DEATH IN ACADIA - a Book Review

A BOOK REVIEW

As many of the followers of this site are aware of, for a good number of years I have had a website devoted to the memory of those killed in Acadia National Park - "Deaths In Acadia National Park."  The information found on that site is very basic information, usually concerning where a person died and the circumstances that led to the death.  There may from time to time be some other information added, when available, but I do nothing to dig deeper into these unfortunate deaths.
In her book Death In Acadia, Randi Minetor does just that, making each story more personal and giving the reader a glimpse into the lives of these people beyond the headlines.  I personally found the stories to be very informative  with many eye opening quotes from both witnesses and Park Officials.
Many of these stories will have the reader on the edge of their seat with the description of unfolding events placing the reader there at the scene, from the comfort of their favorite chair.  In chapter One, The Lure of Wild Wate;  Death By Storm Observation, the book starts out with the untimely death of seven year old Clio Dahyun Axilrod who was swept off the rocks and drown during hurricane Bill.  The following paragraph sets the stage for what would become a very tragic scene.
"The family stood up, turned around, and began to ascend a diagonal path to the road.  They were just forty feet from Ocean Driveat 11;46 a.m. when a wave some twenty feet high struck the rocks, the New York Times reported the following day.  "The penultimate wave in the fatal series landed at the ankles of observers on the rocks," the Times said.  "The one after that was unlike all the rest."
You will find many tragic deaths included in the book, death by gunshot, as well as deaths by drowning.  Some of the most grisly deaths are those from people falling or plunging to their death from cliffs or mountain sides.  The nine year old lad and his cousin who got a brand new pair of ice skates on Christmas morning is covered well in the book and each time I journey out to Eagle Lake I think of that Christmas Day drowning.   There are even a couple of murders in the book, one of which remains unsolved to this day.  You will find this unsolved murder in Chapter 9, Morning Murder;  The Body In The Garden.  I learned from reading the story a number of details I had been unaware of, which kept me turning the pages.
Chapter 7 really stands out for me, Not On Purpose;  Death By Gunshot is the story of Acadia National Park Ranger Karl A. Jacobson, who was out conducting perimeter duty  with his wife riding along with him in his car.  This was a very tragic death of a Park Ranger who was out simply doing his job when he he came upon a scene and exited his car to investigate further.  An elderly poacher mistook the Park Ranger for a deer, and once again as I read the account of this tragic accident, as with many of the others in the book, I once again learned more details than I had known before I read the book.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a love for Acadia National Park and wants a better understanding behind many of the deaths which have occurred in the park since the mid 1800's onward.  Once you start turning the pages - you don't want to stop, this is one of those rare books that is hard to put down.