The Creation of Acadia National Park, a Plutonian Tale

Bar Harbor Maine
Acadia National Forest - a Plutonian Tale

The story of Acadia National Forest is a Plutonian Tale. Pluto, the god of the underworld. The only god to whom there was no altar, no recourse, no prayer, no mercy. It is all-out war between the Old and the New. It is going on now (the election, the world economic crisis), as Pluto stomps through your life (or the world's, or a forest's), trampling what is dead and dying making room for new growth - more beautiful, more varied, more enriched, and most of all -- changed.

This is also the theme for the coming year, 2009. Whether you orchestrate your own change, gracefully emerging from your chrysalis a beautiful winged butterfly, or must be dragged out unwillingly, kicking and scream is up to you. Readings, of course, will help, as this isn't easy. EMAIL ME to schedule readings.

And now for Acadia National Forest. . .

"Rustification" it was called, when the very wealthy came to Bar Harbor Maine and Maine's Mount Desert Island, a little under 200 air miles Boston, to spend their summers. One of these was the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who contributed along with many other people (including the tens of thousands of volunteers who care for it today), to developing and preserving Acadia National Park.

At 47,000 acres, Acadia National Park it's one of our smallest, yet one of the most visited. From these photos, you will see why.

MAP OF ACADIA NATIONAL FOREST
From our cruise to Bar Harbor (and beyond)

Map of Acadia, Map created by en:User:Aude


At first, the forest looked like this (evergreens), though it included the granite ledges of the Schoodic Peninsula across Frenchman Bay, and a number of smaller offshore islands, notably Isle au Haut in the Gulf of Maine. But Mount Desert is where most of it is. It contained more than 20 lakes and ponds, and an extensive network of gravel carriage trails, 17 granite bridges, and two gate lodges, thanks to the Rockefellers, most of which is there today.

Here is what it looked like back then:



Or perhaps even a tree of color here and there, like this:

THE GREAT MAINE FIRE OF 1947

Then, on October 17, 1847 a fire broke out, during a dry year, that destroyed much of Maine's forests, including 10,000 acres of Acadia National Park. Now here's the miracle. As is nature's way, the regrowth, allowed to occur naturally, included a host of maples and other colored trees, changing the appearance entirely, and for the better, most of us would say.

If you have gone through a Plutonian change, a "Trial by Fire" and find yourself to be, shall we say, more colorful, more enriched, more beautiful, you can relate to this, for this is what we see today, "after the great fire."

Our trip to Bar Harbor included a tour of the Acadia National Forest, ending in a lobster bake at Bar Harbor Inn.

One of the bridges built by Rockefeller.

Having grown up in the Mid West, the sights and scents and sounds of fall are manna to my soul.

All hail the Maine Lobster!

While on my New England/Canada Fall Foliage Cruise on NCL's the Norwegian Majesty, I planned my changes for the coming year. They will be big ones. And I planned ways to help my clients on their journey during 2009.

It was good to be on a cruise for this. "I must get down to the sea again..."

It was spectacular success. Next time we visit Saint John, Bay of Fundy. Stay tuned.