BAR HARBOR'S GOLDEN ERA OF WEALTH AND FASHION M T BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF BAR HARBOR By Herbert Edwards W RITERS who came to Mt. Desert Island in the late 1800s and the earlier decades of the twen- tieth century had at least one thing in common with the other well-known residents of the famous resort DR. S. WEIR MITCHELL area during these years - they were conspicuously IN HIS STUDY AND HIKING wealthy. All of them ranked high on the yearly list of ON SARGENT MT., MT. DESERT. best-sellers, and one, Mary Roberts Rinehart, made the list year after year. One of the first to acquire a permanent home at Northeast Harbor was the famous Dr. S. Weir Mit- chell of Philadelphia. When he came to Mt. Desert Island in 1863, his reputation as a "nerve specialist," as psychiatrists were then called, was already nation- wide, and soon to become worldwide. In the days before income taxes, his yearly income was already about $65,000 a year. Basically, his treatment seemed very simple - rest, exercise, diet, shower baths. In a typical case of "nervous breakdown" he would prescribe two weeks of rest in bed, during which the patient should read light fiction. The doctor prescribed the fiction, and it was jokingly said that his career as a novelist had begun when he was unable to find anything light enough in American or English fiction to suit his patients' needs. After the rest period, the most diffi- 42 BAR HARBOR FROM SCOTT'S HILL THE RODIC HOUSE DESERT WRITERS BELOW - ARTHUR TRAIN MARY ROBERTS RINEHART BAR HARBOR CATHEDRAL ROCK cult part of the treatment began. He believed that Not many years later George Vanderbilt was to pay a nervous breakdown was basically a physical $200,000 for the land on Mount Desert on which he breakdown. The physical build-up stressed exercise built Pointe d' Acadie, a tract for which the original and a well-balanced, high-protein diet. The day owner had paid $100, and the Mainer who sold it to should begin with a prolonged shower bath - not as Vanderbilt, $200. Vanderbilt bought in the days of easy to accomplish then as now. If this did not create the big boom when the editor of the Bar Harbor an appetite for a big breakfast (the doctor's own Record wrote that the town had become "the giddy breakfast was always buckwheat cakes, sausage, and vortex of fashionable life, and the Bar Harbor day two cups of coffee), the patient must exercise before of years ago is prolonged into the night of ball and breakfast, preferably a long walk. rout, and day itself is but a restless endeavor to get The doctor himself was a famous walker, and one ready for the next night's dissipation." But the of the reasons he loved the island was its mountain shrewd old doctor from Philadelphia had bought his walks with their magnificent views of shore and land and built his cottage years before the boom. ocean. For many years his tall, slim figure, clad in Of course, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell's "cottage" hardly light gray tweeds, and with the wind tossing his conformed to Webster's definition of "a modest coun- reddish beard, could be seen ascending Newport try dwelling." But the doctor's Far Niente was mountain. When in the early 1900s a proposal to ad- modest in comparison with John S. Kennedy's Ken- mit automobiles to Mt. Desert Island was favored by narden Lodge, Pulitzer's Thirlstane or Green Lawn, the natives, the doctor headed the Village Improve- where Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Green one night in ment Association, composed of the wealthy summer August of 1899 entertained more than a hundred residents, in a determined, but finally unavailing ef- members of the Canoe Club. The canoes, "gaily fort to exclude "the devil wagons." decorated with Japanese lanterns and different col- On his first visit to the island he wrote home: ored lights," had arrived at the Green wharf after "Mount Desert is a jolly place, twenty miles long, parading up and down the bar in front of the cot- ten broad; mountains in the middle; eight lakes be- tages along the shore. Cleveland Amory in The Last tween them; sea wall all around island, sometimes Resorts says that the average cottage at Bar Harbor five feet high, sometimes eight hundred. Lots of caves at this time