I have always felt that my childhood years spent in Bar Harbor shaped me as an adult. Even though I was still young when I moved away from Bar Harbor, I was aware how it had affected me—the mountains that tumbled into the ocean, the fog that changed the nature of reality, the worlds that lived in a tidal pool, the beauty in every direction, and the extended family that linked me to my ancestral tree and my right to be on this earth. These things were blessings enough, but being in Bar Harbor after World War II in the early 1950s was unique. People were putting their lives back together—coming home, relocating, getting married, starting families, finding jobs, dealing with loss. It was a time of building and rebuilding; a time that taught me to cherish and respect. It was old Bar Harbor, when you could go to the top of Cadillac Mountain and sometimes be the only family there.

My father designed and supervised the building of Duck Brook Motor Bridge on Paradise Hill Road for John D. Rockefeller Jr. in the early 1950s. It is a landmark. It is a symbol not only of Acadia, but post-war life after World War II and the town of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island. The bridge was a part of my family’s daily life. We passed it when we came on the island, when we went off the island, when we went for a ride. We either drove over it or beside it on Route 3 almost every day. 

Unfortunately, Duck Brook Motor Bridge has been overgrown and hidden from view for years now. Today it would cost millions to build this beautiful historic bridge, but the millions of visitors to Bar Harbor and Acadia every year do not know it is there. Only the elderly residents remember what it looked like in its glory. It is as important to Maine as the Brooklyn Bridge is to New York.

I am well aware that we cannot return to the Acadia of the 1950s, but the bridge is not gone. It is still there waiting to be uncovered and admired once again. We have a sophisticated society with professionals of all backgrounds. Much of the view of Duck Brook Motor Bridge from Route 3 can be restored in an ecologically sound manner by professionals with a studied approach. All we really need is for decision makers to focus their attention on the bridge, understand the value of it to Mount Desert Island and Maine as a whole, and have a determined desire to restore the view. We have to want to do it. If we want to do it, we will find a way. I cherish this bridge and I think that if others could see it, they would cherish it, too.