The waterfront of Otter Creek: a community history

Deur, Douglas

Special Ethnographic Report Acadia National Park. From Official Executive Summary: "This report addresses the history of the community of Otter Creek, Maine, and its historical connections with the Otter Cove waterfront in Acadia National Park. Sitting on the southeastern end of Mount Desert Island, and now largely within the boundaries of Acadia National Park, certain families gathered here in the early 19th century and eked a living from the Cove and its adjacent waters as fishermen and lobstermen. Other industries would come and go along the Cove – from granite quarrying to firewood cutting – but fishing and lobstering remained the cornerstones of community life even as the community began to provide service and support to the Rusticators in the latter decades of the 19th century. In spite of many geographical and economic challenges, this small fishing community persisted and even thrived in the years that followed. Throughout its history, various forces brought changes to the community and its relationship with the waterfront in Otter Cove. Interviewee accounts and a variety of other sources attest to these challenges. The village grew up on either side of a municipal boundary between the towns of Bar Harbor and Mt. Desert, which sliced through Otter Cove and split the community in two. Later, as the affluent “rusticators” of Mount Desert Island began to transform island life in the late 19th century, many Otter Creek residents became caretakers or landscapers for the sprawling and opulent “cottages” of Bar Harbor, or raised crops and flowers for Bar Harbor homes - sometimes complementing and sometimes undermining families’ participation in the fishing economy. However, it was the events of the Great Depression and after that most transformed the relationship of the community with the waterfront, in ways that were complex and enduring. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., arriving at the height of the Depression, was able to acquire much of the Otter Creek waterfront at little expense, in support of his larger vision for Acadia National Park. Wishing to create a showpiece swimming pond for the new national park, Rockefeller enclosed Otter Creek’s inner Cove in a scenic causeway, and worked to extinguish the waterfront access of the community while making informal agreements to allow Otter Creekers continued access to their fish houses on the outer cove beyond the newly constructed shoreline drive. By 1940, much of Rockefeller’s vision for Otter Creek’s waterfront – except the swimming pond – had been achieved, and over time Rockefeller transferred his lands to the National Park Service for incorporation into Acadia National Park..." See notes for rest of summary...