had at least ten servants, and that there full of pools; pools full of anemones. Surf breaks were probably ninety cottages that had more than over said rocks considerably. I'd rather see it than this number. a circus, wouldn't you? Fare, ahem! $1.50 a day; Although the doctor had a buckboard drawn by a potatoes and mutton, mutton and potatoes, clam fast pair of horses, and a fine saddle horse, he never chowder, fish chowder, plum pie, which means black- aspired to such a turnout as that of W. B. Howard, berry ditto. However, we had a trunkful of potted the Chicago millionaire, whose red and black car- things, pickles, champagne, whiskey, chocolates, etc. riage was drawn by a handsome pair of chestnut A day's board represents the money value of an acre horses with white harness trimmed in nickel, while of land at East Eden." on the box sat a footman and coachman in cream- 44 FROM BAR ISLAND OTTER CLIFFS colored liveries. The doctor's buckboard had been nates, Kennedy, Hill and Jessup, planned consolida- built by W. H. Davis of Bar Harbor, the originator, tions of nation-wide importance, and prominent fin- designer and builder of that famous vehicle. anciers from all over the world awaited the arrival In the summer of 1895 Dr. S. Weir Mitchell wrote: of J. P. Morgan's black yacht, the 400-foot Corsair. "Today I propose to tramp over a mountain top and Crawford knew SO many of the important people shall digest in mind a difficult scene in the book of at Bar Harbor that Scribner's, who were publishing a which I have written about one thousand pages of series of attractively bound and illustrated little books manuscript." The book, published the next year, was on American summer resorts, chose him to write the his famous best-seller, Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker, a one on Bar Harbor. In his book Crawford wrote that suspenseful story of the American Revolution, which the principal characteristic of Bar Harbor was an air soon sold almost 200,000 copies. of youth. "It did not seem as if anyone could ever At Northeast Harbor also he wrote his other best- be more than twenty-five years old." On the eve- sellers. He said: "In town I have only tasks, and nings when there was moonlight the bay was filled contrive to exist until summer arouses my mind from with canoes, the young men in light flannels, sun- its winter hibernation. Here, with a world of beauty burnt and strong, the girls in white frocks drawn up to comfort me, I come to life again." At the age of over gaily-striped petticoats, with bright shawls over 80 he was still climbing the stiffest trails of his be- their shoulders. Every girl had her own paddle with loved Newport mountain and cutting paths which her initials carved on the handle carefully filled with led to new vistas. sealing wax and rubbed smooth. "Slowly each little craft drew away from its neigh- U NLIKE Weir Mitchell, Francis Marion Crawford bor; the sun went down toward Hull's Cove; and as was already a popular novelist when he came to the red glow faded on the upper bay and the moon Mt. Desert Island. The son of the famous American rose behind Schoodic, twilight merging into moon- sculptor, Thomas Crawford, he was born in Italy, light, the rippling note of a girl's laughter or the and was a true cosmopolite, living and writing in a twang of a banjo rang over the water; a white speck number of countries around the world. Tall, dark, showed where a canoe was beached on the shingle of handsome and debonair, the master of a dozen lan- an island, while another floated like a black bar into guages, his vivid and charming personality made him the silver wake of the moon." a welcome guest at even the most exclusive cottages. The Indians on Mt. Desert who made the canoes It was no disadvantage that he was related to the fascinated Crawford. They belonged to the Penob- Howes, the epitome of Boston aristocracy, in the scot and Passamaquoddy tribes, and they had been days when the Cottage Directory listed the Amorys coming to the island, which they called Pemetic, for and Peabodys of Boston as well as the Biddles of perhaps hundreds of years. Leaving the old folks Philadelphia and the Auchinclosses of New York. at their permanent villages near Orono and Machias Crawford had entree to