ABANDONED WITCH HOLE POND MARSH TRAIL

Sorry if you read this earlier and saw the somewhat confusing map I had put up of this newly discovered abandoned trail, which I am calling the Witch Hole Pond Trail.  Being an abandoned or ghost trail, it has no trail markings or trail head, but on a return trip back to the area we discovered something just as good as a trail head.

WITCH HOLE POND - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

As the Witch Hole Pond Carriage Road turns away from Witch Hole Pond, it follows the edge of a marsh for a very short ways uphill, before turning away from the marsh.  Right in front of you, there will be three different carriage road sign posts, the one closest to you has a well worn trail that begins right next to it - that is the abandoned Witch Hole Pond Trail.

Witch Hole Pond Marsh Trail - Abandoned Trails of Acadia National Park

CASCADES OF WITCH HOLE BROOK - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Years ago there was old roads and hiking trails all throughout this area, but all were abandoned over time, the old roads replaced with the Carriage Roads and the Hiking trails left to fade into time.
This abandoned trail once ran all the way to the pond's edge and than followed the pond looping around it.  A vanishing section of the trail around one edge of Witch Hole Pond can still be followed today for a short distance.

So the very first of the three sign posts is key to finding the start of the trail.  It goes into the woods a very short ways before coming to an intersection, turn right and head toward the marsh.  The trail left goes a very short ways back to the carriage road.

DIRT PULL OVER BEFORE PARK LOOP ROAD SPLITS

TRAIL COMES OUT BY PARK LOOP ROAD - DIRT PULL OVER TO LEFT

You quickly come to a second intersection, go left, and keep following the edge of the marsh.  The trail right goes a very short ways back to the carriage road.


Even though I just discovered it, it is clear by how worn it is that the abandoned trail is very much in use today by locals, and no doubt park staff wanting quick access to the Witch Hole Pond area.
As you make your way along the trail there is a hill over looking the trail and old maps show where 3 to 4 houses were once located up on that hill.  We did some exploring and were able to locate only one sunken foundation.  I recall reading that back than some of those houses were nothing more than log cabins.


We went down the back side of that hill and came to an old dirt road which we followed through the woods - it came to a large marsh I had never seen before.  The dirt road kept following the edge of the marsh but water from the marsh along with thick brush soon over took the old road and we could not follow it any further.

WITCH HOLE POND - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

WITCH HOLE POND CARRIAGE ROAD - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

SUNSET - WITCH HOLE POND - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Acadia National Park 

Abandoned Trails Guide Map

ABANDONED TRAILS OF ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - The Book
Available Now in Libraries

ABANDONED TRAILS THE BOOK

Finally our dream of putting out a book version of Abandoned Trails of Acadia National Park.  For a number of years we have been wanting to do this, and so far the libraries that have gotten a copy of it have had positive things to say about it.

Click on the link below to download your free PDF copy of the book;
ABANDONED TRAILS OF ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - THE BOOK - 2019 Edition

ABANDONED TRAILS OF ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - THE BOOK

If you live in an area where the book is not available at your local library, most libraries today have a free inter-library loan program where they can borrow the book from a library that does  have a copy of the book.

Abandoned Trails Of Acadia National Park  - a list of some of the libraries where you can take out a copy of the book.

Jesup Memorial Library - Bar Harbor

Southwest Harbor Library - Southwest Harbor

Bass Harbor Memorial Library - Bernard,

Bangor Public Library - Bangor, Maine

Ellsworth Public Library - Ellsworth, Maine

Northeast Harbor Library - Northeast Harbor

Waterville Public Library, Waterville Maine

Newport Public Library, Newport Maine

Portor Memorial Library, Machias Maine

Maine State Library, Augusta, Maine

Portland Public Library - Portland, Maine

South Portland Public Library, Sou8th Portland

Lithgow Public Library - Augusta, Maine

Brewer Public Library - Brewer, Maine

New York Public Library - Fifth Ave.

