In the 1911 Seal Harbor Village Improvement Society, SHVIS, Annual Report, Path Committee Chairman, Dr. Frank Damrosch states, "The new path from Sargent Mountain down the Harbor Brook Valley was laid out and constructed, making one of the most attractive woodland paths in this vicinity..." Dr. Damrosch refers to path maintenance as performed by "our path man McCrae." In 1917 a short connecting trail was constructed to join the Amphitheatre Trail with the Hadlock Brook Falls Trail, via the Cedar Swamp [Birch] Spring to facilitate expeditions to Little Brown Mountain (now known as Parkman Mountain) or Sargent Mountain via the Giant Slide Trail. This connecting trail is now the marked route for the northern end of the Amphitheatre Trail #56. The original upper or north end of the trail (#523), along Harbor Brook up to the notch between Sargent and Penobscot, and intersecting with the Deer Brook Trail (#51) near Sargent Pond is no longer marked. There were apparently extensive original cairns in this area throughout the 1980s. This northern termination may have been “very near Sargent Mountain Pond because the Deer Brook trail originally did not extend into the [notch] between Sargent Mountain Pond and Jordan Mountain. “ (David Goodrich, personal communications in the 2003 "Pathmakers Draft Plan"). In 1931, the Amphitheatre Trail was greatly altered by the construction of a carriage road and bridge across the Amphitheater ravine. Rockefeller met tremendous local resistance when he proposed a carriage road through this area in c. 1920. He delayed construction for many years but eventually proceeded as he, and many others, felt it was an important link in the system ( Dorr, Acadia NP, Its Growth and Development, 1948, p. 33, [
https://bhhs.digitalarchive.us/items/show/19 ]). This construction effectively eliminated the lower, southern portion of the trail from the lower carriage road bridge to the Asticou-Jordan Pond trail which is now no longer marked (see trail #528). The trail passes under the spectacular Amphitheatre Brook carriage road bridge, where 1930s construction of steps, culverts, and stone tread paving were added to connect to the carriage road system. This work includes some large stepstones across Little Harbor Brook of uncut level blocks up to 3 x 3 x 2 feet, with uniform 1-foot gaps between and two open culverts associated with the stone staircases. A section along the stream has well-built, slab-laid stairs. Another section has a wall made with large, round stones from the brook that holds the trail tread along the side of the stream. Extensive rehabilitation of this area was completed in 2005. This work included repair of 410 square feet of wall, 52 feet of reset stone paving, additional drainage, and 98 stone steps.
