation and the Max Farrand Foundation-yet another area for future study. One of the tragedies for both Dorr and the Farrands, was that despite their accomplishments, they were unsuccessful in providing through their respective Corporations the endowments necessary to support-in part or whole-the maintenance of their estates. Though she was engaged in caring for her ailing husband, Immediately following Dorr's death (8/5/44), on the 30th Beatrix informed the Interior Secretary that "Mr. Dorn spoke to me once or twice about certain arrangements he thought possible in case a memorial to him was discussed." She was the first to bring the legacy issue to the foreground and Interior Secretary Newton Drury agreed that "a fitting memorial for Mr. Dorr" would be undertaken. [45] Over the last 75 years, few who read the inscription on the granite Dorr Memorial at Sieur de Monts are aware that Beatrix Farrand initiated the process later brought to fruition by Dorr's executors and the NPS. Dorr, Farrand, and Rockefeller would change land contour, vegetation, drainage, road direction, pathways, and access options 14 Page in the process of differentiating one landscaped area from another. Rockefeller had his own read on how to relate these issues to carriage road development on a massive scale. While Dorr had ever shifting priorities-both chosen and imposed-- for scenic preservation, park planning, scientific investigation, and road development, Farrand's more rigid client-driven timetable confined her to the plans at hand and the relationships developed with clients and other professionals. [46] In the end, their common landscape served each as a home for more than sixty years where each died after eight decades of achievement. She is remembered here for more than sixty distinctively designed private gardens designed by the first female member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Acadia National Park is the outcome of Dorr's investment of his earnings and inherited wealth in preserving for public enjoyment its natural splendor. The national park as an evolving whole is a memorial to Dorr, Eliot, Farrand, Rockefeller, and other park founders. Nineteen years younger than Dorr, Beatrix would survive him by fifteen years. They were bound together by family ties, similar mentorship profiles in the botanical sciences, horticultural careers, perfectionist temperaments, generosity of spirit, and deep affection for the fragile scenic splendors of the island land and seascapes. [47] BFS. Aug 4, 2019 Slide Inventory 1. GBD -age 30 2. 6B Delimbs lt. Kataldin, 1925. 3. C. W-Eliot Charles Eliot 4. Jamaica Pond 5. T.Wreen Ward 6. Hohnlea { Charle Singer, Sargeut Spreque 7. #18 Commonwealth (left) Commonwealth / Public garden 8. Public Apardan Today. 9. GBD at 20 and 70 years of age. H.U. Archurs. 10. GBD from M.D. Norsence Catalog (1926?) 11. GBD in 1927 c Mrs. Endicott 12, Reef Point Storm Beach Cottage, built 1878-79. 13. 14. OldFarm 15 High lawn 16. The Mount 17. O.W. to lives poem La Maison d'or The Gold House 18. Arnold Arboretear uap. 19. Columbia Exposition. 1893 Chicago World's Farr 20. Hourt Desert Neersertes promotions. 21. " " u 22. Dom and OWE at Jordan Pond, c. 1910. 23. Eliza Hamans 24 The Bowl 25. n Beehive B.F. - 2 26 California honesteaders C. 1900., 27. lt. Whitney. 28. Paris park scene, C. 1900. 29. Sleer du Monts National prap. 30. " " " Publications. 31. Charles Eliot. 32. Smount Desert N.P. article, 1917, Scribner's Hajayne 33. Reef Point landscape 34. JORIn + Carriage Road 35. Door-Nather paid on Cadillae. 36 JORIr. t Senator george Pepper (PA). 37 Beatrex 38. Hobest Work, Sec-of the Intereor, 1964. 39. Daird H. Fischer. 40. C.W. Eloot, necospaper obit 41. llax Farrand 42. Carrigge road gatehouse entrance. 43. ccc boys 44. GBD, lost formal photograph 1940(3) 45. Dorr Neward 1947 dedication 46 Dorr on Beachcroft Path on Dorr itt. 47. CANP 3/7/2019 Xfinity Connect Herbarium Exhibition Printout scott@konieckoarchts.com 2/24/2019 12:37 PM Herbarium Exhibition To RONALD EPP Hello Ron - This summer's herbarium exhibition is meant to compliment the seminar tour by featuring plant material that was favored by George Dorr - William Robinson - Gertrude Jekyll - Charles Sprague Sargent and Edith Wharton. I have attached the poster that will be in the exhibition that was done on George Dorr - please take a look at it and let me know if it looks OK to you. Best, Scott George Dorr poster 22Feb19.pdf (6 MB) Exhibition brochure 2019.pdf (6 MB) About the 2019 Exhibition Beatrix Farrand learned about garden The Beatrix Farrand Society's design by reading and studying, by 2019 Herbarium Exhibition traveling and reflecting on what she saw, and by improving her skills through experience. She also learned The Gardens of Five from several mentors. People Who Influenced Five of her mentors - George Dorr, About the Herbarium Beatrix Farrand Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson, Charles Sprague Sargent and Edith The Reef Point Gardens Herbarium Wharton - were gardeners themselves. was part of Beatrix Farrand's vision of Their personal gardens