Boston Public Library - Boylston St.

Gorham Public Library, Gorham NH




Just an update, I want to thank the many libraries who gave us positive feedback on our book and who are listing it in their collections.  We will continue to make the book available to more and more libraries - hopefully some out of state.

A MEMORIAL TO THOSE WHO HAVE DIED

This is a memorial to those who have died or lost their life in Acadia National Park.  The Park Service has told us they do not keep such statistics so we have had to do a lot of research to come up with the information we have.  Gaps between dates does not mean no one died or lost their life in the park that year, it only means we have yet to locate any deaths for those years.  We never realize just how precious life is until someone we love loses theirs.

 April 2016 - Timothy Philpott, age 50, remains found on Parkman Mountain in Acadia National Park.

June 2016 - Mark Simon, age 68, fell from a bluff between Sand Beach and Thunder Hole while attempting to get a photo of a sunset.

July 2016 - Nathan Savage, age 39, died after swimming across Echo Lake.

Sept. 2016 - Abdulrahman M. Alamer, age 21, died after crashing his motorcycle on the Cadillac Summit road.

June 2015 -  Christian Linwood Emigh-Doyle, age 23, died after falling from Duck Brook Bridge along the Paradise Hill Road.

June 2012 - John Baer, age 85, found dead along Schooner Head Trail - the death was not suspicious.

July 2012 -  Shirley Ladd, age 22, died after a fall on the Precipice.

July 2012 - 38 year old man committed  suicide atop Cadillac Mountain.

Jan.  2011 - Duncan Rosborough, 52, was found dead in the park on the Paradise Hill loop trail around 6:45 a.m. Sunday,  after he failed to show up after doing some sking.  It appears he died of nature causes.

Aug. 2009 - Clio Dahyun Axilrod, age 7, was swept off rocks by waves during Hurricane Bill and drown.

Aug.  2000 - Man falls to his death on the Beehive.

Oct. 2008 - Corey O'Brian, age 23, died in the park after a fall from his skate board.

June 2007 - Faith M. Wise, age 56, drown in the area of Schoodic Point.

Aug.  2005 - Stephen Chan, age 22, drown while swimming in Echo Lake.

March 2004 - Benjamin A. Ellis, 21, found dead on Great Hill, an apparent suicide.

April 2004 - Stephen Kennedy, age 63, died after crashing his bike into a closed gate on the Otter cliffs road.

2004 - Emil Lin, in his 20's, drown at Otter Cliffs after attempting to retrieve his shoe from the ocean.

2004 - Joanne Demartini, age 50, dies after falling from a cliff near Sand Beach.

Oct. 2000 - Leslee R. Larson, age 50, murdered after husband pushed her from Otter cliff to collect insurance money.

1999 -  Robert Croteau, age 51, and his wife Margaret, age 63, posed for a photo by the water at  Schoodic Point when a wave swept them out to sea - both drown.

1997 - Michael Domino, age 37, died after falling from an icy ledge on the Precipice.

1997 - Shon Lewis died at the Hulls Cove Visitors Center parking lot after losing control of his snowmobile and crashing into tree's.

Aug. 1993 - a 17 year old boy died after falling from a cliff along the ocean behind Blackwoods Campground.

Oct. 1993 - Douglas Rose, age 20, a student at college of the atlantic, drown after becoming trapped by rising tide in Anemone cave.

1989 - Bartholomew Keohane, age 50, a Prist, died after falling from  Mansell Mountain.

June 1977 - Leslie Spellman, age 27, murdered while on vacation in Acadia National Park, her body was discovered in the tranquil Asticou Azalea Gardens in Northeast Harbor - her murder has still not been solved.

Oct. 1977 - Fritz Millett, age 22, died from a fall on the Beehive.

June 1970 - Air Force Captain Robert McGaunn died after crashing his plane during bad weather into the side of Cedar swamp Mountain.

