Bar Harbor from the Cadillac summit

Vacation season is almost upon us! An Acadia adventure awaits. This is one of those posts I’ve been meaning to write for a long time since it is an attempt to answer the question I hear most often.  I will try to list the Top Ten in reverse priority (#10 first) and give alternatives when possible. Some choices are weather-related and so should be shuffled in the priority as necessary.

10.  A visit off island. It’s important to see the “real” Maine, away from the remarkable beauty of Mt. Desert Island. Two of my recommended off-island trips are to Stonington on Deer Isle (1-1/2 hours, 58 miles), a real fishing village and former granite quarry. See Kathleen’s post about the Settlement Quarry and the Crockett Cove Woods. The second choice is Castine (1-1/2 hours, 53 miles). Castine is great for history buffs. You can see remains of old Fort George built by the Brits. Castine is interesting because it was claimed at various time by the  French, British, Dutch and finally the Americans. There is also a lighthouse and the Mane Maritime Academy.

9.   Shopping, Brewery, Museums. I would love to claim we have perfect weather in the summer, but if you find the outdoors soggy, you should have some indoor options. Go here to see museums associated with College of the Atlantic. Try the Abbe Museum, 26 Mt. Desert, open 10 AM to 4 PM, Thursday to Saturday from late May through early November for Maine’s Native American story.  Southwest Harbor’s Oceanarium is a hit with kids.  A brewery tour is on tap at Atlantic Brewing at Town Hill while shopping is always an option in downtown Bar Harbor.

8.   Beach Time. Finding a place to stretch out in the sand or swim is not that easy on the rocky shore. There are two great options. The first is Sand Beach, the first  stop on the Park Loop Road after the pay gate  ($20 per week per vehicle). This is on the ocean so taking a dip may involve pain. For a warmer option try Echo Lake Beach on Rt. 102 just north of Southwest Harbor. This is a great place for kids. For a walk on a stony ocean shore, try Seawall, on Rt 102A just south of Southwest Harbor.

7.   Explore Anenome Cave. This is a little known place and you need me to tell  you where it is.  It is also a little dangerous; the rocks are slippery and it is possible to get trapped in the cave if the tide is on the move or the waves are high. Visit at low tide in calm seas. Drive to the Schooner Head parking lot, the last stop before the pay gate on the Park Loop Road.  The trail will lead to the shore and the cave is ten minutes or so away along the shore (follow the shore south, to the right). Inside are tide pools with pink anenomes and other interesting sea creatures and plants, some which seem to be adapted to low light conditions. Please see Sarah’s comments at the bottom of this entry.

6. Dinner at a Lobster Pound. Our two favorites are at Beal’s Pier at the end of Clark Point Rd in Southwest Harbor and Abel’s Lobster Pound on Abel’s Lane off Rt. 198 on the way to Northeast Harbor at the top of Somes Sound.   Any place can boil a lobster. What you want is the real Maine experience that goes with it. Don’t expect elegance. An occasional whiff of bait may be in the air, but the views are awesome.

5.  Hike, hike, hike. You need to work off the lobster, right? What better place than Acadia National Park. There are so many to choose from and the right one can be found for all fitness levels. Try to pick one with a mountain top like Bubble Rock so you can be rewarded with a stunning view. South Bubble is pretty easy (400 feet). Read about hiking preparations here.

4.  Get out on the water! This can range a bit in expense. At the low end you can borrow our kayaks when you stay at SeaCat’s Rest. Our water is fairly protected, at the sheltered end of Frenchman Bay. There are also guided kayak trips leaving from Bar Harbor. If I were to recommend a more expensive outing I would include a whale watch trip. You will see a fair amount of open ocean and be rewarded with a close encounter with ocean leviathans! For even more options go here.

3.  Luncheon at Jordan Pond House. This is just mandatory, that’s all there is to it.  Read all about it here.

2. Bike, walk or (horseback) ride the carriage trails. This is the Rockefeller family’s  gift to America representing an ideal of pre-automobile road and stone craft set in the beauty of Acadia. Don’t miss it. More here.

1. Drive the Park Loop Road and to the top of Cadillac Mountain. This is how most people start their trip here and it is a good way. Pick a clear day for the Cadillac summit and take your camera. Don’t forget the free Island Explorer bus which can take you just about anywhere. Try to time your Thunder Hole visit to middle to high tide and good waves are a plus. This is a good time to buy your week-long park pass.

