Carriage Roads - Acadia National Park, Maine
From the National Park Service document, Historic American Engineering Record: “The carriage road system is significant as a reminder of the early twentieth century interest in carriage driving as a leisure activity, for its careful attention to landscape design, and for its engineering structures, notably eighteen large stone-faced bridges. The Rockefeller carriage roads are the best preserved and probably the largest surviving intact system of developed horse roads, in the United States.”
The carriage roads are lined with border stones, or coping stones, sometimes affectionately referred to as “Rockefeller’s Teeth.”
Where the carriage road crosses the Park Loop Road. One of two places the carriage roads intersect with motor vehicles.
Cobblestone Bridge, the first bridge built on the carriage road system, 1917. The bridge is a concrete structure and was supposed to be faced with granite quarried from the island, but Rockefeller’s contractor convinced him to use native cobble from Jordan Stream. While Rockefeller approved, it is the only bridge with that veneer. From the American Historic Engineering Record: “Many observers found the bridge interesting, but it had its critics as well, including park custodian George Dorr. Seven years after it was completed, he stated ‘all have agreed in regretting it from an artistic standpoint.’ The best he could say was that vegetation was closing in around the structure and soon it would be ‘little noticeable.’”
Deer Brook Bridge, 1925. Concrete structure faced with granite quarried locally is typical of all the carriage road bridges, each with a unique design. The Bubble Pond bridge may have been built completely of solid stone rather than a concrete structure with stone veneer, but only core samples would truly prove this.
Jordan Pond Gate
Jordan Pond Gate Lodge, 1932. Two gates (Jordan Pond and Brown Mountain) were constructed to keep motor vehicles off the carriage roads. A third was planned at Eagle Lake but never built.
Duck Brook Bridge, 1929. Duck Brook Bridge was completed at a cost of $83,746. Not surprisingly on account of its scale, it was the most expensive structure built on the carriage road system. Almost $1.26 million in 2020 dollars. By 1935 he had invested about $4 million in land and construction (almost $77 million in today’s dollars) for developing the carriage and motor road system in Acadia.
The carriage roads are without a doubt one of the most unique features within Acadia National Park. While they may appear to be just another variation of bicycle trails or hiking paths, the history behind these roads is as fascinating as the roads themselves. The carriage roads provide the only access to the interior of the park and are only accessible by foot, bicycle or horse and carriage.
Carriage roads are depicted as the yellow trails on this National Park Service map of Acadia. White dashed lines are hiking trails.
A network of 57 miles of broken stone road, two gate houses, and 17 hand-hewn rock bridges make up the carriage roads, mostly built through the fortune and philanthropy of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. between 1919 and 1939. He donated them to Acadia National Park for the ongoing enjoyment of the public, with one condition: that they would never be used for motor vehicles.
Rockefeller, Jr. made his first visit to Mount Desert Island in 1890 on a school outing. In 1908 he returned to the island with his new bride, and in 1910 he purchased a “cottage” west of Seal Harbor called “The Eyrie.” That cottage was enlarged to almost 100 rooms, beautifully landscaped, and ultimately where he and his family would spend summers for the next 50 years.
Rockefeller’s “The Eyrie” Cottage.
Rockefeller had grown up around horses and carriages, and had laid out many horse roads on his father’s estates in Ohio and New York as a boy. It was a pleasant, almost obsessive hobby, so it was natural for him to start building horse carriage roads around The Eryie.
The initial roads surrounded his property in Seal Harbor, and then he acquired land and began building a carriage road between his estate and Jordan Pond before the National Park existed. Most of the land was under the control of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations, the organization that ultimately donated the land to establish Acadia National Park.
The admission of automobiles to Mount Desert Island in 1915 spurred Rockefeller to more action. He quickly conceived the idea of constructing a larger network of carriage roads, where children and friends could ride horseback or drive their carriages without being disturbed by cars.
To satisfy the “motoring” public, he agreed to build and fund one major motorcar road - now known as the Park Loop Road, as well as the road that leads to the summit of Cadillac Mountain. But his network of carriage roads would remain prohibited to the automobile. and to ensure this Rockefeller built and staffed two Gate Houses to prevent cars from using the carriage roads.
Acadia became a National Monument in 1916 and as the new monument expanded with additional land, Rockefeller continued working with the Trustees to expand the carriage road network.
When Acadia became a National Park in 1919, Rockefeller’s carriage roads were embroiled in controversy through the 1920’s. He found himself trying to balance the political pendulum and satisfy his wealthy neighbors while working with the federal government. Both the carriage roads and the motoring roads were viewed as a war between the wealthy aristocrats who wanted to preserve their private sanctuary, and the general public who would flock to the island as tourists in their motorcars.
Rockefeller ultimately prevailed and completed his 57-mile carriage road network, 45 miles of which are under the supervision of the National Park Service. He was applauded with widespread support for his investment and philanthropy in Acadia National Park. He purchased and then donated additional land for the park, funded, built and donated most of the carriage road system, and funded almost the entire cost of constructing the Park Loop Road and the Cadillac Summit road.
Somes Sound, as viewed from the Around the Mountain carriage road.
We are the recipients of the philanthropic life-work of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., George Dorr, and the National Park Service at Acadia National Park. May these carriage roads and their history be ever preserved for the enjoyment of future generations.
References:
Making Vacationland: The Modern Automobility and Tourism Borderlands of Maine and New Brunswick, 1875-1939, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4300&context=etd
Historic American Engineering Record, Rockefeller Carriage Roads
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/me/me0200/me0237/data/me0237data.pdf