ACADIA FOUND: ACADIA FOUND

There is no single place in all of Acadia National Park where one can visit and come away with the sense that they had taken a step back in time as that of Compass Harbor, and yet the National Park Service does very little to make visitors aware of the location. So what is it that makes Compass Harbor such a historic site, well, to begin with it was the site of Old Farm, the main summer cottage of George B. Dorr, who without his money and efforts Acadia National Park might not even exist today, and that is the main reason Mr. Dorr is often referred to as the Father of Acadia National Park.
He often spent his summers at Old Farm with his mother, and after she passed away he continued to spend his summers at the cottage. Old newspapers reveal that after his mother died, for a number of summers Dorr rented the main cottage out to different families, he himself preferring to stay at his second nearby summer cottage, Storm Beach Cottage, just around the corner from Old Farm. It was a much small cottage than that of Old Farm, but it allowed him to set by a window and look out over his beloved plants and shrubs which made up his Mount Desert nurseries business, a passion he had shared with his mother when she was alive.
The grounds of Compass Harbor today feature a nature trail which for half its distance follows close to the ocean with some nice views along the way. There are also two beaches, one much easier to locate than the other, and one can still see the remains of Mr. Dorr's salt water pool by the Oceanside, and at least one account stated Mr. Dorr liked to begin each day with a dip in his pool.
It seems that each time I visit Compass Harbor and explore the area I discover something new. In the woods nearby are lost and forgotten stone steps, old foundations, and remains of stonework from the once stunning gardens of the Dorr estate. At one time several houses where located at Compass Harbor, including houses owned by the Douglass and Conners families and the first recorded death on the mountains here was that of 12 year old Lucretia K. Julia Douglass, who fell to her death off the cliffs of Newport (now named Chaplain) Mountain.
Besides the gorgeous views of Compass harbor, the remains of Old Farm can be found along the trail which loops the grounds, the floors, some sections of walls, and cellar windows still mark the site of Old Farm, and a very long series of stone steps leads from the ocean area up the hillside and through the woods to the remains of the estate.
Along the nature trail you come to an intersection where the Schooner Head path begins, follow it a short ways and it comes out onto a narrow road, Old Farm road, the path crosses the road and passes along one side of Dorr Pond, follow the trail a short ways and you will see a white house through the tree's to the left, that is Storm Beach Cottage, the only remaining structure that Dorr owned at Compass Harbor.
Go left and follow the narrow road a short ways and you come to a very long driveway which runs up through the woods, continue along the roadway several more yards and you will see Storm Beach Cottage on the hillside The National Park service owns the building and land and rents it out to private families and has asked that anyone visiting that area respect the privacy of the families who rent there and view the building from a distance.
Storm Beach Cottage is where George B. Dorr retreated to in his final years, handing over Old Farm and its property to the National Park Service. Sadly not many years after acquiring the dorr estate, the National Park Service torn down Old Farm and the structures around it.
Compass Harbor is not promoted by the Park Service and only two tiny parking areas, unmarked, are available for parking.
To locate Compass Harbor, as your driving along Main Street in Bar Harbor, follow it along route 3 towards Jackson Lab and Otter Creek, you will pass the Bar Harbor YMCA and ball fields, begin looking for a white mailbox very close to the road, mailbox number 399, the main Compass Harbor parking lot is directly across the road from the mailbox.