Thunder Hole on the Park Loop Road

This is a continuation in my series on Acadia history. We last visited the early settlement of Mt. Desert Island and touched briefly on the part played by  Marie Therese De La Mothe De Gregoire and how she was granted title to the eastern half of the island. Her timing was such that she was able to assist friends and family escaping from the atrocities of the French Revolution, setting them up with tracts of land. One of these compatriots was Madame Rosalie Bacler de la Val, who also became a land speculator. She joined forces with some of the other landholders and envisioned a French colony just across Frenchman Bay from Madame Gregoire’s Hulls Cove, in what is now Lamoine, sometime around 1790 (from the New England Magazine, August 1900):

***********************************

We can be fairly confident that in Lamoine, or as it was once known, Fontaine Laval, the early days were filled with as many bonjours as hellos. Madame La Val’s visions of a French cultural outpost may have crumbled with her fortunes–her business partners were said to be incompetent. But a scan of the graveyards and historical texts show a fair number of French names.  Louis des Isles emigrated from France to Lamoine about 1791, no doubt at Madame la Val’s invitation. He married Mary Googins, and both family names exist on Lamoine’s road signs.

As for Madame la Val, her misfortunes were only temporary. Sadly, she gave up on Maine but prospered in British Guiana, where she married the governor, owned several plantations, lived the high life and died wealthy.

So what about our town’s name? With Madame la Val’s exit went her name for our town and until the late 1800s we were known as Trenton, or rather included in the larger town of Trenton. In 1870 we broke off and chose the name Lamoine after an early settler, Andre LeMoyne, not coincidentally, a Frenchman. Lamoine’s French heritage is directly attributed to France’s help in the Revolutionary War. Without France, we would have been beaten at Yorktown. For a unique site about early Lamoine history check out Carolyn Holland’s www.intertwinedlove.wordpress.com.

At our Lamoine Town meeting on April 7th citizens passed the Frenchman Bay Regional Shellfish Conservation Ordinance with 6 other nearby towns, closing the last unregulated clam flats in the state of Maine. Frenchman Bay has been luckier than most areas in the last five years,  it has missed the red tide closures that have hit the rest of the coast every summer.  Everyone flocked here though, and our clam flats are feeling the pressure of so many commercial clam diggers looking for a good spot. Many folks say the harvest is down by over 40%. Over the past several years, most of Maine’s clam flats have been repeatedly closed to diggers because of “red tide,” an influx of microorganisms containing the toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). The toxin doesn’t affect the shellfish, just the people who eat them.

There has to be something good about red tide, a terrible toxin to people, and I think it’s silver lining is that it  led to conservation for clams. The new ordinance goes into effect in June 21st, 2010 if all the towns pass it. Three more have their votes coming up in May.

SeaCat's Flats

Did you know you can dig clams in Bar Harbor or Southwest Harbor, you just have to pay $40.00 for a license for a non- resident?  It allows you one peck (2.33 gallons) per day, and it’s good for a year. For a day’s license you will spend $10.  Strict attention has to be paid to closures due to red tide or pollution; go here to find out.

Finally, some new protection for the clam flats around Lamoine, Hancock, Franklin…..The sad news is that no longer can tourists just run right out in Lamoine and dig up a bunch of clams. Now they will have to hook up with a resident of one of the 7 towns who has purchased his recreational license and watch the clams get dug or purchase a non-resident recreational license. For a small fee per year ($11) one peck of clams can be taken every 24 hours-a great deal compared to the island. This is a small piece to play in a much larger effort to keep clams on everyone’s table for the future.   One peck – between 15-18 pounds is quite enough clams for a large group of folks; assuming one pound per person or 4 ounces of meat.    It’s a generous amount, and usually more than the casual clam digger needs.

Of course to collect clams you also have to check that the area is open for clamming. There are three reasons that flats get closed. The first is to re-grow clams babies. The second is pollution – usually this can occur after a very heavy storm that has washed out debris from the land and point source pollution. The third reason is red tide, and it’s usually a regional closure.

Lamoine’s shores are called eastern Frenchman Bay.
To check for closures in our area, you can also call this number for the Marine Resources Hotline* Division II: Includes the area from the eastern shore of the St. George River to the Canadian Border. Their number is 667-3373.

