Fire on the Island!
This Wednesday, October
17, is the 65th anniversary of the terrible fire in 1947 on Mt.
Desert Island and what would become Acadia National Park.
Weather patterns may
seem strange today, but they were also weird in 1947. The spring rains we
always look forward to, which bring forth the flora and fauna of our Maine
summers, ended in June. No rain fell after that. Fields and forest became bone
dry and were ripe for fire.
A woman called the
Bangor Fire Department on October 17 and said she saw smoke coming from the
cranberry bogs between her home and what would become Acadia National Park.
No one really knows what
started the fire. It could have been cranberry bog workers who often smoked
while they worked; or a dump fire gone wild; or any number of careless acts in
such a dry area. One spark would be all that was needed.
The fire was contained
to 169 acres for the first three days. Then on October 21 strong winds fanned
the flames once again eventually engulfing 2,000 acres on the island. The map
shows the area of damage.
In two weeks time the
fire destroyed over 17,000 acres. 8,000 acres burned in Acadia National Park
alone. Property damage exceeded $23 million by 1947 standards.
Fires occurred in other
areas in Maine that summer. Over all, more than 200,000 acres burned. 851
permanent homes and 397 seasonal “cottages” were destroyed in “the year Maine
burned.”
So what did this fire
mean to the economy of that area and of Maine as a whole?
What once was a summer
mecca and playground for the rich was no longer. The very rich who had summer
homes on Mt. Desert Island included names like Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt,
and Pulitzer. They had discovered the area in the last century and before
income taxes and the great depression they built huge “cottages” on the island.
These cottages could have as many as 100 rooms. That is a hotel by Maine
standards at the time. They were hardly what we Maine people would call a
cottage.
Whole families would
come to these “cottages” for the summer. In the beginning when cars began to
appear, they were not allowed on the island. For this and other reasons, the
summer residents called themselves “rusticators” because they felt that they
were living a rustic life. (I will write more about these “rusticators” at a
later date.)
These wealthy summer
people didn’t only live in the Mt. Desert and Bar Harbor area. There were other
pockets of wealthy summer people up and down the coast.
In our own area we had
the Samoset Resort where wealthy people came to spend the “summer season.”
My cousin, Gayle, who
lives over on Cranberry Island was for many years assistant to Lady Astor, who
summered in that area.
My great-grandmother,
Rose Burns, was a laundress for some of them. She lived down on Dutch Neck. My
Aunt Virginia tells me that she used to wash all those white linen clothes they
used to wear then; hang them on the line to dry; and then iron them with one of
those big heavy irons you had to heat up on the old wood stoves.
Virginia remembers calling
these summer people, “summer complaints.” I also remember that phrase. They
were so-called because they would come to Maine and complain about
everything…the weather, their accommodations or any other number of things.
However, as much as they complained, they always returned to Maine the next
year. We must have been doing something right.
So what happened to our
economy after the fire when all these wealthy people deserted the area, taking
their money with them, never to come again? The result of the depression in the
30s and later on, the introduction of income taxes, didn’t make it possible for
all these luxurious homes to be rebuilt. In 1947 cars became the main mode of
transportation which allowed more leeway for summer people. They began to
travel the country in the summer time, not staying for “the season” in just one
place.
Maine took a backseat
for a long time. Who would want to visit
such a devastated area as Mt. Desert Island and all of the area that would
become Acadia National Park?
Think about it. Darkened
stumps and what remained of the trees standing silent and dark. Scorched earth.
No birds, deer, moose, and other creatures. Silence and gloom. My father took
us down to see the devastation shortly after the fire. What should have been a
blaze of glorious fall colors in the month of October was nothing but deathly
dark devastation. To my six-year-old eyes, it was like stepping into the pages
of a fairy tale with no happy ending as told by the Brothers Grimm. It was the
worst sight I ever saw in my life.
Maine’s summer economy
suffered for many years. I remember the 50s as a time when summer people didn’t
come to stay in Rockland. They were only passing through. Things have changed
now. We are enjoying a summer visitor renaissance. Once again you will find the
wealthy coming to stay for extended visits.
A brick mansion called
“High Seas” is one of the last remaining summer cottages in the area of the
fire. It sits on a point overlooking Frenchman Bay. You can see it from
Schooner Head. Today the mansion is surrounded by National Park land and is
owned by Jackson Laboratories, which does biological and cancer research.
You can still see areas
where the fire was the worst. There are barren slopes and new growth forest
along the coast. Sixty-five years. It takes a long time to grow a tree after
all.
Thanks for listening.
Note: I will bring you more history of
Acadia National Park and the summer people who lived there in the summer as
well as famous summer people in other parts of our coastal areas at a later
date. For more information on this subject go to
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