the best clubs such as the to cultivate the corn, they came to the island to fish, Reading Room, where the country's railroad mag- (Continued on page 72) 45 MT. DESERT WRITTERS (Continued from page 42) to dig clams and to pick berries - all of which the squaws dried and packed into birch bark boxes against the coming winter. Since their trips to the island made ocean-going canoes a necessity, they had become experts in the craft of making birch bark canoes that were remarkably seaworthy. The so- phisticated Crawford was fascinated by the marve- lous skill of these primitive craftsmen. Amazingly seaworthy as the Indian canoes were, they were not always safe in the hands of the inex- perienced young men and women from the cities, and disaster was bound to occur. At eight o'clock one summer evening two prominent young society people, both staying with their families at the fashion- able St. Sauveur Hotel, had engaged a canoe at the Conners Brothers' wharf, and had set out with the intention of going round Bar Island. The night was very dark and a squally northwest wind was blowing. The next morning the canoe was found, but the bodies D. T. SANDERS & SON, INC. 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The Birches MOOSEHEAD LAKE A modern, secluded, cabin-colony summer resort offering the finest in fishing, boating, recreation. (Ex- cellent cuisine and cocktail lounge.) Hood Nicely spaced log cabins furnished in charming modern decor, include 1 to 3 bedrooms, 1 to 2 baths, living room and fireplace. Maid and cabin boy service. Private floats - Boats - Motors- Canoes - Cabin Cruiser. AAA - Res- ervations requested. May 15 - Late Ice Cream Sept. May we send our pictorial color brochure? H. P. HOOD & SONS - Serving New England THE BIRCHES ROCKWOOD, MAINE Since 1846 72 of the young woman and young man were never re- covered. The reckless "Bar Harbor Girl" was much dis- ESCAPE KIT cussed in the papers and magazines of the time, and Skip town, face the sun and unwind in Crawford was later to feature her in a novel, Love in a Techbuilt award-winning shoreside or Idleness, A Tale of Bar Harbor. His heroine, daring, hillside hideaway a modular-designed retreat with flexible interiors. floor-to- rich, athletic, independent, drives a team of fast horses sky windows and optional year 'round at a reckless speed along the Corniche Road, sails a insulation. Techbuilt's money-saving catboat in a stiff wind and rides a mettlesome thor- swim-now, ski-later pleasure package lets you start prudently, add rooms as oughbred along the shore road. brood and bankroll grow. Brochure, bulging with photos and floor plans, is the following generation one of the most promi- yours for 25c. Techbuilt, Inc., Dept. DE64, I 127 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, Mass. nent Bar Harbor writers was Arthur Train, always associated with his "Mr. Tutt" stories which appeared for many years in the Saturday Evening Post. Many TECHBUILT changes had taken place in Bar Harbor by Arthur Vacation Cottage Train's time. No longer would the Schiefflin family of eleven, mounted on glossy black thoroughbreds, canter through the gates of their estate for a morning ride along the shore road. After automobiles were admitted in 1915, riding was no longer a popular Bar Harbor sport. The servant problem became acute at the time of World War I, and by the time of World War II it had become desperate. This, and the constantly mounting income taxes, resulted in the closing of many of the big estates. But some of the old families remained, and among them were the Trains of Sol's Cliff. Arthur Train was a rich man's son who refuted all the time-worn traditions about rich men's sons. He graduated from Harvard and Harvard Law School with high honors, plunged into the maelstrom of SAVE IN MAINE New York City's organized crime with the crusading district attorney, William Travers Jerome, and was soon feared and hated by corrupt politicians and big criminals throughout the nation. But he sighed for Postage - Paid Save - by - Mail a new world to conquer - writing. As a writer he 3 SAVINGS PLANS: was for a time unsuccessful, and one day when he INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS was thirty-five he "spent an afternoon upon the cliffs MONTHLY