If you are calling from a touchtone phone and want access to red tide closures, press 1 now. If you want information about the current status of a flood closure, press 2 now. If you want information on the status of conditionally approved harvest areas press 3 now. If you want information on swim beach monitoring, press 4 now. If you are calling from a rotary phone, stay on the line and you will hear all messages

The ordinance also includes a trespass violation. If a landowner warns a clamming person not to trespass once, and it happens again, they can be fined. After three violations of any sort the digger loses his license. This should make many folks along the shore happy. It’s pretty disturbing to come back home after work and find a strange truck or car in your yard. Commercial diggers are courteous and hard working however, and now they will be local. If you buy a license, make sure you have it when you dig!

People say I’m nuts. Growing grapes in our windswept, foggy, short growing season is folly. Stick with raspberries and blueberries. Maybe they’re right. I’ve written in the past about the sad attempts of local wineries to produce a local product from grapes. The best wines are produced from the traditional European varieties of the vinifera species. Often growing these grapes at the cold edge of their range produces wine with exceptional flavor. But that assumes the grapes will grow in the first place. Our problem here is not so much winter kill; our temperatures are well above the twenty below many varieties can withstand. Our problem is too much rain and lack of sunshine and warmth in the summer. Grapes are notorious for having fungal problems. They like things dry; their roots go deep.

There are options. Vinifera grapes–the familiar Pinots, Chardonnay, Shiraz, etc would be very high maintenance. They would have to be buried in the winter, sprayed often and they may not ripen before frost. Fortunately, we have the native grapes like Concord and Niagara, members of the  labrusca species. These make lackluster wine but are table favorites. I know these grapes will do well here; neighbors grow them. There’s even a wild giant grape vine up the road from here which is threatening to take down a maple tree. It is probably a member of the riparia species, the riverbank grape. The riparia and labrusca species are the two American grapes most often used when breeding with vinifera for our climate.

A complicated history of grafting and crossbreeding has produced many varieties which are both cold and humidity tolerant and which also produce acceptable wine. I found two of these varieties at Surry Gardens (Surry, Maine), Frontenac Gris and Kay Gray. The two epicenters of hybrid grape research in North America are New York State Experiment Station at Geneva, New York and the University of Minnesota and can be credited for these new options. I would have liked one of the new Marquette vines, but they’re hard to come by.

Niagara, my earliest leafer

My vineyard consists of two Reliance vines (a pink table grape), two Frontenac Gris, two Niagara, two Kay Gray and one Concord. I know I planted them too close but I wanted to make sure I would have survivors if some died (they’re now 3-4 feet apart). They are now leafing out and I must admit, I’m excited. The goal of this first year is to develop the root system by allowing as much leaf growth as possible. Fruit clusters will be pared down to a minimum and training to the trellis will be a priority.  If you know how to grow grapes, please get in touch. I’m just about clueless!

Orren A. Hodgkins, Died Nov. 9, 1866, AE. 16yrs 11mos.

One of the best tools for genealogical research is finding the grave markers of your ancestors on the internet. A headstone will often have information other sources don’t: “wife of”, “lost at sea”, even “US Army, WWII” may tell you things you didn’t know. Family groupings in the same cemetery can answer questions too.  There are several sites which have these records along with pictures of markers. The main one is findagrave.com. Others include interment.net, uscemeteryproj.com, usgwarchives.org and rootsweb.ancestry.com. There are more which require a fee, but I find findagrave to be the biggest and best of the free sites. You have to put up with a few banner ads but no pop-ups or other annoyances. Besides the ad revenue, findagrave makes money by inducing people to pay to have the ads removed from their loved one’s “memorials” which it calls the web page upon which the grave details and biographical information are placed. Some may find this distasteful, but hosting huge sites costs money and having a staff which can respond to requests and errors is also not cheap.

I have been a findagrave volunteer for a few months. When someone far away needs a picture of their ancestor’s stone locally I will go take a picture and set up a memorial page or add a photo to an existing page. I have also been the recipient of this generosity when I received a photo of great grandparents Catherine Brooks and Civil War soldier James Kinsley’s stone from northwestern Ohio:

I find this work to be oddly satisfying. I am not overly morbid or maudlin, I just think the internet is a better place to store important genealogy records than carved into marble or stuffed into a filing cabinet somewhere.

