THE ENCHANTED ISLE LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK BY RONNE C. SHELSE PHOTOGRAPHS BY HERBERT W. GLEASON AND OTHERS. PUBLISHED BY PARRANGEMENT WITH THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL PARKS, WASHINGTON, D. C. FROM THIS GREAT HEIGHT ONE LOOKS DOWN OVER LOFTY PEAKS AND SURVEYS THE BLUE SEA F OR generations Mount Desert and Bar Harbor have been known exclusively as summer resorts, famous for the wealth and fashion represented there and the social distinction of their residents. To-day, Mount Desert Island is a national park, a beautiful public playground; the latest gift of land from Uncle Sam to all the people. go of of of 17 EAGLES, EMBLEM OF THE NATION, NESTING HIGH ABOVE THE CLIFFS AND FORESTS OF THE PARK LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK BY RONNE C. SHELSÉ Y EARS before the Pilgrims set foot on 1919, it embodies in its name the deep sym- Plymouth Rock, Samuel Champlain, on pathy of the American people for the cause a tour of exploration for Sieur de Monts, of France in the World War and their abiding founder of Acadia, sailed his little craft into memory of past help and friendship. Frenchman's Bay and landed not far from the The story of its creation is a lasting tribute present site of Bar Harbor on Mount Desert to the generosity and perseverance of a few Island, a mile off the Maine coast. To-day summer residents on the island who incor- a great tract on this island so splendidly en- porated as the Hancock Trustees of Public dowed with Nature's attractions has been Reservations and, after years of hard work converted by Uncle Sam into a playground in securing conveyances of titles, etc., finally for the American people. Lafayette National gave to the Federal Government-gave with- Park is the first and only government reserve out other consideration than that of public- to be set aside east of the Mississippi for the spirited liberality-some 12,000 acres unsur- benefit and enjoyment of the public. Created passed in natural beauty and rich in human by act of Congress approved February 26, interest. The leaders in this magnificent 18 THE GREAT HARBOR OF MOUNT DESERT FROM CADILLAC MOUNTAIN 19 philanthropy were Dr. Charles W. Eliot, offering magnificent views of both land and president emeritus of Harvard, and George sea. From the higher summits one can look B. Dorr, Boston clubman; but such men out over forty miles or more of water to the as Bishop Lawrence of Massachusetts, the horizon, or deep down on the tree tops in the late Dr. S. Weir Mitchell of Philadelphia, glacier-scoured valleys below. and Messrs. John S. Kennedy, David B. One enters Mount Desert by way of the Ogden, John I. Kane, and Henry Lane Eno, splendid bridge which connects it with the of New York City, also took an active inter- mainland, and drives or walks over miles est. They saw the need, while there was yet and miles of perfect highways-fine mac- time, of conserving some pleasant, whole- adam roads, smooth and clean, or equally some breathing place for the inhabitants of good dirt roads, practically free from dust. the overcrowded Eastern cities. But, more Down Schooner Head and along the Ocean than that, they sensed the need for preserv- Drive one skirts the sea from the eastern ing in its openness boundary of the and unspoiled park, past Seal beauty a place Harbor, to North- where Nature and east Harbor, a dis- her creatures tance of about fif- could be observed teen miles of allur- under conditions ing scenery. This without parallel is a favorite trip on the Atlantic of those that come coast. to the reservation Lafayette Park, in automobiles. being a gift of No hotel or oth- private citizens to er concessions are the United States, maintained in La- is different from fayette Park, but all the other recre- just outside the ational places of boundaries there the people, which are plenty of hos- were formed from telries of all kinds lands already where excellent owned by the na- accommodations tion. That, how- are offered. And ever, is but one of if the motorist will its many claims have none of these, to distinction. but prefers to live Within the con- the whole time in fines of this reser- the open, he can vation, surrounded pitch his tent in by the sea, is a one of the many combination of delightful spots in natural features SITE OF ST. SAUVEUR MISSION COLONY or just outside the unknown to the Founded in 1613. A spring of pure water is covered twice a day park limits, and other areas set by the tide know the full aside for the use measure of out- of the masses. Higher mountain peaks door content. Headquarters fixed, he pro- there are, to be sure, and bigger trees and ceeds to explore the wonder isle. Cadillac deeper lakes, but nowhere among our national Mountain, nearly 1,600 feet high, tempts the playgrounds is there to be found a more ex- ambitious climber, but for real thrills he will quisite