Compliance documentation and rehabilitation guidelines for the Loop Road and Fire Road: Isle au Haut, Acadia National Park

Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation

From the summary of findings: "The Loop Road and Fire Road were planned, funded, and built by Ernest W. Bowditch, a landscape architect and founder of the exclusive Point Lookout Club in 1881. Bowditch’s roads allowed club members opportunities to visit the island’s previously unreachable scenic areas. The roads also served as reliable land transportation for local residents, linking small hamlets and homesteads and providing access for fire and emergency equipment. Research from this report has determined that the park-owned portions of the Loop Road and the Fire Road are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under criteria A and C in the areas of Transportation, Entertainment/Recreation, Social History, Conservation, and Landscape Architecture. The period of significance begins when road construction began in the late 1880s and ends when Bowditch’s children donated the family’s lands – and stewardship of the roads – to Acadia National Park in 1944. Throughout the historic period, the one-lane road segments that would become part of the park evoked the character of a picturesque lane. Today, several characteristics and features continue to convey the historic significance and character of the roads: meandering routes aligned with the land’s natural contours, narrow roadway and shoulder cross-sections, and gravel surfacing and vegetated shoulders and centerlines that blend in with the surrounding landscape. Other contributing features include ditches and culverts that direct water flow from streams and storm events, and pullouts that provide a place to stop or turn around. The two roads continue to expose visitors to the island’s forested interior, rugged shorelines, and tranquil harbors. The roads include non-historic stone walls, signs, and other infrastructure features, but they are few in number and do not detract from the rustic character. A rehabilitation treatment approach will allow for sound stewardship of the Loop Road and Fire Road roads through repairs, alterations, and additions while preserving their rustic characteristics and features. As such, the roads should not be widened or made to conform to a standard cross-section. Road surfaces should remain as gravel and road shoulders should be vegetated so that the roads harmonize with the surrounding landscape. Associated drainage and wall features should be functioning and inconspicuous, and make use of local stone where appropriate."

Compliance documentation and rehabilitation guidelines for the Loop Road and Fire Road: Isle au Haut, Acadia National Park

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