My latest project is more ambitious; to put the entire East Lamoine Cemetery on line. So far I’ve collected and put on line 290 graves which can be seen here.  I’m hoping someone somewhere will type in the name of a great grandfather and my picture of his grave will pop up.

If you are coming to MAINE with children of any age  there are a few activities that you should consider including in your plans.     I will start with activities for children under 7 years old, then the 8-13 age range and finally 14 and above.   In future articles I will explore activities for each age group in more depth.

Age Seven And Under:

The Junior Ranger program only takes two simple trips to the visitor center, but can be a significant adventure for your child. The program involves a child friendly exploration of the park including animals, the forest, and geological secrets. The program also includes storytelling and meeting a real park ranger to receive a badge for a reward.

Small kids enjoy walking/biking around and exploring the carriage trails.   You can rent a trailer bike that attaches to a normal sized bike and allows your child to share the fun of biking with increased safety and decreased fatigue.  There are no cars allowed on the carriage roads.   The child needs to be able to balance, so the appropriate age for this activity is usually around 5 years old.

Beach visits.   Bring the sand pails, shovels and beach towels (we have them to borrow here at SeaCat’s Rest).   There are three sandy beaches in the area.   Adventures await at Sand Beach; the only sand beach on the ocean.   Cold water usually limits swim times, but just hanging around in the sand is relaxing for all ages.   For warmer water, Acadia park has a swimming beach at Echo Lake. Wildlife is plentiful at the lake, ducks waddle on the shore while minnows dart in the shallows.  Both beaches at Acadia have lifeguards.  Here in Lamoine we have a small town beach for residents located on Blunts’ Pond.   If you stay with us, you are welcome there.

Visit the Nature Center for a close up look at the wildlife in the park.   Children can record animals they have seen in the center’s logbook.  Consider a visit to the nature museum at the College of the Atlantic.   There they have small scenes where animals are depicted within their habitats.

The Bangor Children’s Museum (Maine Discovery Museum) is worth the hour’s drive.   You can also arrange a visit on your way in or out of town.

For activities off island, visit the Ellsworths’ Treasure Island Toystore. The store has a good selection books and educational toys  and is located on Main street.

Any age kid would love a ride on the Diver Ed’s boat.   While it’s not the cheapest way to get on the water, you get a lot of laughs,  fun, and scenery for your investment (and the kid won’t notice how much they are learning about the sea and it’s creatures).   Diver Ed goes overboard with a camera, and brings up creatures for hands on visits, then they go back into the sea.

Middle age 8-13 year old.

Childrens Programs at Acadia.   The National Park also has a set of programs geared  for the 8-13 year old age group.   Find out about these at the visitors center.   I highly recommend the night tour, where you visit Carrol homestead and walk the trails without any lights.    The night sky around here is wonderful and you’ll be amazed at how much you can really see.

Junior ranger program geared for readers. The booklet has puzzle and activities geared for this age group.

Visit the Oceanarium in Southwest Harbor and The Maine Lobster Museum and Marsh Tour with the Lobster Hatchery.    Ever wonder what baby lobsters look like or how they spend their time as youngsters?    Tumbling tubes of fun await you as you learn about the life of lobsters.   The touch tank at Southwest Harbor Oceanarium is a place my daughter wanted to spend all afternoon at this age.

Develop a kid’s eye view of Acadia.  Get your kids some cameras and let them choose and take the photos.    This gets them involved and helps them develop a sense of how this place is different from home.   I highly recommend letting this happen any way it will.    Disposable cameras were made for this option.

Go on a hike. By using the Island Explorer bus service to get to a hiking spot,  you can hike through without making a return trip.    The Island Explorer is free; you can get on and off as you choose.   I recommend ending your trip at Jordon Pond house for some ice cream or tea and popovers if your crowd is more reserved.    Gorham Mountain is only 525 feet high and offers ocean views.

