Cultural landscape inventory and assessment for Oldfarm

Duym, Ericka

From the introduction: "Oldfarm is the former home of George B. Dorr, the first superintendent of Acadia National Park in Maine. Once part of an estate that covered over one hundred acres, the park retains approximately 58.65 acres of the estate by Compass Harbor, just south of the village of Bar Harbor. Dorr’s parents, Charles Hazen Dorr and Mary Gray Ward Dorr, purchased the property in 1868 and built the Oldfarm Queen Anne Shingle-style “cottage” in the late 1870s under the direction of Maine architect Henry Richards. George Dorr lived at Oldfarm for most of his life (1853-1944) and donated the property to the National Park Service in 1942. The estate included the large cottage, numerous outbuildings (barns, garages, and a caretaker’s cottage), a tennis court, a saltwater swimming pool, expansive English-style gardens--at least one of which was highlighted by noted landscape gardener Beatrix Farrand who also resided in Bar Harbor. Dorr started a commercial operation, the Mount Desert Nurseries, and added greenhouses, gardens and plantings, a pond, roads, and paths. The National Park Service at Acadia National Park did not redevelop or use the property and in 1951 the mansion was torn down. Today, the property is largely managed as a natural area. A small parking lot off of State Route 3 serves as a trailhead for the Compass Harbor Trail, which leads to the shore, and the Schooner Head Path, which leads into the park near Champlain Mountain. The area is well used by locals and treated almost as an “urban” park as it is in close proximity to the town of Bar Harbor. A variety of resource issues need to be addressed, including invasive exotic plants (many of which were introduced by Dorr as nursery specimens), hazardous trees, European red ant infestation, shoreline erosion, and deterioration of the remnants of the cultural landscape and former structures. Neighbors, town residents, and other park stakeholders have voiced their concerns about the degraded condition of the property. The NPS has not actively managed the site, and the resulting “neglect” has resulted in loss of integrity of any remaining features. The property has not been managed as a cultural resource, and is in need of a more in depth documentation, analysis, and assessment."