Otter Cliffs from Ocean Drive, Bar Harbor Me. 13x.

"Otter Cliffs from Ocean Drive, near Bar Harbor, Me. 13X" The Town of Bar Harbor constructed Ocean Drive in the 1890s. Extending from Schooner Head Road to Otter Cove, it was used primarily by horse-drawn vehicles, even after automobiles were allowed on the island. In 1913 and 1915, the Maine Legislature repealed the 1903 and 1909 acts that had banned automobiles on the island, which had been promoted by some island summer residents. Fearing that motor vehicles would spoil the peacefulness and beauty of the island they cherished, this group would fight a contentious battle against the construction of motor roads as well. Ocean Drive became an early section of the Acadia National Park motor road system developed between 1922 and 1958. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. funded and directed his crews in the reconstruction of part of Ocean Drive in 1929 as a "demonstration section." His meticulous designs and techniques for road dimensions and routing, ditching and drainage, stone headwalls and guardrails, parking, and building materials became standards for the whole road system in the park. Park Superintendent Dorr saw motor roads as a way to access the heart of Acadia. Rockefeller viewed them as a way to keep motor vehicles off the carriage roads he built. In the early years, road building on Mount Desert was challenging due to the topography, considerable rock, and non-contiguous parcels of land. By 1927 the two men and their associates had developed a master plan for designing, planning, and construction; the 27-mile Park Loop Road was the result.