Keep an animal log or a log of the trip .   Make drawings/sketches or get a coloring book, and color in the animals as you see them.    Animals are easy to find in Acadia.   Seagulls, eagles, squirrels, chipmunks, seals in the water, beavers at the ponds, white-tailed deer (which are not hunted on the island), some fish, tidepool creatures and mussels in the water.   Every day crows announce their arrival each morning around our house.   We also have gold finches, woodpeckers, chickadees, phoebes and thrushes around in the woods.    Two bald eagles nest nearby – and we see them almost every day here.    I can’t keep the deer away from my garden, and there are two fox dens nearby our house.

A Whale Tour works for this middle age group of kids and older.   You get some great photo opportunities on the way out and in too.      These tours are are best booked in the morning in my estimation, but it is a bit colder then.   Pack warm clothes with you for your visit, plan on at least three layers of clothing for the best comfort.

Take a guided tour on OLLIE’S Trollie.   If you just need to sit and relax, a guided tour is the way to go.    Learn about the history while the best scenery is right outside your window.   It will help you decide where you want to spend the rest of your time in Acadia.

Ages 14 and above. For this older group try to find activities where they are on their own for a while.   Try hiking yourself on the carriage trails while they bike up and around the challenging hill. Try kayaking, or send them on a guided kayak tour while you rest up and get some vacation reading done.

If  sailing or riding on a lobster boat is not on your own wish list, you can find tours to send them on where they will be well guided.  Letting them bike around on one of the offshore islands is also a good idea – you’ll know where they are without hovering all day.   Suntans can be had in Maine, especially if you have a lovely spot to sit out.

Letting them explore the shops in Bar Harbor is also possible – it’s only about seven blocks, and you can easily arrange to meet for dinner or lunch after giving them their hang time.    Teens like to visit the town parks, and meeting people is one of the best parts of vacation.   The Island Explorer bus system can get your teen anywhere on the island with enough planning.    There are basketball courts and day camp opportunities if you’d rather have some structure in their day.   There are also sailing clubs for young folks through the Harbor House in Southwest Harbor.

Tennis is available at all three towns on the island.   Horseback riding can be arranged on the carriage trails, but plan ahead, as these get booked up well in advance.

Have your child take pictures and create a family trip log with pictures and stories of the vacation.    For teenagers at Seacat’s Rest, we can arrange a glowing night tour of the bay for those with kayak experience.

All the action isn’t always on Acadia.   For a nice get-away especially in spring or fall, visit Donnell Pond.   About 4/5ths of the pond is protected public land.   There is public access two ways, the hiking trail or the boat access.   We like to take our kayaks and canoe out from the boat launch and cross over to the park side.    A bit of fishing, a bit of swimming, a bit of hanging out on the beach makes for a perfect relaxed day at the pond.   There are  wilderness camp sites here too, but they are filled up fast, so plan to be there early.   There is no registration, no fees/campsites are first come first served.      The lake has good fishing, but be sure to have your license.    Here is a link to a website with pictures and directions to the pond.   The  hiking trail in the area is a great way to get exercise, see a bit of nature and then reward yourselves with a dip in the pond at the end of your day.   It’s a five mile hike, plan on taking at least 3 hours.    Here is a description of the hike so you have an idea of where you can go.

Swimming from the campsite

Donnell pond is a special category of place – here is an article about public reserved land in Maine from the Maine Department of Conservation which manages this category of recreational land.

Maine’s Public Reserved Lands total more than a half million acres of wild lands and are managed for a variety of resource values including recreation, wildlife, and timber. Recreational opportunities include visiting some of Maine’s most outstanding natural features. Camping, hiking, hunting and fishing in secluded locations bring a closer understanding of our outdoor heritage. Visitors need to be prepared for a rugged, remote backcountry experience. Plan your trip by visiting our search page. Please don’t overestimate your abilities; public reserved land units are not staffed as state park or historic sites are and we want you to enjoy your trip.

The Public Reserved Lands are managed for multiple-uses under a “dominant use” system which ensures that sensitive resources such as rare plants and backcountry recreation areas are not disturbed by more intensive management activities. There are 29 “units” of Public Reserved Lands ranging in size from 500 to more than 43,000 acres and many other smaller scattered lots.

Generally fees are not charged to visit these lands, the funds generated from careful timber management cover the cost of managing recreational use. In a few instances, units are managed in cooperation with neighboring landowners and fees are collected. Unpaved private roads provide access to many of these backcountry recreation areas. Drivers are cautioned to yield the right-of-way to logging trucks at all times. General Rules apply to most public land units, but please note exceptions on individual unit pages.