1969 - David McKinney, age 19, swept to sea by waves at Great Head while attempting to explore a cave.

Sept. 1963 -  Gerard D.F. Poisson, drowned by Thunder Hole.

1949 - Mrs. Millicent Quinn, age 39, swept off rocks by waves Sept. 1949 and drowned along Ocean Drive.

July 1939 - A young boy working with the C.C.C. Clarence D. Thurlow, died after falling from  a cliff on Beech Mountain.

Nov. 1938 - Park Ranger Karl Andrew Jacobson, while on boundary patrol in Acadia National Park, died after being shot by a  poacher.

Aug. 1934 - Miss Emily McDougall, age 25, was washed out to sea by waves and drowned by Thunder Hole.

Aug. 1932 - Joseph Meuse - age 12, died Aug. 1932 whilr playing at Bakers Island Lighthouse.

May 1931 - Bert H. Young, drown on Long Pond following a boating accident.

Sept. 1929 - Dennis Doonan, dynamite man for the Mccabe Company, was killed after a blasting accident while helping construct the Cadillac summit road.

Dec. 1909 - Adren L. Peach, age 9, fell through ice and drowned at Eagle Lake on Christmas Day wearing a pair of ice skates he recieved as a gift that morning.

Aug. 3, 1853 - Lucreatia K. Douglas, age 12, died after falling from a ledge near the Great Cave.  She may be the youngest person to have died on the Precipice.

TWO DEATHS I WILL NEVER FORGET

For me, there are two deaths that I will never forget which occurred in Acadia National Park.  One was a close friend of my son's, his name was Christian Linwood Emigh-Doyle and he was only 23 when he somehow fell from the bridge over Duck Brook.  I had seen him in town often and he had been over to our house now and than to see my son.  Three days before his death i remember answering a knock at the door, it was Christian, he was wearing a pair of sunglasses and smiling, he wanted to know if my son was home and I told him he wasn't, that he might be in town.  He said to tell him he had stopped by and left, it was the last time I saw him alive.
The other death was a total stranger, the young mans name was Michael Domino, and he was only 37 years old.  It is not something that is easy to talk about because it was a death that did not have to happen.  That night me and my oldest son were making out way down the Bear Brook Trail on Champlain Mountain, we had gone up earlier in the day, but got slowed up because the trail was very slippery, and we found ourselves running out of light.   We had to use flashlights as we got closer to the bottom of the trail, I had a thick winter hat on and a hood over my head and thought I heard a sound behind us.  We stopped and stared upward for a few minutes but saw no sign of any lights, and turned and continued back down the trail when Michael Domino came up behind us - I was shocked, not because he was out on the mountain with no light, but because of how he was dressed.  He had on a light jogging suit and a pair of sneakers, that was it...no winter hat, no gloves, no coat, this guy was dressed for a summer jog in the middle of winter on a night when it was cold as hell.  I said to him, you didn't just hike this mountain dressed like that, did you?  He laughed and said he had, that he hiked this mountain as often as he could.  He said he was from a state that had no mountains and that he had become fascinated with the Precipice trail.  We came off the trail and down onto the loop road and I asked him, you didn't hike up the Precipice Trail tonight did you?  He laughed and said, yeah, it was his favorite trail to hike.  I told him how dangerous that trail was in good weather and that people had fallen off it to their death. he just smiled and said he planned on hiking the Precipice tomorrow night.  He said he worked at Jackson Lab and left his car over in the parking lot when he hiked the precipice after work, with that he smiled and wished us a good night and jogged off into the darkness in the direction of the Bear Brook Picnic Area, which makes sense since there is a short cut path that goes right into the Jackson Lab parking lot.  I turned to my son and said, can you believe the way that guy was dressed...we just spoke to a dead guy.
By that, I did not mean nor expect the guy to die the following day, what I meant by that statement was that anyone who did not respect nature and the weather was not going to be around long.  One does not hike the Precipice in the middle of winter dressed like that many times and live to tell about it.
The following night we were into it, a major storm, and I was setting in front of the TV set with a hot cup of coco when I heard over the police scanner that some ones wife had called and reported her husband had not come home and that she was worried about him.  The police located the guys car over at the Jackson Lab parking lot, I heard it on the scanner but never thought they might be looking for the very guy we had run into the night before.  The weather was so bad they didn't locate the guy that night and the following day I heard they had finally located his body on the side of the Precipice below a ledge, his body was said to be twisted in a way that there was no question he was dead.  It than hit me, because i heard the guy was not dressed for this kind of weather, that this very well may be the guy we talked to the night before, and as it turned out it was.

