"The Mountain Namias Contro - versy. "Woodlown Meeseum 2,=3(2005): WOODLAWN M IUSEUM The Black House MAINE'S PREMIER HISTORIC ESTATE Summer 2005 A Property of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations vol. 2 no. 3 The Mountain Naming Controversy and the Mission of the Trustees Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. George Nixon Black, Jr., Col. John Black's grandson, the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations, Mr. bequeathed Woodlawn to the Hancock County Trustees George B. Dorr, and other notable men and women who of Public Reservations in 1928. One of Maine's first were vital to the establishment of Acadia National Park. preservation and land conservation organizations, this Representatives from Hancock County libraries, museums, group was founded in 1901 by Charles W. Eliot, the and historical societies collaborated to plan a diverse president emeritus of Harvard University and a summer schedule of public events during 2005 that would focus resident of Northeast Harbor. In 1916, this group donated on the park Founders. This essay on the Trustees is one the majority of the land that created Acadia National Park. contribution to preservation of that legacy. Today, Woodlawn Museum is the largest and most important unit under the care of the Trustees. Public access to this It is impossible to imagine a world without names. In important historic estate has been maintained by the Trustees an ideal world confusion would be avoided if everyone used since its opening on August 20, 1929 under the leadership one name to represent a person, place, or thing. Names of Mr. Richard W. Hale, founder of the prestigious Boston often have synonyms and spelling variations that contribute law firm of Hale and Dorr, and Chairman of the Trustees' to misunderstandings. Moreover, historic names give way newly formed Black House Committee. to current local usage and place names change with little In 2004, a volunteer organization named "The Spirit regard to their origin. of Acadia" was formed to focus attention on the legacies of continued on page 3... Mountain Naming (continued from page 1) There is a long-standing 'democratic' conviction in America that everyone has an equal right to bestow-and defend-a geographic name. To counter nomenclature anarchy and confusion relating to geographic names, in the late 19th century the United States Board on Geographic Names (Board) established nomenclature criteria and rendered decisions that were binding for Federal agencies. The Woodlawn Archives provide rich insights into a naming controversy that surfaced on the heels of the 1928 donation of the Woodlawn estate to the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations (Trustees). The central figure in this controversy was George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944), one of the eight Trustee Incorporators and its First Vice President for more than four decades. Mr. Dorr's energetic stewardship over three decades was responsible for most Trustee donations and the eventual gifting of these properties to the federal government, establishing the Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916. In 1917, as Monument Custodian, Mr. Dorr proposed well-developed arguments for changing the names of nearly a dozen natural objects within Monument boundaries to the National Park Service (NPS). Receiving the necessary NPS endorsements, he made formal application to the Board on September 15, 1918 and within two weeks new nomenclature was authorized. While the motives for reference." As a new federal administrator, Dorr was also mountain renamings were complex, Dorr argued in part that trying to conform to the Board principle of long standing the conventional names (e.g., Brown, Dog, Dry, Green etc.) usage, yet as a scholar Dorr was compelled to locate historic were undistinguished. As a result, nearly half the mountains precedent for the conventional names. Where the historical that form the Mount Desert Range were renamed Acadia, roots were shallow, Dorr saw an opportunity to develop Bernard, Cadillac, Champlain, Huguenot Head, Mansell, alternative historical arguments that emphasized the role of and Norumbega. Native American and French historical associations. In this Following the 1919 elevation of the Monument to process he pressed for a more ancient lineage than what was national park status (Lafayette National Park), other customary on Mount Desert Island. geographic name changes were proposed and by 1929 Boston attorney and Trustee Richard W. Hale initiated approvals were secured to rename ten of fourteen a defense of the traditional mountain names more than a mountains-and island maps reflected these changes. decade after the 1918 approvals. His January 2, 1931 letter For Mr. Dorr, name selection resulted from extensive to the editor of the Bar Harbor Times stated that at the August study. The National Archives, Rockefeller Archive Center, 28, 1930 annual meeting of the HCTPR he entered a motion the Board Archives, and the Sawtelle Research Center to fellow Trustees that at the next annual meeting they contain Dorr's arguments. He recognized that early declare themselves in favor of the "well known names." An settlers gave "excellent descriptive names" to the seacoast informal Trustees poll, via postcard, revealed that 28 of 36 and harbored waters where names like Egg Rock and favored the names in use before the Board approvals. Hale Otter Creek suggest their own interesting ancestry. But asked the Times to poll its readers. Over the next several "mountains and paths, woods and lakes, must all have weeks ballots were cast and the tally was overwhelming: names for the sake of distinction and as points of visitor 150 for the old names, three for the new. Letters to the Times 3 I am strongly in law of no documentation that the new name opponents collaborated or that Superintendent Dorr responded in any way to holding to the new names public questioning of his administrative recommendations. Privately, Ellsworth District Court Judge John A. Peters with there historical sign Seconum advanced the popular misconception that if Green for the