I, THE SHORE PATH The famous Shore Path at Bar Harbor has been mentioned many times in the literature about Bar Harbor; during the "Gilded Era" it was noted internationally. Behind anecdotes and amusing stories, e.g. the Portuguese ambassador and his telescope, resides another story. That story involves two philosophies of property ownership; the uneasy relationship between these two has continued for over a century. It bears relationship with the famous Cliff Walk at Newport and the conflict of interests today between centuries-ol accustomed rights of access and the concepts of newly arrived property owners. The evolution, length, and development of the Shore Path is rather obvious although detailed written data is not that plentiful. The treeless state of the barren plain, as William Cullen Bryant described "East Eden", predicated the emergence of a path along the shore for the early hotel guests, that is, from the Agamont House southward to the first major break in easy walking: Cromwell Harbor. Thus was it freely enjoyed by rusticators even as Maine residents had enjoyed the lands, scenic views, and shore fronts of their fellow citizens for decades. With the arrival of the cottage era, however, came a new understanding of property, namely, a concept of absolute ownership which ruled out any idea of communal sharing. Thus, the irritants of unwelcome attitides, abuse, carelessness, rubbish discarding, and noise led to legal action for the purpose of retaining control over the use of land along the route of the Shore Path. The first of these appears in Hancock County Registry of Deeds Book 178, page 15, wherein Fannie E. Musgrave legally records: "Be it known that the foot-way along the shore across the land of Fannie E. Musgrave at Bar Harbor in the town of Eden is not a public way and has not been dedicated to the Public and said foot-way was completely closed by said Fannie E. Musgrave on the 19th and 20th days of September 1882. This action was attested to by her family and several others; the same legal statement was filed and action attested to by five witnesses in May 1895 and May 1915. Public newspaper reaction began as follows: Mount Desert Herald, October 12, 1882, p. 3, c.1 A nice new graveled walk along the shore near the club house, on the way to Hardy's Point, is among the recent local improvements. A stone tower on the Shore Pathway is in process of construction. It has one door, and an iron-barred window, looking seaward. Bad bays beware! Mount Desert Herald, December 19, 1884, p. 3, c.2-3 Our summer guests, as well as the resident population of Bar II. Harbor, will be very sorry to learn that the beautiful and ever attractive Shore Path, extending from the steamboat wharf to Cromwell's Harbor, has at last been rendered practically impassable by the erection of a stone sea-wall surmounted by a picket and barbed wire fence along the water front of Mr. T. B. Musgrave's* place, which lies about half-way between the points named. The erection of a stone tower at the end of a bowling alley on Mr. Musgrave's grounds, about a year ago, considerably interfered with the convenience of this famous walk, and the building of a barbed wire fence added the element of danger to clothing and person; but this fall the owner of the premises has extended the sea wall and erected along its top a wooden picket fence about four feet high. This fence, which crosses and closes the old path on either end, is within twenty-seve inches of the outer edge of the stone wall which rises in some places six fee sheer from the rocks below. There is yet space enough on the top of the wall for persons to walk, single file, provided such a cat-like promenade were desirable, but for two persons to pass each other is only possible by one clinging to the picket fence while the other climb around; a process hardly dignified slightly inconvenient in any case, and should two portly dames or well-fed steamboat agents meet it would be impossible. The fronts of all the other improved estates along out Bay Shore are provided with pretty graveled walks four or five feet in width, freely open to the public, the lawns being protected only by a low border of posts, perhaps a foot high, on which two smooth wires are extended. We are glad to say that the many thousands who have used the Shore Path have always respected the rights of the owners of these ground, and although the boundaries are hardly more than the "imaginary lines" of geographers, they are seldom overstepped. Why should they be? The neat walk proved by cottagers for public use is all that the pedestrian requires. And the courtesy and consideration on the part of the cottagers thus express, awakens a corresponding feeling of respect in the minds of those who are thereby permitted to enjoy the ocean view, and cooling breezes which the grand old path has always afforded. (*Mr. & Mrs. T.B. Musgrave (Jones) lived at 535 Fifth Avenue, NYC; as mentioned the property south of "Reefpoint" at the end of Atlantic Avenue was in the name of Mrs. Musgrave. Property owned by her husband was speculative and in some cases involving the Mount Desert and Frenchman Bay Land Company.) Bar Harbor Record, October 9, 1895, p.1, C.: Town Should Provide Police Patrol In Summer Owning to the public's misuse of the shore path, there is a decided movement on foot among some of the property owners, by whose courtesy the promenade is thrown open to the public travel, to close the entrances and exits and thus make it a private way. The path is one of the greatest attraction both to the visiting and local public, and should it be closed it would be a great misfortune. The beautiful walk with its acres of grassy lawns stretching away to the homes of the cottagers, has been a source of III annoyance and injury to the cottagers along its line, this summer, it is said, from excursionists and visitors, who disregard the