The Donnell Pond Unit includes more than 14,000 acres of remote forested land with crystal clear lakes, secluded ponds, and mountains with panoramic views. Located in Hancock County between Franklin and Cherryfield, this is where visitors can enjoy outdoor recreation in a scenic, remote setting.

Activities

• boating
• camping
• Canoeing
• Cross-Country Skiing
• fishing
• hiking (trails)
• hunting
• snowshoeing
• swimming
• watching wildlife
• One hint, avoid this place on the hottest weekend days in the summer, cause it will be filled with boaters and their beer coolers and music.    Best visited during the week, or on cool or cloudy days..

Sometimes a gravestone inscription creates connections to far away places. What would two young Lamoine men be doing on a Caribbean island in 1866 and how did they die?

The island of Hispanola felt the first footsteps of Columbus on the New World. Here he founded Santo Domingo City, and Spain went about its usual process of plunder and pillage. In 1697 Spain signed over the western half of the island, now called Santo Domingo, to France, perceiving it to be of little value. Therefore, the division of the island between a Spanish speaking side (Dominican Republic) and a French speaking side (Haiti) had its origins in the 17th century.
In these early days trade was strictly controlled by European powers over their colonies and commerce between islands of the Caribbean and the colonies of mainland America were either at the whim of those powers or done illegally. Sugar, molasses, rum and slaves were the island products while the mainland supplied salted meat and fish, whale oil, livestock and iron goods. France disliked the trade with British North America but needed the food to feed plantation slaves and feared importation of rum into France where it would displace wine demand. Similarly, the British preferred its colonies trade only with British islands and passed the Molasses Act to control trade with the islands. The effect of this restricted trade translated later into a United States desire to preserve our hemisphere for our own trading interests. In the short term it was yet another reason for our founding fathers to throw off the yoke of British domination and taxation.

Our post-revolution relations with France were sunny. France however was still bowing to the demands of its merchants at home who wished to protect their exclusive trade with the French islands. The newly independent Americans were demanding freer trade. A French minister to the U.S. reported,

To hear them, one would believe at times that all they have obtained was due them and that every refusal to grant further concessions is an injustice.

During the French Revolution Haiti, called French Santo Domingo at the time, used the distant struggle for liberty to begin its own struggle. By 1793 slaves were liberated and in ownership of their third of the island. Concurrently, political turmoil and bad crops in France made importation of American goods to the island a necessity.  It was this trade more than the liberation of slaves which mattered most to our country.  Since France was at war with England and America was recently, it was a concern that a liberated Santo Domingo would drift under English domination as it seemed obvious, given the racism of the times, that freed slaves were incapable of self government. A close alliance with England meant a loss of trade for America.  America also had a huge debt owed to France for its help in the American Revolution. An infusion of arms and foodstuffs from America to colonial France during this period not only helped reduce this debt but also set the stage for our legacy of meddling in the affairs of the island, usually on the side of colonialism, trade interests and the prevention of mass immigration. A veneer of racism weighed heavily on our Haiti relations, especially prior to the end of the Civil War:

[Laws forbidding recognition]…will not permit the fruits of a successful negro insurrection to be exhibited among them. It will not permit black consuls and ambassadors…to parade through our country, and give their fellow blacks in the Untied States, proof in hand of the honors which await them…for the murder of their masters and mistresses…

Senator Benton of Missouri, 1825

In 1795  France seized the eastern 2/3s of the island, then a Spanish colony, and were eventually driven out by the English in 1814. The independent Dominican Republic was declared in 1821, but Haitian leader Jean Pierre Boyer quickly demanded union of the entire island under the Haitian flag. The coup was bloodless. By 1843 Dominican leaders in the eastern portion appealed to colonial powers to establish a protectorate, safe from volatile Haiti. This request bore little fruit until 1851, in the Tripartite Intervention, which began mediation between Haiti and France, Great Britain and the United States. To the three nations demands Haiti responded with a promise to abstain from hostilities for the time being, far short of their demands. The three nation’s cooperation fell apart and later attempts to peacefully annex the Dominican Republic to the United States failed. In 1862 the United States finally recognized the Haiti Republic.

