Jordan Pond House Nineteenth Century Dowager Moves Gracefully Into Today By Pat Schroth A RAMBLING, RUSTIC teahouse the increasing number of customers and tradition of Jordan Pond are which once served hot popovers has put great pressure on the getting lost in the stampede. at teatime to Rockefellers and similar traditions that made Jordan Pond But he says the alternative is to summer rusticators at the turn of the unique. turn people away, even more than Century, is now doing the same for It's no wonder. Last season a they have to now. As a result, Jordan thousands of summer visitors to record 63,155 people were served at Pond is making every effort to Acadia National Park. Jordan Pond, open seven days a week accommodate as many as possible And Jordan Pond House is facing a from mid-June to mid-October. There while trying to keep the character of new season this month with the same were 34,166 for the popular tea with the restaurant intact. equanimity that has made it one of butter and jam on the lawn, overlook- Two relatively small changes that the few continually operating souve- ing The Bubbles and Jordan Pond; have been made and the reaction to nirs of Mount Desert's golden past. 21,976 for lunch, and 7,013 for them shows how firmly entrenched The modern-day visitors still get a dinner. The three busiest weeks in custom can become and how difficult glimpse of that past, at the tea house August brought 5,500 visitors each is change in a well-loved tradition. and restaurant that is a prime stop week, or about 786 a day. Take the napkins. Until recently for tourists to Acadia. For, despite Those numbers are double what meals were served with white paper the staggering increase in customers, they were as recently as 1970. napkins and placemats, but now change comes hard at Jordan Pond. I T'S REALLY MORE than the facili- darker colors are being used to Kenneth Goodyear, Executive Vice ties can handle," says Goodyear contrast with the varnished white President of the Acadia Corp., which somewhat wistfully. And he's aware pine of the table tops. One long-time runs the restaurant as a concession there has been some grumbling by customer promptly complained that with Acadia National Park, concedes old-timers who fear the old quality he could not find his dark napkin on his dark-suited lap. He now is especially furnished with a white paper napkin-just as he used to be. Another problem cropped up over the flower centerpieces on the dining room tables. One old customer pre- ferred the more formal arrangements of the past to the newer, more casual arrangements now that might feature snapdragons spiked with mint and parsley. That customer now brings with her her own florist's arrange- ment, complete in a plastic container, and takes it with her when she leaves. S UCH REACTIONS show why most of the larger traditions of Jordan Pond remain "95 percent un- changed" from when Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. McIntire first opened a A scene today's more casual tea-time at Jordan Pond, complete with old rough summer furniture on the lawn outside the restaurant. 38 MAINE LIFE June 1978 Last year's staff, 63 at the peak of the season, includes "Dibi" Barua from Bangladesh at the far left and Paul Chan, from Singapore, fifth from The Jordan Pond staff shortly after right. Seated at far right was Louene the turn of the Century. Founders, Peck, the Bar Harbor native and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McIntire, stand former Army nurse who was garden- at the left rear. They ran their tea er last season and, at age 70, was the house and restaurant for 50 years. oldest staff member. June 1978 MAINE LIFE 39 Kenneth Goodyear, Executive Vice hold up to 40 people, and offer President of the Acadia Corp., who privacy for such as after-dinner oversees Jordan Pond restaurant and speakers. four gift shops. The staff is changed in other ways besides size. Applicants for jobs come the convenience of gentlemen who literally from all over the world. Most may happen to be here without are students. Last year's staff in- them." cluded "Dibi" Barua from Bangla- The McIntire's maintained a staff desh and Paul Chan from Singapore, of about two dozen to serve their the two most distant. guests at Jordan Pond (see picture). Almost as young as many of the The staff today hits 67 at the peak of students employed is restaurant man- the season. Another 25 people work ager James Brown, 27, who started in the Acadia Corporation's four gift working at Jordan Pond as a dish- shops-one at the Jordan Pond house, washer in 1969 and worked himself one at Cadillac mountain, one at up to be manager last year. A Thunder Hole, and one on Main University of Maine graduate, he is a Street in Bar Harbor, all scenes of native of Pembroke and now lives heavy tourist stops. over the restaurant in the summer The larger staff today is required and in Northeast Harbor in the to maintain the ratio of only two winter. tables to be served by every waitress, complete with finger bowls and G OOD YEAR, overseeing things for candlelight. Acadia Corp., since 1975, is the tea house there in 1896 and later latest of a handful of managers expanded to a restaurant. Part of the T HIS YEAR'S staff will total 92 employed since the Corporation was house dates from 1847, when it