cautionary signs displayed and make a playground of the lawns, scatter remnants of lunches, bottles and rubbish along its edges, and in general commit nuisances which render the open path a cause of annoyance to the cottagers. Bar Harbor citizens and all who have a regard for the preservation of this most valuable and picturesque pathway by the sea as a public walk, should see to it that there is a proper police patrol put there next year to enforce the regulations under which the owners agreed with the town authorities to covert a portion of their property into a public way. The right of the abutting property owners to close the path is unquestioned, and in order to avert that threatened action the town should provide an appropriation for police patrol there during the summer. Mrs. Musgrave, of course, was not the only property owner to be incensed by the indifference of the handful among the many who used and enjoyed the Shore Path. Beyond legal assault, nevertheless, the Shore Path also suffered the ravages of winter storms; among them being this reported one. Bar Harbor Record, November 13, 1907, p.1, c.4 Storm damage is reported- foot of water covered parts of the shore path; Balance Rock was covered by surges. At the Newbold and Kane estates, however, a new concrete seawall protected even the fill behind it. The recurrent problems of the Shore Path did not always appear in newsprint although the topic has been mentioned through the years at Village Improvement Association meetings. Picnickers of a century ago have been replaced by juvenile beer- guzzling, trash distribution by drug-peddling; groups of 'excursionists' by bicyclers. Policing has been sporadic. Some property owners have been more concerned than others; some have consistently for over a century conformed to Maine legal requirements to control egress and transit while others have not. As an example, there is a Shore Path property to the south of the entrance from Wayman Lane where a barricade currently stands across the Shore Path. Once the cottage of XYZ, it was in 1959 owned by Thomas G. Cook, who on December 29, 1959, sold the northern part of the property to Dessa Skinner. On May 21, 1961, Dessa Skinner and Thomas Cook blocked both the one rod (16.5') way leading from Wayman Lane to the Shore Path and the Shore Path itself, filing legal notice (with reference to MRS "Section 12, Chapter 174") of the Interruption of the Way with the Registry of Deeds for Hancock County (Bk890, p.123). The Skinner property passed by Will to his widow; thence, by donation to their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. James Bayne. The southern part of the land, however, was transferred by Thomas G. Cook and Wheaton J. Lane to the Trustees of the Clark Memorial Methodist Church of Bar Harbor (Bk 851, p. 96) with a clause in the Deed stating: "This conveyance is to be made expressly subject to the rights of any person or persons or of the public, if such rights exist, in and to the foot path known as the Shore Path which lies near the easterly line of the hereinabove described lot and which runs from the northerly line of said lot to the southerly line thereof." Not long after this the Trustees of the Clark Memorial Methodist Church on November 9, 1959, conveyed the property to Knute K. Ross and May D. Ross, his wife (Bk 851, p. 394). In this Deed the above mentioned clause was included. Eight years later, on November 1, 1967, with the same clause included, the Rosses sold the cottage to Harriet C. Gibney (Bk1051, p.22), who on September 17, 1968, transferred ownership to herself and her husband (Bk 1067, p.22). On December 14, 1972, Frank B. Gibney sold the property to Louise L. Wolff (Bk 1282, p. 96) using 'front' names of Engineer, Inc., Ivest Medical Research, Feeling Stone, and Wit's End. This began one of the sadder periods in the history of the cottage featuring lawsuits, small claims court, Town of Bar Harbor tax liens, IRS seizure, failure to pay or comply with the conditions of a $50,000. mortgage owned to the widow of Howard H. McClintic, Jr., late of Pittsburgh, foreclosure, and violence against a local resident with a deadly weapon. At no time since May 21, 1961, has legal notice of a blocking of the entrance to the Shore Path from Wayman Lane or of the Shore Path been filed at the Registry of Deeds by any of the above mentioned property owners. Due to the twenty year requirement for both blocking and the filing of legal notice of such blocking, the RIGHT OF THE PUBLIC TO HAVE ACCESS TO THE SHORE PATH FROM WAYMAN LANE is now public property and cannot be denied. Furthermore, the barricade placed across the Shore Path at the north line of the former Wolff property is in VIOLATION OF MAINE STATE LAW AND SHOULD BE ORDERED REMOVED. Rev. C.A.Garret August 16, 1990 SHORE PATH PROPERTIES BAR HARBOR INN The Veazie cottage became the Oasis Club in 1881. The club soon soon was incorporated as the Mt. Desert Reading Room. This build- ing was moved to the corner of Bridge and West Streets when a new building designed by William Emerson in 1887 was built on this site for the Mt. Desert Reading Room. The building later became the nucleus for a hotel after the fire of 1947 destroyed three of Bar Harbor's hotels. The inn is the property of a Bar Harbor resident. BALANCE ROCK INN Built for Alexander Maitland in 1902. The cottage was later owned by Edward La Montagne of New York, James Hartshorne and Harris Strong. The present owners have another inn in Bar Harbor. BREAKWATER COTTAGE John Innes Kane built this cottage in 1904. He was the great grandson of John Vincent Astor. After the death of Mrs. Kane, Peter Augustus Jay inherited the property from his aunt. He was 3rd Secretary of the Embassy . in Paris. Later he was Minister to San Salvador, Rumania and Argentina. After several other owners it is now an inn, one of those owned by a Bangor businessman.