SAVINGS ACCOUNTS of Otter Creek at Mt. Desert weeping bitter tears SAVINGS ACCOUNTS of frustration because I seemed doomed to be a writer Earn 41/4% on Investment ac- of briefs rather than fiction." counts. All other savings plans EARN UP TO earn 4% per annum and are paid But not for long. Soon he wrote a successful novel quarterly. Save-by-Mail Plan about the big financiers and their families that he saves time, effort and expense, 4 % had known in Bar Harbor. His Children's Children along with your money. Cumber- 1/4 featured the actual daring exploit of Ann Archbold, land supplies self-addressed enve- lopes - and pays the postage. PER ANNUM the Standard Oil heiress who had married an aristo- cratic Englishman. After several years of extreme un- Mrs. Skolfield, Asst. Secretary happiness she had tried to leave him and take her Please send me further details children with her. But her husband hid the children I enclose $ to open and had the English courts place them in Chancery. In my name Type of Account Joint account with Ann returned to this country, obtained the use of a Trust account for Standard Oil tanker, sailed to England, discovered NAME where the children were hidden, kidnapped them and ADDRESS brought them back on the tanker. Some of Train's CITY ZONE STATE most successful later novels were based on the ad- venturous lives of the financiers and social leaders he Cumberland SAVINGS 561 Congress St. & LOAN had come to know well at Bar Harbor. Several of ASSOCIATION Portland, Maine PEMAQUID AREA his stories later became successful motion pictures. YOU ARE CORDIALLY It is Mr. Tutt's knowledge of human nature, rather INVITED TO than his legal acumen, which brings about a happy PEMAQUID ending in Train's Bar Harbor story, The Viking's Daughter. One of Mr. Tutt's clients, a wealthy cot- Heart of Coastal Maine tage owner at Bar Harbor, is terribly disturbed be- HISTORIC SCENIC cause his son seems determined to marry a girl who PEMAQUID BEACH runs a lobster boat. Mr. Tutt investigates and finds One-half mile of Beautiful Sand Beach out that the girl has carried on her father's lobstering business since his death to pay her college expenses FORT WILLIAM HENRY Historic Landmark at Colby and to help support her mother. Then Mr. LIGHTHOUSE PARK Picturesque Rugged Coast Tutt induces the still skeptical millionaire to sail For picture folder, accommodations and reservations, write: out with the girl one morning to watch her tend her Pemaquid Area Association Pemaquid Beach, Maine traps. In the icy dawn, as the financier, clinging desperately to the cabin, sees the girl handle the ACCOMMODATIONS & SERVICES boat in the mountainous waves, he suddenly felt "an immense confidence in the stalwart, erect, fearless VILLAGE MARKET - Pemaquid Beach young figure beside him." Groceries & Meats ED LEWIS' COTTAGES - Pemaquid Point Housekeeping - On the Water I F genius is simply an excess of energy, intellectual and physical, as one authority has maintained, THE SEA GULL SHOP - Pemaquid Point Mary Roberts Rinehart was the greatest genius among Restaurant & Gifts the Bar Harbor writers. For years she had a down- C.E. REILLY & SON - New Harbor town office in her native Pittsburgh where she turned Quality Groceries - Meats - Vegetables out a continuous stream of novels, plays and short GILBERT'S WHARF - New Harbor Rt. 32 stories. She employed a rapid typist to keep up Dining Room - Lobsters & Clams Retail with her tremendous production. At noon, the typist SMALL BROS. WHARF - New Harbor, Rt. 32 would bring her sandwiches and coffee, but Mrs. Lobsters - Clams - Picnic Tables Rinehart hardly slackened her furious pace and con- MARY & GENE KLEBE - Bristol Rt. 130 tinued to write while she ate. About five o'clock her Antiques - Marine Paintings physician husband, when he had seen the last patient THOMPSON HOUSE & COTTAGES - New Harbor at his office, would call for her, and they would May 1 - Nov. 1 - Folder drive out to their estate on the banks of the Ohio, MAGNUM II - 2 Excursion Sailings Daily a home for which they had paid $100,000. At the height of her career, she was earning more money than any other living writer. But always her family of three boys and her husband came first. PEMAQUID ART GALLERY She had firmly suppressed her urge