THE BATTLE FOR A MONUMENT TO HONOR FALLEN SOLDIERS

Bar Harbor Record
November 6, 1896

Intended For Soldiers Monument Meets With Much Opposition

The committee on citizens and G.A.R. men appointed on the matter of a soldiers monument have decided that a boulder will be the best memorial to commemorate the soldiers who went out from Eden to fight their country's battles,  and to that end they have selected one which lies in a field on the Cromwells Harbor road near the rear entrance to the Kebo Valley grounds.  They have advertised for bids for the removal of the mass of rock to a triangular piece of land given the committee by Mr. C.T. How in Woodbury Park.  Up to the time of writing, no bids have been received by the committee.  The boulder weighs between 80 and 90 tons and is ten feet high, 12 feet long and about as thick through.  The idea of the committee is that after the boulder is placed on the site to fasten a bronze plate on one side of it which will record the names of the brave who fell fighting for their country.  Other accouterments of war, such as pyramids of cannon balls and a few cannon are to be placed about the boulder and the plot of ground surrounding will be graded and turfed.
So far as can be learned, there are but few who favor the plan of having a boulder, which is rather common in this vicinity as the monument to the soldiers for which the town appropriated $2,500 at the March meeting.  There is much opposition to the scheme also among the members of the James M. Parker Post here and it has gone so far that some of the members threaten, in case the boulder is adopted, to resign from the post.  The design is objected to in the first place and than they say that to move a 90 ton rock over 4000 feet would cost nearly as much as the town appropriated for a monument.
One prominent man in speaking of the boulder monument said, "I can not understand how this committee under takes to select a boulder or a monument.  They were simply appointed to select a site for a monument and have no power to do anything further.   At the town meeting a motion was made by William Fennelly that the town appropriate $2,500 for a monument to the soldiers of Eden and later an amendment was passed that the selectmen appoint a number of citizens to act with the G.A.R. to select a site for the monument.  This was done and the joint committee had authority to select a site.  Of course they were expected to report at a regular or special town meeting what they had done  At one special town meeting the Grand Central site was cussed and discussed and there the matter stands as far as the town is concerned.  The monument, as I understand it, is a tribute from the town to the soldiers.  The site having been selected, I should think that the committee's work is done except that they also report progress in having seen designs, estimates, etc. of monuments."
Another citizen said;  "The idea of a boulder as a soldiers monument in a vicinity where boulders are so common, where  in fact they lie on every side, seems to be absurd.  were it in a prairie town or a boulder-less land the idea would be attractive and unique.  then, too, it would be rather difficult to persuade the stranger that this intended boulder monument had been discovered nearly a mile away and that is cost about $2,000 to cart it to its resting place.  The sign 'this is the soldiers monument' might have to be placed nearby.  Why not put a brass plate on Balance Rock and dedicate it to the sailors as well as the soldiers?  It is one of the most famous boulders in New England."
The committee says that they cannot get a suitable soldiers monument for less than $15,000 or $20,000.  It would seem that an artistic monument such as small towns and cities have could be procured for about one-fourth the lowest of the above figures.

THE MEMORIAL ROCK
CROMWELL HARBOR ROAD
Bar Harbor 

The  large boulder above is the only boulder on Kebo Valley Property that stands ten feet tall and twenty feet wide, we believe this was the boulder mentioned in the story.  It is located along the roadside, on a tree lined banking and easy to spot from the road.

GPS from the side of the Cromwell Harbor Road

N 44 22.711
W 068 13.089

From their the massive boulder is but several yards from the roadside by some tree's and can be easily seen.  Walk around to the other side of the boulder for a great photo as the boulder seems to get even larger from the back side.