And what makes it even more tragic is the fact that he left behind a wife and a 6 year old daughter.

THE ANNE M. ARCHBOLD ESTATE

ANNE ARCHBOLD COTTAGE
CLEFTSTONE ROAD, BAR HARBOR

Archbold Cottage, located on the West side of Cleftstone road, burned in the fire of 1947.  The land the cottage was built on was once owned by Charles T. How.  The following appeared in the Bar Harbor record, a local newspaper, on March 30, 1904, and in part read;

An Italian Villa

An unique innovation to Bar Harbor's archltecture.

One of the most unique houses ever built in the village, and one that is perhaps, for its size, the most expensive, is that now in process of construction for Miss Ann Archbold.  Miss Archbold is a native of Tarrytown, N.Y., and has passed several seasons at Seal Harbor.  She is an artist of no little talent and has spent many years of travel and study in Europe.  The idea for her cottage was conceived from the beautiful castles in Italy, and in Paris a tiny model, perfect in every detail, was made for the proposed villa.

ANNE ARCHBOLD COTTAGE
Cleftstone Road, Bar Harbor

It was some time before a suitable location could be found, and Bar Harbor and surrounding resorts were thoroughly inspected.  Finally Miss Archbold purchased some four acres on the Cleftstone road and the house is being erected on a slight eminence which gives a beautiful view.  Its appearance from the road is picturesque in the extreme, and when cmpleted, surrounded by lawns and gardens, it will form a quaint and harmonious picture.
From the South side there is an entrance to the reception room, approached by winding steps and from the court is another entrance.
The house is somewhat in the form of a hollow square.  In the basement is a large kitchen extending the entire length of the main body of the house.  In addition to this, there is a pantry, the servants dining room, four servants bed rooms, besides a number of closets.
On the first floor the main body of the house is taken up by the living and dining rooms, whose united length is about 70 feet.  They are rough plastered, and the cypress beams overhead are finished in the rough.  In the west wing are two small bed rooms with bath, and in the east a hall with a fireplace.
The dining room is several steps lower than the living room and the bulters pantry, with dumb waiter shaft opens from it.  One of the accessories of the old Italian villa is a "vanishing table" which disappears directly the viands are eaten, and if practicable, the dining room of Miss Archbold's house will be equipped with one of thses mysterious agents.

ANNE ARCHBOLD COTTAGE
Cleftstone Road, Bar Harbor

On the second floor in the east wing a small chamber is directly above the hall.  Miss Archbolds chamber is a large pleasant room in the east wing.  From it, a spiral iron staircase leads to the tower above, where a beautiful panorama of mountain, forest, and ocean spreads out before the eye.  Opening from this room is a large bath room and tiled tub set deep after the old Roman fashion and reached by several steps.  In the west wing at the extreme end is a small bed room and bath,  Opening from this is the studio, a large airy room.
The center of the second floor is occupied by the loggia, which will be a delightful place when completed.  The floor is to be tiled and the sides of glass, which will open readily so that a cool breeze can sweep across.  Opening from the loggia is a long narrow balcony which later will be hung with trailing vines and blossoms.  At the back a cement stairway leads from the loggia to the terrace below.  The terrace will be one of the most interesting features of the house.  It fills the "hollow" of the square.  A narrow open walk the height of the second story rooms surrounds it and is upheld by twelve arches of stucco  work, ornamented with carved wheels and surrounded with handsome panels of carved wood.  In the center of the terrace a fountain will play and the entire enclosure will be covered with grass.  Beyond the terrace a large plot will be devoted to the garden which will be in keeping with the other appointments.
On the southern side of the east wing is the conservatory, which will be a unique feature of the house.  The sides, of course, will be of glass and the roof will be upheld by carved figures.

