Evening star., 1935-08-11
History of
| BarHarbor
In Pageant
Costumed Review OF
Resort to Show
Start of Fame. >

~ AR HARBOR, August l0.-The
- Procession Of the Centuries,
colorful costume parade Of
O events and incidents In the
330-year history Of Bar Harbor and
Mount Desert Island, with 250 pronai-
nent Summer people and townspeople
participating, will be the outstanding
feature of the 1885 State of Maine
Summer Visitors day to be held here
August Is. Or. Walter Damrosch.
famous impressario, win be master Of
ceremonies.
The 10-part procession past the
grandstand and through the audience
ut the Bar Harbor athletic field will
cover the discoverers and residents
Of the famous resort from the Indians
found here by Champlain Is years
before the landing of the Pilgrims. to
the yachtsmen, fishermen, motorists,
pedestrians and tired business men
Of q modern season."
I UNUSUAL interest attaches to the
showing Of the arrival Of the
first Summer visitors In Bar Harbor,
destined to become one of America 3
noted resorts. This will cover the
trip in 1855 of Charles Tracy of New
York, father Of the elder Mrs. j.
Pierpont Morgan, and a party of 26,
which. having arrived by boat, ex-
plored the island from Somesville.
1t is of record that they stayed over
night at q farm house at Schooner
Head, one Of Bar Harbor's most scenic
spots.
Other portrayals emphasizing the
contrast with the present will be a
Maine farmer and his wife riding 10
church in 1870, and a slice out OF the
buckboard-farm horse era Of the late
s0s. Although some S00,00o motorists
will have driven through Bar Harbor
and up Mount Cadillac this season,
the resort for many years turned a
frowning face on the motorist and
closed its gates TO him. A search Is
being made for the type of automobile
which first bucked its way onto the
island in 1918.
The historical episodes will start
with Champlain, who in September,
1904, sailed into Frenchman's Bay of
the Bar Harbor shore, anchored in
the shadow of what Is now Mount
Cadillac, and gave Mount Desert Is
land the name it has since borne
Champlain with his party Of u
Frenchmen and Indians will be
represented. The next episode will
portray the arrival of the Jesuits in
1913.
The procession then will display,
with Q large group. the Sieur Antoine
de Ia Mothe Cadillac, who in 1888
received from the French crown q
grant Of what Is now Bar Harbor.
THE general supervision of Dr..
Damrosch not only adds to the
program Of pageantry and music but
imposes q further Maine touch. The
veteran director, who came to fame
as Wagnerian, is a son-in-law Of
James G. Blaine, has occupied the
Blaine estate here many Summers
and has always been ready to lend
his talent and experience to Maine
festivals.
Leighton Rollins. who will direct
the players, is well known in New
York and New England dramatic cir
cles and is director Of the Bar Harbor
Summer Theater and School.
While the time schedule of the day
has not been worked out fully. it has
been decided to hold the program in
the middle Of the afternoon to give
the visitors opportunity to see the view
from Mount Cadillac, highest eleva-
tion on the Atlantic Coast, the Ocean
drive and other scenic points Of Aca-
dia National Park and the town of
Bar Harbor, in which it largely lies.
In the expectation Of the assignment
of an American destroyer to Bar Har-
Dor for the day plans are afoot for
special entertainment for naval ON
GERS and men.