Person

Ardra Tarbell

Ardra Tarbell and Sylvia Cough at Sieur de Monts Spring in Acadia National Park.
Ardra Tarbell and Sylvia Cough at Sieur de Monts Spring in Acadia National Park, date unknown.

Courtesy of the National Park Service/Acadia National Park

Quick Facts
Significance:
Administrative Officer for George B. Dorr
Place of Birth:
Oakfield, Maine
Date of Birth:
April 25, 1905
Place of Death:
Bar Harbor, Maine
Date of Death:
January 14, 2000

Ardra Tarbell worked at Acadia National Park for 39 years. Born and raised in Oakfield, Maine in Aroostook county, she graduated from Merrill High School and taught one term at a local school before enrolling in Houlton Business College. On April 25, 1930, her 25th birthday, Ms. Tarbell began her first day of work at the recently re-named Acadia National Park, reporting directly to Superintendent George B. Dorr.

For the next 14 years until Dorr’s death, Ms. Tarbell worked tirelessly alongside the Superintendent to support the maintenance and growth of Acadia National Park. Throughout her career, she was continuously promoted: from Clerk, to Chief Clerk, to the Administrative Officer for Acadia. By the time Ms. Tarbell retired in 1969, she had supported Acadia through some of its most complex periods in history: the Great Depression, World War II, and the Great Fire of 1947.

Ms. Tarbell’s mark on this park may be easy to miss. Yet, her service is similar to many who have and continue to work behind the scenes supporting Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island’s most precious resources, in uncertain times.

She is pictured at Sieur de Monts Spring to the left of her close friend, neighbor and colleague, Bar Harbor native Sylvia Cough. Ms. Cough worked as the secretary to Acadia National Park’s second Superintendent Benjamin L. Hadley until 1953.

Acadia National Park

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Last updated: February 24, 2022