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Access Wayside: Not A Typical Military Barracks
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A sign entitled "Not A Typical Military Barracks" faces the front entrance of the sprawling three-story Rockefeller Building. Designed by New York architect Grosvenor Atterbury.
The building's distinctive style features deeply-pitched slate roofs with exterior walls made of red brick and local stones fashioned in neat layers. Mounted at an angle atop a pink granite boulder.
The sign is presented in a brown frame that emulates the distressed wood of the building's doors and trim.
Text and photographs appear over a green background, a color that echoes the structure's aged copper drain pipes, and the patches of moss and lichens on the roof.
Faint concentric circles suggesting radio waves pattern the green background.
Introductory text reads: As part of a deal brokered by John D. Rockefeller Jr., the National Park Service built this structure in 1935 to house Navy personnel and top secret radio operations. In exchange, the Navy moved its base from Mount Desert Island to make way for the expansion of Acadia's Ocean Drive.
In a large archival photograph, dozens of uniformed sailors stand in rows in a courtyard next to a brick barracks. A caption: Inspection behind Rockefeller Hall, 1967.
Text reads: This building was designed by the same architect as the carriage road gate houses on Mount Desert Island. Originally known as the Apartment Building, Rockefeller Hall added to the park-like setting of the Navy base at Schoodic Point.
More text accompanies two archival photographs: A Mux Room located in a basement contains several rows of bulky consoles outfitted with keyboards. Here, radio signals were multiplexed or combined for easier transmission over a single channel. As technology advanced, the need for large radio bases diminished. Naval Security Group activity at Winter Harbor ceased its mission in July 2002. Tranferring 36 buildings and land back to Acadia National Park.
In the other photo, a tall chainlink fence stretches across a narrow road that leads past a tall radio tower. A guardhouse sits next to the gate. This 1947 Naval security checkpoint became the Schoodic Education and Research Center entrance after the Navy ceased its mission.
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Recorded audio description of a wayside, "Not A Typical Military Barracks."
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