Acadia's Memorial Paths Mrs. John Innes Kane, right, with her sister, Mrs. Bridgham, at the Kane Memorial in Acadia National Park. John Innes Kane, great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, By Gladys O'Neil was a summer resident of Mt. Desert Island. He built the "Breakwater" cottage on the Shore Path in Bar Harbor in 1904. A CADIA NATIONAL PARK on beautiful Mt. Desert Island is crisscrossed by hundreds of miles of paths and trails. They lead through the woods, by ponds and lakes, along streams and rocky shores, and to the mountain tops. This path system was developed and maintained for SEVERAL NEW PATHS were built every year and regular maintenance of the older ones were necessary. many years by the Village Improvement Associations of The Paths Committee was assisted by some generous Bar Harbor, Seal Harbor, Northeast and Southwest members who gave Memorial Paths and often donated Harbors. Each organization maintained its own district additional funds for their future upkeep. A few of these within definite boundary lines. were obliterated by the forest fire of 1947, or eliminated The Bar Harbor Association began its path because of lack of use, but most of them are still well construction program in the summer of 1891 with the traveled. completion by workmen of a series of woodland paths There is the Emery Path, the first section of the Dorr designated as the Southern, Eastern and Western groups. Mt. Trail, which leads up that mountain from Sieur de Sketches of these appeared consecutively during July and Monts Spring. It was given by Mrs. Alfred Anson in August in the Bar Harbor Record, the village's weekly memory of her first husband, John Emery, a former newspaper, to acquaint readers with their exact location. member of the Paths Committee. The leg stretching, high Soon the paths became popular with the early tourists. granite steps of this path remain in the memory of many a An invigorating walk in the clean Maine air came to be tired hiker. When the summit of the mountain is finally part of their daily routine. All of these paths could be reached, there are good views in all directions, especially easily negotiated by ladies in their long walking skirts. to the north and south. Directly to the west the summit of Cadillac Mountain looms, where those walking its summit's trails can look down on those looking up at the Gladys O'Neil, a native of Bar Harbor, is curator at highest mountain on the island. the Bar Harbor Historical Society Museum. Kurt Dietrich's Climb which ascends the eastern slope of Dorr Mt. from the northern end of the Tarn Trail 24 MAINE LIFE June 1981 was donated by his aunt, Mrs. Hunt Slater. The name is cut into one of the granite steps at the start of the trail; though almost covered by another step, it is still readable. The climber can see Huguenot Head across the small gorge to the east and look down into the Tarn. Mrs. C. Morton Smith's memorial gift was the Beechcroft Path which leads up the western side of Huguenot Head. The trail starts least from Maine Route 3 across from the northern end of the Tarn and is marked by a small boulder with the word Beechcroft, the name also of the Smith's summer cottage, cut into its face. As the path zigzags across the ancient rock slide fine views of Dorr Mt. open to the west. B RONZE TABLETS mark Memorial Paths given by other members. The Kane Path, or Tarn Trail, was presented by Mrs. John Innes Kane in memory of her husband. A small tablet designates its beginning at the northern end of the Tarn from where it continues south to meet the Canon Brook Trail. A larger plaque placed a little further along the way is inscribed to John Innes Kane. He also was a member of the Paths Committee. The Jesup Path leads from Kebo Mountain Road to Sieur de Monts Spring and then continues on to join the Kane Path. A memorial tablet to Mr. and Mrs. Morris Jesup can be seen on the right side of the path, about a five-minute walk from the spring. The Jesups were generous supporters of all of the association's projects. Steps on the Emery Memorial Path on Dorr Mountain. Mrs. Andrew Murray Young provided the funds for a John J. Emery was a Cincinnati and New York real estate memorial path that leads northward from the Canon tycoon and soap and candle manufacturer. He built "The Turrets" on Eden Street in Bar Harbor, now owned by College of the Atlantic. Brook Trail through the valley between Dorr and Cadillac Mountains, joining the Gorge Path. A bronze tablet on a huge boulder in the brook, a short distance from the beginning of the path, is inscribed "In memory of Andrew Murray Young who loved this island where God has given of his beauty with a lavish hand." The Murray Young Path is shown on the Mt. Desert Chamber of Commerce Road and Path Map of 1975, but the trail sign reads Cadillac Mountain. A path through The Gorge, the deep ravine between Dorr and Cadillac Mountains, was dedicated to Lillian Endicott Francklyn by a group of her friends. This path crosses Kebo Brook several times and after an easy start gradually becomes steeper as it passes below large precipices. A large plaque on the northern side of massive Pulpit Rock always in deep shade is probably often passed unseen by hikers intent on keeping a secure footing on the rocky trail. T HE BATES MEMORIAL, the most impressive of all of these, was erected in 1911 by the summer residents of Bar Harbor, Northeast and Southwest Harbors to honor the former Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association president and chairman of their Paths Committee. It was placed under a pink granite overhanging ledge on the Photographs by the author and from the Bar Harbor Bates Memorial on the Cadillac Cliffs Trail. Historical Society June 1981 MAINE LIFE 25 Cadillac Cliffs Trail. This location testifies to Waldron Bate's engineering skill; here the paths cuts through the unusual rock formation found at the base of Gorham Mountain. The Bar Harbor Association also paid tribute to Bates by putting another tablet on a large slab of granite overhanging the Chasm Brook Trail on Sargent Mountain and renaming it the Bates Memorial Path. Bates was not the originator of the woodland paths and trails, but he devoted a great deal of his time to laying out and superintending the construction of the paths, and was thoroughly dedicated to the completion of the entire system on the island. Even after Lafayette National Park (now Acadia) was established on the island in 1919, the Village Improvement Association continued to care for the paths. Later the new park acquired adequate funds to assume the maintenance of all those paths that were unendowed, and eventually the entire system was given into their care. Heirs of those who had given endowment funds agreed that the money should go into the association's general fund. The path network is a delightful addition to this beautiful island and is enjoyed by more people every year. Beechcroft Path in Acadia National Park. "The woods already filled with shadows on June evening..." Love of literature all these years, Spenser, Milton, Sarah Orne Jewett, Monet, you have taught me love of life. certainly the stream singing is related to the stream of consciousness of the singing bird and the poem by Chaucer. that reflects it, trees become Illuminated Letters, vowels secretly contain messages from the Sun; it is for that to assert my operatic imprint and the hope that light will emanate from it, like glow from a Spring flower, that make my continuity on the field, on the page; whoever truly reads Petrarca and Poussin becomes idyllic; scenes between consonants within sacraments speak to the living page, the ascending word brighter brighter like the White Heron reminds us of our invulnerable task. John Tagliabue Lewiston (The title is the first line of Sarah Orne Jewett's The White Heron) 26 MAINE LIFE June 1981