At the edge of the Cadillac Summit Loop Road, a wayside exhibit features a panel angled atop a rectangular stone base.
The exhibit's title, "Saved for Future Generations," appears over a historic photograph of George B. Dorr talking with Secretary of the Interior Franklin Lane in 1917 atop Cadillac Mountain. "I would see what I could do to get the summit of Green Mountain - Cadillac now - the one outstanding tract upon the Island or the whole neighboring coast to secure and protect if possible." — George B. Dorr, The Story of Acadia National Park, 1942
Text reads: "Inspired to protect the beauty and diversity of Mount Desert Island from encroaching development, a passionate group of local and summer residents waged a campaign to conserve this landscape for public use." They "encouraged individuals to donate tracts, purchase lands, and seek federal protection. They succeeded in establishing the first eastern national park — one of the few created almost entirely of land donated to the federal government."
More text lists major events in Acadia's history:
1903: George B. Dorr and Charles W. Eliot organize Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations to acquire parcels of land on Mount Desert Island.
1908: Eliza Homan makes the first major donation with a gift of The Beehive and Bowl on Champlain Mountain.
1908 to 1911: The summit area and most of the north, east, and west slopes of Cadillac Mountain are protected by the Trustees.
1916: Sieur de Monts National Monument is established.
1917 to 1940: John D. Rockefeller Jr. builds over 50 miles of carriage roads in the park and donates them to Acadia.
1919: Sieur de Monts National Monument becomes Lafayette national Park, the first eastern national park.
1929: Lafayette National Park is renamed Acadia, a historic name for this region. Schoodic Peninsula is donated to the park.
1932: Construction of the Cadillac Mountain motor road is completed.
1971: The first conservation easement is conveyed to the park. Today, conservation easements protect over 12,000 acres of private land around Acadia National Park.
1986: Friends of Acadia is established as a nonprofit membership organization benefiting Acadia through philanthropy and volunteerism.
1999: Island Explorer propane-powered shuttle bus service begins, reducing pollution and congestion.
2011: The former US Navy base in Winter Harbor, Maine, is renovated and reopened as the Schoodic Education and Research Center in Acadia National Park.