blending of Nature's gifts. Symbolic turn to Precipice Path, and scale the vertical of its earlier associations in French and Ameri- front of Champlain Mountain by means of can history, the central range of granite iron rings driven into the solid granite. The mountains stands in a mighty line as the top of this peak is considerably over a thou- valiant soldiers of Lafayette stood. Hugue- sand feet high. All about are hills of varying not Head, Champlain, The Flying Squadron, heights to suit the inclinations of any vaca- and other peaks in this bold range rise up, tionist. The Flying Squadron, 1,268 feet tandem fashion, for a distance of from ten above sea level, ranks next to Cadillac; to twelve miles across the island's length, Pemetic Mountain follows close behind with 20 LAFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK OFFERS MOTOR VACATIONISTS A HAPPY CAMPING GROUND 1,262 feet; and thus they stand in the scale of Lying in the coast migration route and being figures: The Beehive, The Bubbles, Norum- the meeting place of feathered tribes, it is a bega, Acadia Mountain, St. Sauveur, each as famous bird reserve. Edward Howe Forbush, interesting as the other and all together pos- Massachusetts State ornithologist, has told sessing a rare combination. an appealing story of how, when America Bound on all sides by the "vasty deep," was first discovered, the Maine coast was the Mount Desert Island is cut nearly in half by habitat of myriads of land and water birds; Somes Sound coursing in from the Atlantic. of how the coast was swept as by a destruc- This narrow inlet of the sea is the nearest tive storm by the continual hunting and thing in the United States to the famous shooting of birds and the plundering of their Norwegian fiords. And between the forest- nests for food and commercial purposes until clad hills are high-lying lakes and ponds, only a pitiable remnant of bird life remained; among the larger of which are Eagle Lake and of how finally the tide was turned by the and Jordan Pond, Echo Lake and Long passage of the national law for the protec- Pond. Sailing or boating is always in order, tion of migratory birds and the establish- and fishing, too, for those that love the sport. ment of Lafayette Park as a refuge for both Visitors to the park are bound down by no birds that breed locally and those that travel finicky regulations. All that a beneficent long distances with the changing seasons. government asks is that they observe the Mount Desert is singularly rich as a bo- same rules of conduct that they would on an tanical region. Around the bases of the estate of their own. The camps must be kept great hills and down to the water's edge neat and orderly and campers must be extra grows the dense forest of hemlock, spruce, careful of their fires, for this constitutes one and pine mingled with hardwood trees, ex- of the park's greatest perils. Hunting is hibiting in its best form the life of the positively forbidden, and rightly so, for the Canadian zone. Wild flowers, strikingly preserve is a sanctuary of wild life, both beautiful and abundant in season, add a plant and animal, and has its own biological touch of matchless color to this fairyland of laboratory for the advancement of science. nature. 21 THE NARROWS VIEWED FROM CADILLAC MOUNTAIN Courtesy Geo. B. Dorr and "Natural History* PAST THESE ISLANDS SAILED CHAMPLAIN INTO THE HARBOR OF FRENCHMAN'S BAY The view is taken from Champlain Mountain, one of the "wild and lonely peaks" that suggested to the discoverer the name Isles des Monts Deserts 22 THE ENTRANCE TO SOMES SOUND VIEWED FROM BLUE MOUNTAIN On the edge of this picturesque body of water occurred the first conflict between the French and the English for the con- trol of North America CHAMPLAIN ANCHORED OFF THE COAST OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND IN 1604 23 Courtesy Geo. B. Dorr and " Natural History THE GRIM CHALLENGE OF CADILLAC CLIFF MET ON A MIDSUMMER DAY BY THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB An organization of hardy climbers who early showed the way to seekers for health and pleasure in the East's one and only national playground 24 HERE. TOO, THE TRAVELER LOOKS DOWN OVER THE TREE TOPS AND THE VALLEYS 25 A RARE VISTA OF SOMES SOUND FROM A CLEFT IN THE ROCKY COAST This is the only glacial fiord on the eastern coast of the United States 26 THUNDER HOLE ON THE OCEAN DRIVE 27 A WOODLAND PATH BY THE SPRING THAT BEARS THE NAME OF SIEUR DE MONTS, FOUNDER OF ACADIA AND COMMANDER OF EARLY VOYAGES TO AMERICA 28 PEAKS STONE PATHWAY ON "THE FLYING SQUADRON," ONE OF THE PARK'S BOLDEST A 29 SCENES LIKE THIS ARE UNKNOWN IN OTHER UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PARKS SOMES SOUND IS A BOATING PARADISE FOR SUMMER VISITORS SAILS ON FRENCHMAN'S BAY ARE REMINDERS OF THE FIRST COMERS, WHO TOUCHED THESE ISLAND SHORES OVER THREE CENTURIES AGO 31 BEAUTY THE 32