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Access Wayside: Saved for Future Generations
Transcript
At the edge of the Cadillac Summit Loop Road, a wayside exhibit features a panel angled atop a rectangular stone base.
The exhibit's title, "Saved for Future Generations," appears over a historic photograph of George B. Dorr talking with Secretary of the Interior Franklin Lane in 1917 atop Cadillac Mountain. "I would see what I could do to get the summit of Green Mountain - Cadillac now - the one outstanding tract upon the Island or the whole neighboring coast to secure and protect if possible." — George B. Dorr, The Story of Acadia National Park, 1942
Text reads: "Inspired to protect the beauty and diversity of Mount Desert Island from encroaching development, a passionate group of local and summer residents waged a campaign to conserve this landscape for public use." They "encouraged individuals to donate tracts, purchase lands, and seek federal protection. They succeeded in establishing the first eastern national park — one of the few created almost entirely of land donated to the federal government."
More text lists major events in Acadia's history:
1903: George B. Dorr and Charles W. Eliot organize Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations to acquire parcels of land on Mount Desert Island.
1908: Eliza Homan makes the first major donation with a gift of The Beehive and Bowl on Champlain Mountain.
1908 to 1911: The summit area and most of the north, east, and west slopes of Cadillac Mountain are protected by the Trustees.
1916: Sieur de Monts National Monument is established.
1917 to 1940: John D. Rockefeller Jr. builds over 50 miles of carriage roads in the park and donates them to Acadia.
1919: Sieur de Monts National Monument becomes Lafayette national Park, the first eastern national park.
1929: Lafayette National Park is renamed Acadia, a historic name for this region. Schoodic Peninsula is donated to the park.
1932: Construction of the Cadillac Mountain motor road is completed.
1971: The first conservation easement is conveyed to the park. Today, conservation easements protect over 12,000 acres of private land around Acadia National Park.
1986: Friends of Acadia is established as a nonprofit membership organization benefiting Acadia through philanthropy and volunteerism.
1999: Island Explorer propane-powered shuttle bus service begins, reducing pollution and congestion.
2011: The former US Navy base in Winter Harbor, Maine, is renovated and reopened as the Schoodic Education and Research Center in Acadia National Park.
Description
An audio description is provided for "Saved for Future Generations," an interpretive wayside at Acadia National Park.
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