History of Botany in Acadia

A photograph from the 1881 journals of the Champlain Society.
Caption reads: Sargent’s, The Bubbles, Pemetic, and Green Mts. From Sutton’s Island.

Mount Desert Island historical Society, M.P. Slade, Photo

Acadia’s landscape is home to many stunning and diverse features, including its unpredictable and beautiful flora. The plant habitats of Mount Desert Island have been a source of great interest and curiosity, from before colonization, to the work Champlain Society, through the years of horticulture, and into ongoing efforts of plant management and research. Today, we are able to enjoy the island’s beautiful plant communities because of this history of study, gardening, and stewardship.

Champlain Society

There are few remaining written records of the botany of Mount Desert Island prior to the late 1800s. Beginning in the 1880s, The Champlain Society published some of the earliest and most recognized studies of the island’s flora. This group of Harvard students spent summers visiting Mount Desert Island to learn of its natural history. The students recorded countless plants, trees, and shrubs with the help of expert botanists. Over their annual visits, journals and notebooks identified hundreds of different species. One of the student-botanists, Edward Rand, co-wrote Flora of Mount Desert Island, Maine. This publication listed all types of ferns, wildflowers, trees, and more. This literature and the work of the Champlain Society give us perspective on how Acadia’s flora has changed, and which species have arrived or disappeared since.

Learn more about the Champlain Society and their journals from the Mount Desert Island Historical Society.

Pleasure Gardening and Horticulture

As people began to visit the island in the late 1800s, pleasure gardening and horticulture became a feature of local establishments and homes. Many trace the first pleasure garden to the Old Farm Estate, home of George Dorr and family. The hobby evolved into a passion for George Dorr. Dorr expanded his mother’s gardens to become the Mount Desert Island Nurseries (MDI Nurseries). Nursery fields were scattered among many acres surrounding today’s Compass Harbor and Jackson Lab areas. These nurseries accumulated beautiful flora of all kinds sold to local establishments or shipped to interested parties around the region. Dorr cataloged the nurseries’ flowers, trees, and plants in his Hardy Plant Descriptions and Sieur de Monts Publications.

This work caught the attention of many renown botanists and horticulturists, earning various awards and contributing to the reputation of the area. While the nurseries themselves introduced many exotic species to the island, the growing recognition and prestige helped Dorr’s push to protect the land through national monument status.

Much, if not all, of the MDI Nurseries burned in the fire of 1947. The documentation of their flora, however, still gives us great insight to changes that have occurred since. Acadia has logged the changing presence of species, invasive and native, with great assistance from the surviving nursery records.

Ongoing Efforts

During the years of pleasure gardening and horticulture, there was an emphasis of colorful hybrids, diversity, and overseas influence. As a result, a growing concern for native species arose. Gardening associations in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island prioritized the survival, study, and documentation of native plants. Beatrix Farrand, for instance, focused on using native flora to repair the landscapes and create vistas along the Historic Carriage Roads.

While much of the vegetation on the east side of Mount Desert Island perished in the fire of 1947, there was a profound shift towards protection and preservation. This was especially evident in the establishment of the Wild Gardens of Acadia at Sieur de Monts. The Wild Gardens project began in 1961, setting aside small acreage to house native plant communities. Now under the stewardship of Friends of Acadia and volunteers, the Wild Gardens serves as a platform from which visitors can observe the beautiful vegetation that call Acadia and Mount Desert Island home.

The Wild Gardens, however, is only one of many efforts in Acadia National Park to study, inventory and display the island’s flora. Acadia’s plant management team removes harmful and competitive species, manages growth levels, and steadily monitors invasive plant populations and vulnerable areas. This process helps protect the island’s biodiversity of plants that create a viable habitat for wildlife. As the team continues to manage invasive plants, native flora and plant habitats are being restored and preserved throughout the region. The efforts occur not just in the gardens, but throughout the park, too.

Visitors have an opportunity to contribute through citizen science, attending ranger programs, or by identifying signage throughout the park protecting vegetation.