Acadia's Carriage Roads by Robert Thayer

Author:Robert Thayer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781461745006
Publisher: Down East Books

Horsetails thrive in the shallow, rocky shore of the pond.

The Pitcher Plant lures insects to its open mouth.

The Sundew is a small but effective insect trap.

In 1928, construction of this carriage road had reached the north end of Bubble Pond, where it intersected with the Park Loop Road. To separate the two byways, it was determined that a bridge would be needed. As with the previous eight bridges, Rockefeller gave the task to his architect, Welles Bosworth. Because this section of land was in the park, final approval for any construction went to Arno Cammerer, the park service director.

Bosworth’s plans called for “a multicentered arch, finely cut stone work, and open balustrades.” Cammerer, however, wrote to Rockefeller asking to have the plans changed to reflect a rustic appearance more appropriate for a national park. Bosworth’s second concept still appeared too “citified” for Cammerer’s taste, but he was somewhat uncomfortable placing more demands on the person who was funding the project. So, he had a third and final set of plans drawn by park­service architects Daniel Hull and Thomas Vint. Rockefeller reluctantly approved this third plan.

A Philadelphia mason, Pringle Bothwick, was hired to build the bridge. He changed the underlying construction by using all stone in lieu of the concrete core that is at the center of all the other carriage-road spans. Bothwick’s costs were so reasonable that Rockefeller retained him to build the next bridge at Duck Brook.

Today, although the carriage road still crosses the bridge, the motor road no longer passes beneath it. In the 1940s the loop road was realigned and the bridge bypassed. In the 1980s, the park service planted trees on what was once the Park Loop Road.

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