Behind the Nature Center along a paved path, a wayside exhibit features a panel angled atop a rectangular stone base.
The exhibit's title, "Acadia's Founding Father," appears over an archival photograph of dozens of gentlemen and ladies sitting in chairs near the Spring Canopy. A caption reads: "Guests gather on the lawn at Sieur de Monts for a concert about 1920."
An inset of a colorful historic postcard shows the Spring Canopy's octagonal shape and its domed, red tile roof.
Text reads: "George B. Dorr, a gentleman scholar and lover of nature, devoted most of his adult life to the creation, maintenance, and expansion of Acadia National Park. The son of affluent Bostonians, Dorr first visited Mount Desert Island in 1868 and later decided to make it his primary home. He envisioned the Sieur de Monts property as a managed landscape and the 'foundation stones on which the future Park is built.' ... Besides donating his Sieur de Monts and 'Old Farm' properties to the park, Dorr spent most of his inheritance to create the Acadia you enjoy today."
An inset photograph shows Dorr standing on a rocky mountain slope. "Dorr pauses on the Beachcroft Path. In 1916 his official title was "Park Custodian." He served as the park's first superintendent from 1919 to 1944." A note adds: "Find the 'Sweet Waters of Acadia' inscription Dorr carved in a rock."
A quote: "This spring was truly a magnificent one... wonderfully placed, with the mountains rising steeply up beside it, contrasting with the Great and Little Meadowlands on either side." - George B. Dorr, 1942
A smaller path leads from the exhibit to a memorial a short distance away. A plaque fastened to the front of a large stone pays tribute to George Bucknam Dorr, "gentleman, scholar, lover of nature" - known as the "Father of this National Park."