reflected their Reef Point Gardens as a place where ideas and philosophies, and contained students could study gardening and plants that were in some way important plants. Plant specimens were collected to each of them. and preserved in 1949-1954. The herbarium remained at Reef Point This exhibition showcases some of the Gardens until Farrand donated it to the plants that these five people grew in University of California, Berkeley. their own gardens. For example, Dorr loved Mount Desert Island's native The Beatrix Farrand Society and UC plants. Jekyll had a life-long love of Berkeley's Herbarium collaborated to primroses. Robinson planted hundreds produce a set of high-quality digitized of thousands of spring bulbs. Sargent images of the Reef Point Gardens researched hawthorns for twenty years. Herbarium, making possible the annual Wharton planted clematis in her walled herbarium exhibitions at Garland Farm. garden. The plants displayed in the exhibition For More Information are images of vouchers from the Reef Point Herbarium. These vouchers tell For information about the Beatrix Garland Farm us that Farrand had these plants in her Farrand Society's summer events, own gardens at Reef Point. online copies of newsletters and other 475 Bay View Drive, information related to Beatrix Farrand Bar Harbor, Maine and Garland Farm, visit: http://www.beatrixfarrandsociety.org www.beatrixfarrandsociety.org The Influence of Five People's Plants, Gardens and Ideas on Beatrix Farrand Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959) was greatly influenced by the five William Robinson (1838-1935) and Beatrix Farrand became people represented in the 2019 herbarium exhibition. The friends during Farrand's several visits to Gravetye Manor. exhibition explores their personal gardens, the ideas that inspired their gardens, and the plants they grew. Farrand adopted gardening ideas that Gravetye he promoted: planting a mix of native and exotic plants, planting thickly to cover the soil, and naturalizing drifts of George Dorr (1853-1944) and Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959) had perennials. Both Farrand and Robinson preferred single-flowered plants such as much in common. Both of their families had homes on Mount clematis and rose. Desert Island, which they continued to live in as adults. Farrand visited Oldfarm, Dorr's family home, in her early 20s, and she later purchased plants from Dorr's Mount Desert Nurseries for her design installations on the island. Both were influenced by Charles Sprague Sargent, advised Edith Wharton on her landscape at The Charles Sprague Sargent (1841- Mount, and collaborated with J. D. Rockefeller Jr. on his carriage 1927) introduced Farrand to the world of roads. Both worked hard on behalf of Acadia National Park. plant study, using the Arnold Arboretum They shared a love of the local native flora. as a classroom. The 2019 herbarium exhibition includes 17 He introduced a very large number of trees and shrubs to American native plants that Dorr mentioned in his gardeners through his own travels and research, and the work of description of the flora of Mount Desert people he hired at the arboretum during his 50+ year career. The Island, that were also in Farrand's Reef azaleas and rhododendrons at the arboretum and at his home, Point gardens. Holm Lea, certainly provided inspiration to Farrand, who also relied on these shrubs at Reef Point and in her designs. Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) is one of history's most famous and influential garden writers. Like Farrand, she experimented with plants in her own gardens. Both women loved roses. Farrand and her mother visited Jekyll's gardens at Munstead Wood in 1895, Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was Farrand's aunt. They were although it is not clear that they met Jekyll. Later, Farrand honored close in age and shared an interest in design. Jekyll by purchasing and preserving her archives. Wharton introduced Farrand to European Farrand grew 'Munstead Strain' lavender and gardens during their travels, and she was 'Munstead Strain' primrose at Reef Point. also an early client of Farrand, who Both plants were introduced through Jekyll's designed two areas of Wharton's efforts at Munstead Wood. landscape at The Mount. The Influence of Five People's Plants, Gardens and Ideas on Beatrix Farrand Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959) was greatly influenced by the five William Robinson (1838-1935) and Beatrix Farrand became people represented in the 2019 herbarium exhibition. The friends during Farrand's several visits to Gravetye Manor. exhibition explores their personal gardens, the ideas that inspired their gardens, and the plants they grew. Farrand adopted gardening ideas that Gravelyeif he promoted: planting a mix of native and exotic plants, planting thickly to cover the soil, and naturalizing drifts of George Dorr (1853-1944) and Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959) had perennials. Both Farrand and Robinson much in common. Both of their families had homes on Mount preferred single-flowered