Peter J. Marcucci

Special Contributor

Photos provided by Peter Marcucci

I discovered this gem while exploring Maine’s Acadia National Park. Constructed between 1935-36, this “Tudor-Style” structure was built from local quarried stone, bricks from Portland, Maine, and west coast redwood.  

John D. Rockefeller Hall, Acadia National Park. “The Rockefeller building itself is on the Historical Register,” explained Maine National Park Service Education Coordinator, Kate Petrie. “We’ve made very few adjustments working alongside the Historical Register, to bring it up to fire and safety codes. We also put in a museum, offices. All the Navy men stayed here, and it had two big antennas coming up the side. Now it’s a research and learning center, and we are involved with the non-profit Schoodic Institute.” 

The right side entrance and corner view reveals the fine details of stone, brick and wood used in many Tudor Revival structures at the time. Built using local quarried stone and wood shipped from the west coast, the bricks are said to have come from Portland, Maine. Terracotta roof tiles, copper gutters, and down spouts conclude the charm of the “Tudor-style.”Currently used as a museum and also a learning center for the non-profit Schoodic Institute, this intriguing building has a colorful past as a listening post during WWII, and later, the Cold War period. As you’ll see, the John D. Rockefeller Hall and surrounding area is an American legacy rich in history.    

“During WWI, across the water and about four miles from here at Otter Point on Mount Desert Island, the U.S. Navy took over a popular country club to install a radio listening base,” explained Maine National Park Service Education Coordinator, Kate Petrie. 

The right side entrance and corner view reveals the fine details of stone, brick and wood used in many Tudor Revival structures at the time. Built using local quarried stone and wood shipped from the west coast, the bricks are said to have come from Portland, Maine. Terracotta roof tiles, copper gutters, and down spouts conclude the charm of the “Tudor-style.”“To assist the Navy, Alonzo Fabre, a local citizen and year-round resident, donated his state-of-the-art radio equipment and his yacht to the war effort. Otter Point is the farthest eastern point in America, and the Navy was very successful at receiving signals there. 

“They could track German ships as far as Greenland because of the shape of the coast and the design of the antennas. It was a Naval base with no fence and no weapons at one point. So Alonzo Fabre’s brother built a watchtower, put up a fence, and bought (one gun) just in case the enemy landed. But their whole mission was to just listen. They could also monitor what was going on in Europe, and they were the first Americans to hear of the WWI Armistice.”

According to Kate, after the war ended and as time progressed into the early 1930s, Mr. Rockefeller had been constructing carriage roads throughout the land adjacent to the park, including Mount Desert Island, to accommodate tourist wanting to savor the beauty of Maine’s pristine coastline. But construction of these roads meant the listening post at Otter Point had to be relocated. 

“Mr. Rockefeller, at the time, felt that Otter Point (still a listening base) should be part of the park, and he hired a physicist to prove that the Navy could hear radio signals in this location just as well as there. He then began tickling peoples’ brains with the idea of the Navy moving here. 

“At that time it was park property, and the idea was that he would build this structure and trade the U.S. Navy for their building and land at Otter Point. So it was part of a three-way trade between the Maine National Park Service, the U.S. Navy and John D. Rockefeller, and brokered by Rockefeller, himself. Mr. Rockefeller then had his architect, Grosvenor Atterbury, design the building with construction taking place during years 1935 and 1936 by the Maine National Park Service.” 

Notably, this Tudor-style building resembles two other gatekeeper lodges on Mount Desert Island that Rockefeller also built and eventually donated. Being a man of vision, Rockefeller wrote into the deed that if the Navy ceased their mission, the land would be returned to the park—so in 2002, when they closed the Naval Security Group, the land and building was returned to the park and turned into its current form: a research and learning center.

Peter J. Marcucci has over 25 years of fabrication experience in the stone industry. Send your comments to our Contacts page.