The scheme to annex the Dominican Republic was hatched by Southern politicians who saw the end of slavery approaching. They longed for a Caribbean slaveocracy where they could return to the good old days of plantation life.  Dominican statehood fulfilled this fantasy.  The idea was not popular in the North. Therefore the Civil War pitted Haitian recognition (the North) against Dominican statehood (the South).  France, Spain and Britain were dead set against annexation and stepped up their diplomatic and military efforts in the area. Spain won the contest in 1861, motivated by fears of an American invasion of Cuba. The Dominican Republic remained a Spanish protectorate until 1865.

So what was it in November of  1866 which killed two young men from Lamoine? I can’t answer that. There are many sailors and captains in the East Lamoine Cemetery and dieing at sea is not unusual. Both stones mention Santo Domingo but there was no hurricane or military action that I can find. So for 21 year old Captain Thomas King and 16 year old Orren A. Hodgkins we will have to assume a drowning, illness, bar brawl or other calamity befell them.

Sources used: The Journal of Race Development; July 1916, The United States and Santo Domingo by Mary Treudley, PhD.

Sometimes it can be challenging to arrange a trip for your teen aged kids where they will have as much fun as adults on vacation.   Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor can do that for you.

A favorite,  biking Acadia’s carriage roads.    Everyone who has visited us has enjoyed this bicycle adventure.   Where else can you bicycle 100 miles on carriage roads without cars, and get scenic vistas, the breeze in your hair.   Bicycling can be tough on the roads around town, but bring your own or rent from one of four shops on the island, and you will have a care free adventure, and sleep well that night.    A physical challenge, the carriage roads climb high up the mountains of Acadia.   Because the trails loop around and inter-connect you can create an easy and a challenging loop that connect together at the end.   I remember that we just sent the young ones in the group out around the witch pond loop, while we slower riders met them at the bridge – they had managed to get 7 more miles than us in the same time, but we were all tired and happy at the end.

Kayak adventures:    Less sporty, that’s okay.   As long as you can get in and out of a kayak, you can manage the physical challenge.    Kayaks are easy for folks of various abilities to join together and get out on the water.    Got a football player in the crowd, they will be as challenged as your light weight book worm, as they have to paddle all that muscle on the water.    Kayaks are simple, and can be mastered in about 30 minutes.    The perspective and quiet-ride are not to be missed.    Want more of a wilderness experience?   Try hiring a guide to take you camping among the many island of Frenchman’s bay.   It can be as wild, or a simple as you wish.    One of the best parts of kayaking is that you choose the level of involvement.   Want a three day adventure or a two hour cruise, it’s up to you.

Arrange your own Free Island Tour.   Taking the Island Explorer bus to a hike, and making it back home all on your own.     Leaving about every 20-30 minutes, the Island Explorer Bus can make a trip from one side of the island to another an adventure in itself.    There are three loops where you can tour the scenic parts of the park, and plan to return and linger longer at a later time.    Rather than just hoping in the car and getting somewhere fast, make the journey part of the pleasure.   Everyone can be looking at the beautiful sky, waves and scenery as you tour MDI.   Did I forget to say it’s free?

Shopping with good food in between.   Wandering around the streets of the business end of Bar Harbor, it’s easy to forget that your mom and dad are about 20 steps behind you.   You’ll find the most young folks at Ben and Bill’s.  It has both chocolate and ice cream, and ca not be missed.    Everyone want to try lobster ice cream don’t they?    There is the Opera House internet cafe that has chess, coffee and good smoothies  at 27 Cottage Street.   Pizza is good at Rosalie’s  or get your pizza with a movie at the Reel Pizza place (see more below).     Epi Sub & Pizza Shop has good sandwiches and is also on Cottage Street.   The Criterion Theatre and Arts Center is now a non-profit organization with events/movies and other entertainment.   Check out their website for whats happening when you are in town.

Movies are a choice for rainy days, or when your older kids need some alone time while on a trip with the family.   I cannot say enough good things about Reel Pizza in Bar Harbor, they just do it right.   They have couches and comfy chairs to watch the movie in.    They provide just the right kind of food you want to eat while watching a movie.   They also have good choices of movies to watch  including main street and independent films.    I always approve a trip to this business establishment.   The criterion theatre mentioned above also often has movies showing.

Hang out at the Rock beach near the town pier.   At the right time you can walk out to the island.