Directions;  From Eagle Lake Road - route 233, look for a pull over area where you can park your car directly across from the Cleftstone road.  An old abandoned dirt road runs up into the woods there and you don't have to walk far.  Cross the Eagle Lake Road and walk down the Cleftstone Road a short waysI believe we entered the woods across from the second house or a little past it.  It is not too far in the woods on a hillside.  The GPS for the foundations is N 44 22 947 and W 068 13 630

Directly across the road from the entrance to the estate is a telephone pole with the number 3 on it.  The remains of the estate sets on a  knoll further back in the woods on almost a straight line from the pole.

ANNE ARCHBOLD ESTATE REMAINS
WOODS OFF CLEFTSTONE ROAD
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

ANNE ARCHBOLD POOL - WOODS OFF CLEFTSTONE ROAD
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

There is a lot of debris at this site, in fact in one of the photos above you can see part of a bed frame, a closer look in the area and you come across parts of broken statues, and in the photo above you can see what once was a huge round pool that had a fountain at one end with two mermaids, one on either side of the fountain.  Many of the bricks have the name of the company and the state they came from engraved on them.  Stone steps led up to where a patio area was located and from there you can look out over the other rooms whose walls are still standing.  The parking area towards the rear of the building can still be see, though over grown.  I found this to be one of the more amazing sites to explore.

BROKEN PIECE OF ARTWORK

OLD IRON BED UNDER COLLAPSED CEILING

ONCE A FANCY SHAPED TABLE

STEPS WHERE PATIO OVERLOOKED POOL

FANCY BLUE RIDGE BRICKS

While there are some private homes along the cleftstone Road, the large section of woods the Anne Archbold Estate is located in is on Park Property.  The Bayberry site is easier to find but is only a foundation with a fireplace along one wall.  The Archbold Estate remains as it did following the fire, we counted at least four bed frames.

GPS for the foundations is N 44 22 947 and W 068 13 630

BAR HARBOR SUMMER COTTAGES
ANNE ARCHBOLD ESTATE
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

THE VANISHING TABLE

Bar Harbor Record

June 14, 1905

One of the most unique cottages in town is miss Ann Archbold's Italian Villa which she occupied for the first time last season.  This year the "vanishing Table" has been installed.  The table was made by C.H. Lewis and J.T. Kilnan of Syracuse N.Y., and works with accuracy and precision.  It is a round table supported in the center on a hollow drum through which a dumb waiter brings up the dinner, delivering it on a traveling disk flush with the top of the table.  When the disk descends, half disks at each side come together at the center of the opening through which the disk rises, and closing together, rise to the level of the top of the table, making the entire top one level surface.  The movements are accomplished by means of ropes as in any dumb waiter.

