GEORGE B. DORR - FATHER OF ACADIA, DIES

GEORGE B. DORR DIES
Bar Harbor Times
August 10, 1944

GEORGE B. DORR "FATHER OF PARK" DIED SATURDAY
The death of George B. Dorr, 91, affectionately known as the "father" of Acadia National Park, of which he was superintendent, died Saturday at his home, "Old Farm," on lower Main Street.
He was born December 29, 1853, in Jamaica Plain, Mass., the youngest of two sons of the late Charles Hazen and Mary Gray Ward Dorr.
He was graduated from Harvard University with a A. B. degree, and did graduate work there in 1888-1891.  He received the honorary degree of master of Arts from the university in 1923.  In 1924 he was awarded the honorary degree of master of science by the University of Maine.
He traveled extensively  in Europe and the Near East with his parents, and they spent one winter on the Nile.
A great student, Mr. Dorr, devoted much time to the study of the Bible, being particularly interested in reviewing it during the winter of 1937-38.
His first visit to Mount Desert Island was in 1868, when he came with his parents.  Their visits continued through the years and in 1878 Mr. Dorr's father purchased the property on which the summer home "Old Farm" was built.
The garden of "Old Farm" built through his mother's interest in beautiful flowers and their growth, prompted Mr. Dorr in 1898 to establish the Mount Desert Nurseries, in which he maintained personal and active interest for many years.
With the help of President Elliott and others, he formed the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations which arranged for the first donation of 5,000 acres of land which became the nucleus of what the government accepted in 1916 as Lafayette National Park, later renamed Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, the first national park east of the Mississippi.  This park will ever stand as a monument to his love of nature and his desire to conserve for others those things which he himself loved.
His interest in community affairs was always active.  His name is closely associated with the Bar Harbor Athletic Field, the Jesup Memorial Library, the Building of the Arts, the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory and other projects of a public nature for the improvement of the community.

(Note;  Old Farm, the Dorr estate, was located at Compass Harbor where the foundation still sits in the woods along a well worn trail)