Minature golf….at Pirates Cove.

White Water Rafting …..see our blog about that, it’s a day’s drive away.

Sailing. A Windjammer trip is desirable for any age, but can be somewhere where your teens can be all by themselves.   Especially if  you have mixed age groups or your teen feels like everyone else but them gets to do something special.    They won’t be alone, because the captain makes sure everyone is happy.    You can also charter a smaller boat for a two or three or four person friendship cruise out of Southwest Harbor.   Sailing in and around the bay and a bit on open ocean is a great adventure (and an opportunity for great photos).

Take the Mailboat to the cranberries or to Frenchboro or Swans island.    There is a wonderful thing about being isolated and away from things.    Experience life on a small Island even if only for a few hours.    The teens can walk ahead and explore.     Not much to do, just walk, sit, hang out, toss a few rocks into the water,  walk some more, eat lunch, talk and be.    Isle au Haut is a bit more distant, but also would provide the same sorts of feelings and experience.

Hi folks, we were missing a blog for May 31, so I thought I’d grab this great article from the Bangor Daily News on the Superhero’s dive to clean up the bottom of Bar Harbor’s bay.   Can you believe they found a computer and a toaster??

‘Superheroes’ dive to clean Bar Harbor

BDN

A computer and a mesh bag of other discarded items sit on the stern of Starfish Enterprise as Bar Harbor resident Joe Pagan climbs on board under the watchful eye of Sheldon Goldthwait, also of Bar Harbor. The items were among many things found Sunday on the harbor bottom during an annual harbor clean-up conducted by the League of Underwater Superheroes, a local scuba diving club. BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY BILL TROTTER Buy Photo

4/19/10 | 2 comments

By Bill Trotter
BDN Staff

BAR HARBOR, Maine — To a casual observer, a close-up view of the harbor on Sunday afternoon probably didn’t look any different from the same view the day before.

But if you were a fish or a crab, you might have noticed a difference.

The bottom of the harbor is cleaner, thanks to the efforts of about 20 volunteers who chipped in Sunday morning to help find trash or lost items below the surface and fish them out. For the people involved, it was all just another day’s work for the League of Underwater Superheroes.

The league is a club of scuba divers from the Mount Desert Island area who get together to go diving. On Sunday, they gathered to do their bit for Earth Day, which is coming up on April 22, by collecting garbage they found on the harbor bottom.

Among the items they found were numerous pieces of metal and pottery, construction debris, some lost lobster traps and fishing nets, pieces of toilets and several old bottles. They also found a computer, a toaster, a caulking gun, an American flag and a credit card.

Some of the small creatures that came up with some of the items — crabs, a sea cucumber, a pipe fish, starfish and a type of small fish called an ocean pout — were kept to be donated to local nonprofit marine research and advocacy groups. Others were returned to the water.

Eddie Monat, a local dive instructor and tour boat operator who founded the league, said Sunday that members dive once a year in the harbor to clean up debris that ends up in the water. Bar Harbor gets a lot of boat traffic in the summer from recreational users, fishermen and cruise ship tenders, and people can’t help but drop or lose things beneath the waves.

“We’re trying to get as much stuff off the bottom as we can,” Monat said. “It’s really fun for people because you never know what you’re going to find. For some people, it’s the way they kick off the diving season.”

Eight people donned dry suits Sunday and dove into the 38-degree water to help find debris while the other volunteers stayed on Monat’s boat, Starfish Enterprise, or the dock to help pull out items divers brought to the surface. As each object was pulled onto the boat or dock, a description of it was written on lists that will be sent to the Project AWARE Foundation, an international organization with a mission of helping to preserve underwater environments.

“We’re just scratching the surface here,” Monat said. “You could do this probably every weekend all year long and still find plenty of stuff.”

Peter St. Germain, a town councilor and a league member who dove Sunday, said he was surprised to see that some vegetation has come back on the bottom.

“There’s a fair amount of eelgrass that’s growing back right around the dock here,” St. Germain said. “At one point it was diminished a lot.”

St. Germain said the water clarity seemed to be good and he could see schools of small cod and pollock swimming in the eelgrass.

“Generally, the harbor looks healthy, from my perspective,” St. Germain said. “It’s nice to have people do this and to monitor what’s going on.”