to write until her featuring work by Maine Artists boys reached school age. And when Dr. Rinehart felt LIGHTHOUSE PARK he should spend a year of study in Vienna, then the PEMAQUID POINT most important medical center in the world, she went July 1 through Labor Day with him, even though it meant suspending work on the production of a new play in New York. When she received an offer of $50,000 a year to come to GILBERT'S LOBSTER POUND Hollywood as a scenario writer, she rejected it at PEMAQUID BEACH once because her husband's practice was established in Pittsburgh. At her insistence, they always pooled their resources, for she believed that if marriage is not a joint affair it is not a true partnership. On M-Mile from Pemaquid Beach Park FOR SALE FORT PEMAQUID LOBSTERS - CLAMS - FOOD BAR APARTMENTS HOME COOKED PASTRIES Pemaquid Beach, Maine. Convenient - Restful. On scenic "Informal Eating at its Best" Inside by the fire - Outside on our 220' pier John's Bay. 10 Modern housekeeping rentals plus 2 converted COTTAGES GIFTS - FISHING - to use of owner; L. S. Sproul. "MAGNUM" DAILY SAILINGS Come by car or boat OPPORTUNITY FOR BIG DEVELOPMENT 74 vacations they traveled widely - to Europe, to the THE BEST WAY TO PAY Far West where they bought a ranch, in South America, to Egypt and to Hawaii - and always together. But it was at Bar Harbor that they built their per- manent summer home on a hill overlooking the har- bor. They had first come when the doctor was recu- perating too slowly from a serious riding accident, and the writer herself was not very well. They had heard of the famed curative powers of the air at Bar Harbor, of which a famous patient had written: "Here on this island is distilled the true elixir of life - the blended sea and mountain air. Here strength, health, and in- spiration are ours for the taking: it's in the air and free." Both recovered; she sufficiently to write an- other novel that summer. Are you businesslike about managing your personal or household money? You are when you pay by Meanwhile her terrific production continued. In check. You can pay quickly and conveniently by 1920 a play, The Bat, written in collaboration with check and by mail. Cancelled checks are proof of Avery Hopwood, was an international success. By payment and regular Merrill Trust statements give 1921 she had written seven successful plays and had you a record of expenditures. had twenty-five books published. By the end of 1924 she had published thirty books. Throughout THE MERRILL it all she remained a poised, attractive, charming woman, as those who knew her in her later years TRUST COMPANY at Bar Harbor well remember. She was always out- Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Member Federal Reserve System spoken and she hated idleness, in herself and in Fifteen Offices Serving Eastern Maine others. Thus as the servant problem became more acute and the quality of help deteriorated, she had her problems. On one occasion the Chinese chef in her cottage ran berserk armed with a large knife and RK she had a narrow escape from death. In old age there seemed little decline in the quality Power! of her work. To the very end she was always trying to do better, "to escape from the comfortable middle ground of mediocrity." She never lost her great gift of inventiveness, nor her interest in people. When to the great Bar Harbor fire of 1947 destroyed her beau- tiful home, her first thought was for the townspeople in modest circumstances who had lost everything, and Serve she contributed generously to relief work. In July of 1948 she took a prominent part in raising money to build a hotel to replace those destroyed in the fire, and it was at the Hotel Bar Harbor that she spent her summers during her last years. Mary Roberts Rinehart was the last of the four Mt. Desert Island writers, and she was typical of the group. They were wealthy, fashionable, popular and prolific. Their sole aim was to entertain with a good, clean story, and the American people loved them. Bangor Hydro is ready today and will be ready tomorrow and the years ahead with ELECTRIC POWER to serve Eastern Hand Braided Rugs of Distinction Maine. HEARTHSIDE RUGS BANGOR HYDRO-ELECTRIC CO. of Maine BANGOR, MAINE Showroom and Workshop Rt. 1, Belfast (North) 76