plants such as clematis and rose. Desert Island, which they continued to live in as adults. Farrand visited Oldfarm, Dorr's family home, in her early 20s, and she later purchased plants from Dorr's Mount Desert Nurseries for her design installations on the island. Both were influenced by Charles Sprague Sargent, advised Edith Wharton on her landscape at The Charles Sprague Sargent (1841- Mount, and collaborated with J. D. Rockefeller Jr. on his carriage 1927) introduced Farrand to the world of roads. Both worked hard on behalf of Acadia National Park. plant study, using the Arnold Arboretum They shared a love of the local native flora. as a classroom. The 2019 herbarium exhibition includes 17 native plants that Dorr mentioned in his He introduced a very large number of trees and shrubs to American gardeners through his own travels and research, and the work of description of the flora of Mount Desert Island, that were also in Farrand's Reef people he hired at the arboretum during his 50+ year career. The azaleas and rhododendrons at the arboretum and at his home, Point gardens. Holm Lea, certainly provided inspiration to Farrand, who also relied on these shrubs at Reef Point and in her designs. Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) is one of history's most famous and influential garden writers. Like Farrand, she experimented with plants in her own gardens. Both women loved roses. Farrand and her mother visited Jekyll's gardens at Munstead Wood in 1895, Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was Farrand's aunt. They were although it is not clear that they met Jekyll. Later, Farrand honored close in age and shared an interest in design. Jekyll by purchasing and preserving her archives. Wharton introduced Farrand to European Farrand grew 'Munstead Strain' lavender and gardens during their travels, and she was 'Munstead Strain' primrose at Reef Point. also an early client of Farrand, who Both plants were introduced through Jekyll's designed two areas of Wharton's efforts at Munstead Wood. landscape at The Mount. George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944) eorge Dorr spent most of his life on Mount Desert Island. He The Defining Evergreens of the Acadian Forest nvened a group that accumulated land that later became cadia National Park. He was the park's first superintendent. Dorr paid tribute to the white pine by calling it "the noblest tree in the Acadian Forest", but said that "In majesty of trunk in age and in grace of orr and Beatrix Farrand knew each other from the early 1890s, delicate and lightly carried foliage, the Hemlock reigns supreme." nen Farrand visited the Dorr family estate, Oldfarm, just two He showed his plant knowledge in describing white spruce as "the only evergreen tree iles south of her family home at Reef Point. Both advised Edith on the coast whose foliage will withstand the ocean spray and whose roots will maintain harton on her landscape at The Mount, and advised J.D. their hold, growing vigorously, on a surf-cut bank till it is washed away." ockeler Jr. on the carriage roads. Both Dorr and Farrand ved MDI, and wanted to preserve its natural beauty. Deciduous Trees of the Acadian Forest Photo of George Dorr on Beachcroft Path Hiking Trail, Courtesy of Friends of Acadia Dorr called red oak "the type of an important group and its finest member, rapid in growth, valuable in wood, and beautiful in autumnal color." The displayed plant from Reef Point was important enough to George Dorr's "Garden": Mount Desert Island Farrand that she knew its age; the voucher note states it was "Planted orr's home at Oldfarm had ninety acres of land, but we know little of the plants in his approx. 1884." ndscape. In many ways, Mount Desert Island was "his garden." He knew the island's He described striped maple, a small tree of the forest's understory, as having "straight, ra well, and it was part of what he wanted to preserve with the park's establishment. longitudinally striped stems and leaves exceptionally large, whose young shoots, rich in sugar, are a favorite browse of Moose in winter, whence its Moosewood name." is exhibition presents some of the plants he mentioned in "The Acadian Forest," in 122. Farrand had written of many of those plants in an article in Scribner's Magazine in While acknowledging that the sugar maple does not attain the full size and beauty along 17, ending the article with a tribute to Dorr's leadership as first superintendent of the the coast that it achieves inland, Dorr called red maple "one of the most beautiful trees ew Acadia National Park. She also planted some of those plants at Reef Point, including of the American forest, lightening the springtime landscape with its red flowers and fruit ose in this exhibition. Names of the exhibited plants are in bold type here, to help illuminated by the sun, furnishing a refreshing shade in summer, and becoming in the innect this information with the exhibited images. early fall a blaze of flame-like color." Flora of the Understory Among other deciduous trees, Dorr noted that white ash is "a straight-stemmed, orr