Members of the Seal Harbor Path Committee at Jordan Pond

Inspired to protect the beauty and diversity of Mount Desert Island from encroaching development, a passionate group of local and summer residents waged a campaign to conserve this landscape for public use. With varied backgrounds but a common foresight, these artists, naturalists, philanthropists, and others encouraged individuals to donate tracts, purchase lands, and seek federal protection. They succeeded in establishing the first eastern park—Acadia—one of the few created almost entirely of land donated to the federal government.

Early park proponents included these members of the Seal Harbor Path Committee meeting at Jordan Pond in 1923. They are (from left) Joseph Allen, Walter H. Buell, Fred D. Weeks, Professor C.H. Grandgent, William S. Turner, Thomas A. Mcintire, and George B. Dorr, who is known as the "Father of Acadia" and became the first superintendent of the park.