History

Acadia

Acadia became a national park because of the efforts of local landowners, who in the 1900s, began to seek a way to preserve the quiet, scenic island they had come to enjoy during their summer stays. In 1901, George Dorr and others founded the Hancock County Trustees for Public Reservation, to acquire land to protect in perpetuity for the benefit of the public. Largely due to Dorr's over forty years of work, in 1916 over 6,000 acres were declared Sieur de Monts National Monument by President Woodrow Wilson. Dorr continued to collect land and add to the preserve, and in 1919 it became Lafayette National Park. The name was changed to Acadia National Park in 1929 (National "History" n.d.). (Pictures of Witch Hole Pond by carriage road from Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey Collection. 14, 15 below, 16 further down right: Jet Lowe, 1994).

Acadia's famous carriage roads, which are an important part of transportation around Witch Hole Pond and other areas of the park, were gifted and designed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Constructed from 1913 to 1940, the carriage roads were built to preserve scenic byways devoid of loud and polluting automobiles. The carriage roads were built sixteen-feet wide, and graded and curved gently enough for horse-drawn carriages, but today mainly provide a sturdy, well-connected system of roads for bikers (including the Obama family), runners, and even skiers in the winter (National "Guide's" n.d.).

Historic Maps

Historic maps show changes in park structure around Witch Hole Pond. The property map below from 1887 shows the area around "Pond or Witch Hollow" divided amongst two parcels (Colby 1887). The northern most parcel was owned by Mrs. Bowler (which would be the first part acquired for the park around 1930) and the southern portion (No. 32) once belonging to Mrs. Haight (preserved much later, around 1950). Both owners of the land around the pond were summer visitors who had manors near the water (see zoomed portion of the map below).

The Fire of 1947 swept through much of the eastern portion of Mount Desert Island, changing both the ecological and cultural landscape dramatically. Starting around October 17th, northwest of the pond, it decimated around 8,000 acres on October 23rd, the day it passed through the Witch Hole area (College, n.d.).

Although the exact dates and means of acquisition of property for protection by the park are unclear, the progression can be seen in cartographic representations. The Great Pond Acts of 1641 and 1647 (applied to Maine as part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony) gives the state of Maine jurisdiction over ponds over 10 acres in size. This law still applies today, in the public interest for access to any such bodies of water (Knowledge n.d.; Randall 2001). Below are three maps showing the progression of protected land around Witch Hole Pond. The first, far left, is from 1931 when only the northern parcel once owned by Mrs. Bowler, shown in green, was protected. The middle is from 1942, where protected land expanded north, east, and west, shown in red. And the final to the right from to 1956 where there was expansion in all directions, shown in red.

Personal discussion with local historians gives possible locations other historic features near the pond. According to one, there was a saw mill near the eastern side of Witch Hole Pond (with sawdust still supposedly mixed in with the soil where the old mill used to stand). It is interesting to speculate on the potential location of such a mill looking at a path, wagon road, and railroad map from 1911 (H. Raup, personal communication, October 4, 19, 2015). The area currently northeast of the main part of Witch Hole Pond, pronounced by beaver activity, was also reportedly once a quarry. This quarry may have supplied the stone for College of the Atlantic's own The Turrets building (S. Swann, personal communication, October 2015).

A New York Times article from July of 1885 titled "Society at Bar Harbor: New-Yorkers Sojourning at Maine's Watering Place" lists the Haight family among the families from New York vacationing in Bar Harbor. Their estate, called "Sonogee," had horse stables and was located near the outlet to Duck Brook (which provided Bar Harbor's drinking

water at the time) (Liberty 1886). Five and a half acres near the bay was later purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Ladd. The Ladd's rebuilt upon the property (due to Sonogee's destruction by fire during some point in the late 1800s). The Ladd's new estate, named "Eegonos" ("Sonogee" spelt backwards) or today "East of Eden" was built in 1910 (Maine 2015).

Another long explanation appearing in the Mount Desert Herald (Legends 1885) involved a Josiah Doane, formerly of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who passed through the area one dark night, following an evening’s revelry in Somesville. Doane was abducted to witness a wedding of one Ralph Seton and his bride. The marriage was challenged by Ruben Hayward, presumed to have been killed by Seton some five years earlier. In attempting to finish the job by knife, Seton was shot by Hayward. Josiah Doane finally made his way home about sunrise; later that same day he was unable to find the wedding house, it having mysteriously disappeared. (H. Raup, personal communication, October 4, 19, 2015)

But this does not explain where the name Witch Hollow came from in the first place. One suggestion comes from tall evergreens that used to shroud the banks of the pond before the 1947, which could have given the pond quite an eerie feeling. The origin of the name is hidden in history and has been attempted to be explained by numerous legends or stories, many of which, according to a local historian, are not at all sensible. One story is told as follows:

Name

One of the most mysterious aspects about Witch Hole Pond is its name, which has changed slightly since the earliest records in the late 1800s. The above property map from 1887 names it "Pond or Witch Hollow," a railroad tourism document names it "Witch Hollow," and a map from 1893 shows the first use of "The Witch Hole." A railroad map from 1900 again names it "The

Pond of Witch Hollow," but most maps from 1900 used "The Witch Hole" until the name "Witch Hole Pond" became permanent after the time of the creation of the national park. (Photo left from Library of Congress, Jet Lowe,1994)

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