wrote of MDI's wildflowers, starting in spring with mayflower, followed by splendid tree, the finest of its genus." The label of Farrand's herbarium specimen agrees, calling it a "tall handsome tree." ntonia "forming great beds of splendid foliage in the woods." Later, cardinal flower pears along streambanks, the native lilies grow among beds of ferns, and twisted alk develops its brick-red hanging fruits. Still later, linnaea's flowers and bunchberry's uits are followed by the fall display of asters. Among understory shrubs, Dorr wrote of For More Information ueberries and rhodora, "sung by Emerson," and the viburnums, "most beautiful of For more information about Beatrix Farrand, visit www.beatrixfarrandsociety.org orthern woodland shrubs." And, he wrote that with all of these plants in the forest, For a list of information sources used for this exhibition, email lois.stack@maine.edu here is no period the season through that lacks its special interest of flower or fruit." 7/28/2019 Xfinity Connect Final Plans for August 4 BFS Symposium-speaker lunch guests_ Printout hornord4@gmail.com 7/25/2019 10:40 AM Final Plans for August 4 BFS Symposium- hepe speaker lunch guests? 8/19/19 To Judith Tankard Ericka Duym RONALD EPP wrote: Hi Ron, How are you? I hope you have had a nice spring. Very busy here, as planting season is in full swing! I am emailing to touch base with you concerning the Beatrix Farrand Society Event on August 4th. Scott Koniecko approached me about giving a short talk on the Mount Desert Nurseries, of which I obliged. However, I wanted to check in with you, and perhaps coordinate a bit on content. There are so many bits and pieces to the story of the Nurseries, that I want to make sure my talk does not impeded with yours. My thinking is to shed light on some of the history of the Nurseries, their connection to Bar Harbor, and Beatrix Farrand, though focus a bit more on how even in their absence, they now still play a very key role in the present day Oldfarm site, to which we'll visit shortly thereafter. Most likely this will be done with a selection of photos, and my keen horticultural knowledge! Feel free to email me any thoughts or concerns. I just saw your email to Scott regarding the laptop. I will have mine on hand, you are free to use it. It does have PowerPoint installed, as well as Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader. Very Best, ~Ericka Ericka Duym, ASLA, BSLA Historic Landscape Preservation Design+Consulting Masters of Landscape Architecture, 2015 Graduate Certificate of Cultural Landscape Management, 2015 University of Massachusetts, Amherst www.erickaduym.com 7/2/2019 Xfinity Connect Re_BFS Resources Printout Hornor Davis 6/27/2019 4:23 PM Re: BFS Resources To scott@konieckoarchts.com Copy RONALD EPP hornord4@gmail.com Ron and Scott, Greetings gentlemen. Ron, I'll introduce myself, Hornor Davis, the volunteer in charge of lunch and transportation. I might be the intermediary to whom you refer- but as I consider, it is more likely you refer to the BFS employee Nikolai Fox who is the tech support and more important link in a successful presentation. ( I too have drop box issues...) I am flattered to be involved. I only moved to MDI two years ago and very much look forward to meeting you. Your Dorr biography served as a wonderful introduction to MDI! I have an ancient undergrad degree from UVA in Architectural History and a keen interest in landscape design etc. Scott ( and probably Judith Tankard) are tired of hearing me wax on about an Ellen Biddle Shipman Garden I now have for sale in Aiken SC ( post a divorce etc). Being in MDI is such a privilege and before moving I was of course familiar with it's special history of land stewardship. I also have a law degree and served briefly on the first Land Trust in my native West Virginia ( which shares many of the pluses and minuses of Maine). Please contact me with any questions that might assist in logistics- although not to confuse it because Scott is the very best contact and Symposium director and content resource. I have encouraged visuals because my personal preference is some orientation in the relative comfort of the lecture space. Especially in the event of bad weather. If we have 40 attendees you know better than I the challenge of communicating on that site- although nothing replaces the benefit of being there! With apologies in advance I do note that with time constraints for such a rich and ambitious program and the 'hunger for knowledge" that the lecture is delivered in the lunch space and we generally begin the program before most have finished the meal- which will be pre-set. The benefit is attendees can have dessert and coffee and beverages at the leisure of their seats - and we use padded arm chairs. All in all it is from my new guy perspective , a very friendly format and venue. Finally I note I'm having emergency surgery tomorrow for a detached retina( unfortunately I've been through the process before) but expect to be pretty functional next week. Hoping I have not simply confused matters more. Very best regards, Hornor Davis 304-545-7620