
Baxter State Park History
Katahdin inspires artists from the smallest flower to the widest vista.
Rich in History
Percival P. Baxter stands in front of Katahdin. This photograph shows Baxter in 1962 with the first piece of land he purchased for the Park (Katahdin) and the last piece of land he purchased (Abol Stream area).
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Visiting Katahdin Lake - John Neff, 2015
On a recent three-day trip into Katahdin Lake and the famous camps on its south shore, I found myself journeying back across the years and remembering some of the incredible history of that beautiful place.
• The sign at the lodge announces that the camps were founded in 1885. At first Madison Tracy and John Cushman brought guests from the Wassataquoik Tote Road to the north end of the lake and canoed them down to the present site.
• We visited the beach where Frederic E. Church and other artists have often painted Katahdin.
• We visited the outlet where Katahdin Brook begins its journey down to the Wassataquoik.
• We passed the site of the cabin Marcus Keep built circa 1858 just below the crude logging dam at the outlet.
• We envisioned Percival P. Baxter hiking along the still two-lane path through the middle of the camps in 1920 on his first trip to Katahdin’s summit.
• We saw the high ground at the southeast corner of the lake where circa 1874 the Lang and Jones sporting camps were located before the present camps were built.
• We visited the new BSP lean-to on the north shore of the lake near where the AMC had a shelter built for its 1887 “August Camp.”
Katahdin’s powerful presence is overwhelming on this lovely lake now under the protection of Baxter State Park. The history of the camps and the lake, as well as the hovering spirits of those who once walked the trails and canoed the waters, make a visit very special indeed.
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A Wassataquoik History by Gary McG. Boone
In 1929, Myron Halliburton Avery published The Story of the Wassataquoik — A Maine Epic. John Neff (2006) mentioned this article in Katahdin — An Historic Journey (p. 91 - 99), but it is still a much-neglected account (1929a) of Maine’s transformation of the North Woods. Avery’s article, in hindsight, gives us a missing perspective on what was, near the turn of the last century, massive change in what is now the central area of Baxter State Park. A second Avery article (1929b) extends his discussion of fires, especially that of 1915 in the northern part of the Wassataquoik watershed and into T4, R10 to the north. Lester F. Hall’s journals of the first half of the 20th century have filled in this perspective (in Kirkpatrick, 2010).
Most people who love the Park are familiar with Percival Baxter’s dogged perseverance in purchasing piecemeal the lands for the Park beginning in 1931 (Whitcomb, 2008). Baxter’s vision of “forever wild” for the Park is in stark contrast to the devastation of the forest prior to Baxter’s completing his purchases.
Read more about the history of the Wassataquoik area in the 2011 Summer Supplement of Forever Wild here.