VIDEO OF THE ANNE ARCHBOLD ESTATE REMAINS

KEBO MOUNTAIN TRAIL

Years ago there was a section of the Kebo Mountain trail located in the woods between the base of Kebo Mountain and the Golf Course.  I have hiked along that section of trail many times over the years, it was not a very long section, which began in the woods directly across from where the kebo Mountain Trail begins today.  Across the roadway is a set of stone steps with a new trail head sign.  At the base of those stone steps is a new trail the Park Service built a few years back.  The new trail runs to the left and to the right of those stone steps.  The abandoned section of the Kebo Trail also ran from those steps, heading downward to the brook, where it crosses the brook and continues to where it meets up with the Stratheden path by the Building of the arts.  The Stratheden path continued across the Kebo Golf Course to the area of the Building of the Arts.
Sadly, this is the first case I know of where the Park Service has taken action to completely erase a section of an abandoned trail.  The thinking behind taking such action must of been when they built the new trail through there, they clearly must of known with the old abandoned section of the Kebo trail being so visible, they had to do something to stop hikers from venturing down the abandoned section of trail and walking out onto the Golf course, how to deal with the problem - erase any trace of that section of the abandoned Kebo Mountain Trail.    This may of not been their thinking, but it is the only one that makes sense.
Like I said, I knew  where the now lost section of the Kebo Trail was because I had hiked it many times down to the golf course.
What came as a total surprise to me was that a section of the abandoned Stratheden path, the section between the official trail today and the abandoned Kebo Mountain trail, began directly across the road  from the start of the Stratheden path and ran across the golf course in almost a straight line to where the large stone is located  iengraved Stratheden path.

KEBO MOUNTAIN MOUNTAIN - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

KEBO MOUNTAIN - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

DORR MOUNTAIN CREVICE CAVE

DORR MOUNTAIN CAVE

  I came across a video on this Crevice Cave on dorr Mountain, and the area the cave is in looked very familiar.  Upon returning to the area the other day, the cave is in the area I had thought it was in, but in all my trips up Dorr Mountain over the years, for some reason I had never noticed it.  So there are at least two ways you can reach this spot on the mountain side, either take the Dorr Mountain Trail just behind Sieur de Monts Spring, or take my favorite route up, the Homans Trail, either way hike until you come to an intersection where both trails meet higher up, a trail sign is there.  From there continue along the Dorr trail heading up the mountain, you will soon come to a long fairly flat section of the trail.  The flat section of trail ends at a sharp right hand turn where your passing up through a passage through the granite, with stone steps ending at a half circle area, this is where the top of the cave opening is located.  As you stand there and look outward at the view before you, turn to your left where you will see a large triangular block of granite in the ground, almost like a sunken step, look down by that block and you will be peering into the cave.  Use caution as this is a fairly steep opening.   Now that you know where the top of the cave is located, go back down the narrow passage you came up, walk a short ways back along the flat section of trail you came along, looking to your left for a deep narrow crevice, that is the bottom opening to the cave.
We did not go up through it, but there is a video on Youtube where someone has, in the video they were able to climb through the cave in both directions.

DORR MOUNTAIN CREVICE CAVE TRAIL
Photo above is the long flat section of trail with a sharp right hand turn ahead and stone steps.

Dorr Mountain Trail - Acadia National Park

Photo above is the steps and narrow passage at sharp right hand turn, flat open area is at top of steps.

The view from the small open area at top of steps, looking out, opening to cave is to the left, go toward edge and look down to see it.

DORR MOUNTAIN CAVE - Acadia National Park

And here is the top opening to the crevice cave, notice in the photo the first two steps, at one time this must of been part of the trail, or at least a feature along the trail.

Bottom Opening of Crevice Cave
N44 21.672  -  W068 12.649
Top Opening of Crevice cave
N44 21.665  -  W068 12.651

DORR MOUNTAIN CREVICE CAVE VIDEO

CAN YOU SOLVE THIS MYSTERY

A genealogy mystery isn't something you would expect to find on Abandoned Trails, but we have been trying to solve this mystery for a number of years with no success, so we are trying a new approach by posting this on non genealogy sites in the hopes that some one can solve the mystery.  We have a document and all the information on it is known except for the maiden name of Francis foster's wife, Sarah  ?.  I have cut and pasted three sections of the document together and darkened it a bit in order to make it easier to read, and I will post a link to the official document as well.

LINK TO OFFICIAL DOCUMENT