Last updated: February 28, 2019
Lesson Plan
Carriage Road Explorers Post Activities
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Literacy and Language Arts,Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 3.L.1.i, 3.L.2.f, 3.L.2.g, 3.L.5.b, 3.RL.2, 3.RL.3, 3.RL.5, 3.SL.1.d, 3.SL.4, 3.SL.5
- Thinking Skills:
- Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.
Essential Question
How can people care for a place they love? What does it take to complete a difficult task?
Objective
Students will be able to identify the people who were influential in the creation of the carriage road system in Acadia National Park.
Students will be able to perform, draw, or creatively explain 2 main players in the creation of the carriage roads and describe their contribution.
Background
Acadia National Park was founded in 1916 on Mount Desert Island. While George Dorr was busy accumulating land for the national park, other philanthropists were developing trails and roads to bring the park to the people. John D. Rockefeller Jr. was one such individual. John D. Rockefeller first visited Mount Desert Island in 1908. He brought to the island his passion for riding and driving a horse and carriage. He began designing carriage roads on his property in 1913. Over time, he bought land that extended from Hulls Cove to Seal Harbor and built 52 miles of carriage roads. Upon completion of these roads, John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated all of the land to Acadia National Park. Today these trails are maintained by the Friends of Acadia.
Students on Carriage Road Explorers go out for 3.5 hours and role play the characters from the carriage road story. The students will dress and do activities acknowledging the enormous challenge faced by John D. Rockefeller and his team.
For a post activity, students will be able to summarize at least two characters in the carriage road story.
Preparation
Approximately ten minutes of preparation required to gather materials, 5 minutes to review the characters from the carriage roads.
Materials
Lesson Hook/Preview
"Think of giving not as a duty, but as a privelege." -John D. Rockefeller Junior
The carriage roads of Acadia provide access for the public to enter the forested mysteries of Acadia. This 27 year project could no have been done alone. It took many talented and hardworking people to sacrifice time, money, and effort for the enjoyment of all of us today. Use the activities below to celebrate their efforts.
Procedure
- Write to Rockefeller: Students choose to become one of the Important People. They have just received a letter from John D. Rockefeller Jr. asking about progress on their carriage road work. Students write a letter to Rockefeller giving a report. One or more pictures can be included. They should tell about their jobs and how the work is coming along, and remember to sign the letter as their person. They may want to include other information – telling about the job site, other workers, injuries, or financial matters. When completed, have students share and discuss.
- Make a Poster (Individual or Group): Students review the work of one of the Important People. They make a poster about that person and what they did that was important to the carriage roads.
- Make a Skit: Children write and present a skit that includes Important People.
- Interview: Children interview an Important Person. This can be a writing project, or an impromptu skit.
- Write an email or letter to the Present Day Class: Students choose the role of one of the Important People, living in the past. They write an email or letter to today’s third grade class telling what it’s like back then – what’s there, what’s not, how they do their work, etc.
- Draw Someone Important: Students draw one of the Important People doing their work on the carriage roads.
- Research the Present Day: Students choose one of the Important People and research today’s counterpart. They then tell how they are alike and how they are different.
- Invite Today to the Classroom: Have modern day architects, landscape architects and/or road engineers visit the class to discuss their professions and how they have changed since the carriage roads were built.
Vocabulary
Carriage Roads Important People
John D. Rockefeller Jr.:
John D. Rockefeller Jr. was a philanthropist. He had a fat wallet and a big heart.
He first came to Mount Desert Island in 1908. Nelson Rockefeller was born that summer, and so was a love of Mount Desert Island. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife Abby later bought a home in Seal Harbor.
He wanted to give something special to the future and to Acadia National Park. He built the carriage roads so people could enjoy nature without automobiles.
Mr. Rockefeller planned the carriage roads so they would be beautiful and natural. He wanted scenic views, interesting curves, and native plants.
After the roads were built, Mr. Rockefeller took care of the roads for as long as he lived.
Grosvenor Atterbury:
Grosvenor Atterbury was an architect who lived in New York. He designed many beautiful homes and buildings. He designed a barn for Mr. Rockefeller’s home in New York State.
Mr. Rockefeller wanted the very best for Acadia. He asked Mr. Atterbury to design the two gate lodges. Mr. Atterbury went to some parks in the west to get more ideas for the gate lodges.
Gates were used to prevent automobiles from entering the carriage roads. The gate lodges were there so someone could open and close the gates when a carriage came.
The gate lodges were designed to blend in with nature. Mr. Atterbury included little surprises like built-in bird houses. He made the gate lodges very beautiful.
Beatrix Farrand:
Beatrix Farrand was a landscape architect. She worked with plants to make places beautiful. She designed many big, beautiful gardens and college campuses. She designed a garden at Mr. Rockefeller’s summer home in Seal Harbor. Mrs. Farrand had a summer home in Bar Harbor, too.
Mr. Rockefeller asked her for help. He needed her to help clean up the carriage roads. Building the carriage roads had left the land looking messy. They wanted the roads to look beautiful again.
It took a lot of work and planning to make it look more natural. They planted trees that were native to the area. They planted lots of trees that the Rockefeller family liked, like the White Pine and Red Spruce.
Mrs. Farrand’s work is one reason why the carriage roads look so beautiful.
Paul Simpson:
Paul Simpson was chief road engineer for the carriage roads. He started working on the carriage roads in 1922 after his father Charles retired.
Paul’s job was to figure how to build the roads. The carriage roads were broken stone roads. They had layers of rocks. The biggest rocks were on the bottom. The rocks got smaller and finer as they got closer to the top.
Mr. Simpson designed the roads so the top was crowned. This let water drain without hurting the road. The roads were sixteen feet wide, so there was enough room for carriages to pass safely.
He had to make the road slopes gentle even when there was a steep hillside.
He also had to plan for curves and include beautiful views.
For a time Mr. Simpson and his family lived in the Jordan Pond gate lodge.
Workers:
Mr. Rockefeller needed workers to build the carriage roads. Sometimes there were hundreds of people working at the same time.
There were lots of jobs to be done. Some workers prepared the land where the roads would be built. Others moved stones that would form the broken stone roads. Still others cut granite and built the bridges. Workers were needed to plant trees after the roads were built or to place the coping stones that are called Mr. Rockefeller’s Teeth.
The workers were happy to have their jobs at a time when jobs were hard to find. Mr. Rockefeller often came to see them and to see the new carriage roads. He cared about the workers and knew their names.
It took 27 years for the workers to build the carriage roads.