Andrew Emery Liscomb

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Quick Facts

Significance:

first Superintendent of Paths, Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association

Place of Birth:

Bar Harbor, Maine

Date of Birth:

1862

Date of Death:

1931

Andrew Emery Liscomb was one of the first men hired by the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association's (BH VIA) Path Committee in 1892 as the Superintendent of Paths. He remained Superintendent of Paths for 40 years.

He was the son of a farmer and was a landscape gardener and farmer by profession.He was born and raised in the Salisbury Cove area of Mount Desert Island (MDI). Liscomb's responsibilities as Superintendent of Path's included physical improvements such as putting up signs and pointers, removing fallen trees, widening and cleaning paths, placing large stones in wet areas, building footbridges, and constructing new paths. Liscomb also supervised other laborers hired to work on the path system. Liscomb served as BH VIA Superintendent of Paths until 1931 and was responsible for the construction of many trails in Acadia's historic trails system. 

Acadia National Park founder and first Superintendent George B. Dorr credits Liscomb as the landscape designer responsible for the layout and construction of the Sieur de Monts Spring area. Dorr and Liscomb laid out memorial path routes in the Sieur de Monts Spring area that are exemplary examples of trail building. Fellow trail builder and Bar Harbor VIA Path Committee chairman (1912-1917) Rudolph Ernest Brunnow credited Liscomb for supervising the construction work on the Orange and Black path on Champlain Mountain (then known as Newport Mountain) and various examples of exquisite rustic dry stone masonry includng stone steps.

Andrew Liscomb died of a heart attack in December of 1931. He was 69 years old and otherwise in great health. His death was a great shock to the community. In his 40 years of leadership, he worked in association with fellow pathmakers including Goddard, James, Bates, Kate, Mitchell, Brunnow, Dorr, Opdycke, Weekes, and Peabody to construct many of the finest trails on Mount Desert Island. When these trails and their surrounding lands were donated to the national park service they became an everlasting legacy for future generations. Many of these paths continue to be lovingly maintained by park staff and volunteers to this day.