maintains- Mountain could be renamed Cadillac then logically Dorr "ought to call another one 'Buick' and certainly a peak near Champlain, Cadellae, Seal Harbor ought to be called 'Ford''' (after its celebrated resident, Edsel Ford). The Woodlawn Archives offer little Noumhega, St. Sarveur to clarify this matter other than the draft of a proposed 1934 Bernard are a thousand speech by R.W. Hale Jr. with a handwritten notation that the motion that all Trustee officers use traditional mountain Times better than names in "all documents and correspondence" was defeated Green, Brown, Bosete. by a voice vote. The naming controversy appears to be a manifestation One change is enough. Leto of the Trustees attempt to cope with a fundamental change in their organizational mission, shifting from land leave well enough alone conservation for the public good to property preservation and stewardship. Hale became the champion of a cohort Charleen dissatisfied with what had transpired with former Trustee properties that were now under federal administration. Perhaps some felt that Mr. Dorr had violated some unstated 2 Ballot cast by Charles W. Eliot, September, 1930. Trustee approval process. The years between 1928 and 1930 were a turning editor emphasized that place names are significant because point for the Trustees. After the death of Mr. George Nixon of their ancestry and emotional power. Black, Jr., his Ellsworth estate, Woodlawn, was donated There is no evidence that Hale re-entered his motion to the Trustees. Lafayette National Park was renamed at the 1931 Trustee meeting; in fact, no minutes document Acadia National Park, enlarging the property beyond MDI the 1930 meeting that precipitated this issue. Nonetheless, to include the Schoodic Peninsula. Finally, on August 29, Hale wrote to the Board in September 1932 requesting 1929, the Trustees conveyed "to the United States all lands relevant documentation. Subsequently, in 1934 Richard owned by the Corporation [the Trustees] on Mount Desert Hale Jr. takes up his father's cause and tries to identify and Island." informally poll the "younger generation of visitors to the Additional parcels continued to be accepted by the Island [who] used new names for the mountains." Trustees and then conveyed to the federal government over Trustee Samuel Eliot Morison wrote to the Board on the next few years. Some Trustees, however, must have May 27, 1933 requesting that the names used prior to 1917 asked whether the organization had a future. Many founding be restored. He argued that signage still reflected old usage, members were either deceased or no longer involved, and that the old names were reflected in American literature, new members-like Hale and Morison-were questioning and that the new names had not been popularly accepted. the mission of the Trustees. Moreover, the Trustee who had Morison concluded that if we can change the name of the been central to land acquisition ( i.e., Mr. Dorr ) was now park to "the old French name of the region," (L'Acadie) we also a park service administrator with considerable influence can revert back to the old mountain names as well. Lacking in the nation's Capitol. support from the National Park Service, no action was taken After three decades of active pursuit of property and by the Board. the administration of lands available to the public, some Both Hale and Morison avoided making any reference to fellow Trustee Dorr-as did the letters to the Times. There is continued on page 11 4 Mountain Naming (continued from page 4) members must have wondered-as John D. Rockefeller, Jr. by ownership by cooperation, and in part by helping to proposed-whether the Trustees should disband now that form public opinion." their mission had been realized. Instead, throughout the There is no indication of any residual interest in Depression Era, without any formal declaration, the Trustees mountain naming but there is recognition that future gifts shifted from land acquisition for public recreation to the "might favor national and remote control" [i.e., federal and single-minded management of the Woodlawn estate. Few state management]. President Morris rather nicely set the records of Trustee meetings during the period 1931-1939 stage for the challenge that some see the Trustees facing survive, and it is plausible that they entered a period of near today. Morris thought strategically, focusing attention on the dormancy while the Black House (Woodlawn) Committee need for a new vision, a new organizational structure, and took center stage. the necessity of Trustees' commitments more far-reaching In a Trustee circular letter dated September 21, than routine financial support. 1940, the issue of the future of the Trustees was raised by President Dave Hennen Morris. He proposed that Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. is writing a biography of "we keep the corporation not only technically, but also George Bucknam Dorr, the first such effort to document substantially, alive and vigorous and endeavor to serve the his historical significance as a conservationist. Dr. Epp is community in the field of owning property for public access currently Director of the University Library, Southern New and enjoyment." Not only does he advocate "luxurious" Hampshire University. rather than "grudging support" for Woodlawn, but he broadens the traditional Trustee goal to emphasize "public enjoyment of [Hancock County] natural resources in part Preserve Maine's Premier Historic Estate - Become a Member Today! Yearly basic membership benefits include: Free admission per member per year, a subscription to the award-winning Woodlawn newsletter, a 10% discount in the Museum Store for purchases over $10.00, notification of the annual members reception, a Woodlawn Museum window decal, and notification of special events as designated by the Museum. Additional benefits are specified below: Basic Membership Levels I enclose $ for Membership Dues at the Level Student $5: All basic membership benefits for a student in grades K-12. Dr. Mr. Mrs. Ms. Miss Individual $35: All basic membership benefits for one person. 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