was employees, 67 for the restaurant formed to run Jordan Pond. The built by a Seal Harbor Jordan family and the rest for the four shops and McIntires carried on their close-knit member near a small mill once office. operation for 50 years and, in 1946, located at the foot of Jordan Pond. Goodyear is looking to another with their restaurant surrounded by The food the McIntires served is busy season: "They've all been that Acadia National Park, they sold their still featured today at mealtimes- way in recent years." And he says property to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., lobster, steak and chicken at dinner, while they'll try, as usual, to maintain donor of much of the parkland. To and at lunch, lobster salad, lobster the old traditions, "I have to admit assure Jordan Pond's continuation, stew, crabmeat salad and lighter that, at tea-time in August, it gets a Rockefeller conveyed it to the Na- fare. One reportedly popular new little ragged. We're practically over- tional Park Service, and the Service touch, a nod toward today's low- run." in turn put its management in the calorie appetites, was a luncheon Helping considerably with the num- hands of the locally-based Acadia addition last year of lobster and bers problem this year will be an Corp. The Corporation is made up of chicken bits and greens with cottage additional dining room, to join the one seven members, all from towns on Mt. cheese and yoghurt dressing. The large room and one small one Desert Island, bankers, lawyers and smaller-portion syndrome also previously operating. The new one businessmen. caused an experiment in the steak was added as part of a renovation of servings. Servings used to be 3/4 lb. the kitchen and staff bedroom build- Last season a 1/2-lb. serving was ings, adjacent to the main dining offered, too. More than two-thirds of room, just completed a few weeks the steak-eaters took the smaller before the opening in June. portion. The prices at Jordan Pond, are Goodyear said the new dining approved by the National Park Ser- room, complete with large glass vice. They range from $12.85 for a windows to permit enjoyment of the large baked stuffed lobster on the view, will be a major help when rain dinner menu to $1.15 for the specialty complicates tea-time. They had of the house, teatime Jordan Pond ice trouble getting everyone inside when cream with cookies. Tea is another 40 it rained in the past. cents. A luncheon of soup and Jordan Furthermore, the new dining room Pond popovers costs $2.55. will permit Jordan Pond to accept A note on the menu is aimed at more reservations for private parties today's more casual summer visitor: during the season. The new room can "While luncheon and afternoon are generally informal, it is requested that table guests in the Twenty-seven-year-old James Brown, evening come with suitable attire. A Manager of Jordan Pond, stands few men's jackets are available for outside the restaurant on closing day last Fall. 40 MAINE LIFE June 1978 Goodyear notes that having the federal government as a "landlord" ROOFING - has its moments. Kitchen renovations GALVANIZED ALUMINUM and public bathroom modernizing, for example, are exercises in patience T.W. DICK & CO., INC. and forbearance when Washington, TEL. 582-5350 GARDINER, MAINE D.C., enters the picture. Goodyear came to Acadia from the University of Maine where he had been teaching a business administra- tion course. Earlier, he worked for Reduce Vandalism & Theft with years for Uniroyal, the firm that made "Ked" a household word, and then was a partner in a management- consultant firm in Connecticut. He CABLEGUARD and his wife briefly owned and A patented cable system that operated an Inn on Vinalhaven, an early retirement move, but when his guards or restricts vehicular traffic wife died he moved to the Orono on private roads in wooded areas. campus and teaching. System is practically inpenetrable, Before moving to Mount Desert, and would be vandals, thieves give Goodyear knew the island mostly by up in disgust. its coastline. He's an enthusiastic sailor who spent six years designing Write today for complete and building his own cruising sloop. information and prices. Now his boat is berthed in a Winterport boatyard and he's seldom CABLEGUARD had it in the water since going to SYSTEMS, INC. work for Acadia. 42 Alco Place Box 1 Goodyear says the seasonal aspect Baltimore, MD 21227 of Acadia and Jordan Pond's business has its benefits in a personal way. Winter can be fairly restful. But he says it also means problems because buildings not in use deteriorate and Years of easy living can be yours with good staff sometimes cannot be one of these ruggedly-rustic log homes retained on a seasonal basis. Goodyear ruminates and leans back in the chair in his office above the Acadia gift shop on Bar Harbor's main street. Wouldn't the fireplace in the Jordan Pond House offer a nice retreat for the increasing number of wintertime cross country skiers on the park's old carriage trails? Would it be possible to offer sleigh rides over the trails from a winter-open Jordan Pond House? How about carriage rides in the summer as a matter of northeastern fact? Such ideas so far are just idle Homes thoughts, but perhaps not too idle. 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