The Central Section
Marguerite Yourcenar, Grace Frick, Willa Cather, Edith Lewis, and Anne Longfellow Thorp (with Alice Mary Longfellow, Fanny Stone, Alice Allegra Thorp, and Agnes Swift)
This section of the trail includes three historic lesbian including the home of Marguerite Yourcenar and her partner Grace Frick in Northeast Harbor and their gravesites in Somesville. It also includes the site of Clover Cottage near the Asticou Inn, where Willa Cather and Edith Lewis spent six summers in the 1940's. And finally, this part of the trail includes a spot for viewing the north end of Greening Island, the site of Raventhorp, the summer home of Anne Longfellow Thorp and her sister Alice. Alice would spend summers here with her life companion Agnes Swift (aka "Swifty"). Anne and Alice's aunt, Alice Mary Longfellow, would also visit with her life partner Fanny Stone. In addition, I have added a spectacular cliff walk, two glorious gardens, and one of the most scenic drives on the island. So, here we go:
THE BEGINNING: Start at the Asticou Terraces on Route 3/Peabody Drive, just north of the driveway for Thuya Garden. There will be a small parking area on the left, across from the cliffs. From the parking lot, you can take a little side excursion down a path to Somes Sound, where there is a lovely spot out on the water. Or... you can cross Route 3 by foot to the Asticou Terrace Trail that will take you up to Thuya Garden. This is a stone path with steps (lots of steps), but it's worth the effort. There are several scenic pavillions perfect for a picnic, and the view over the sound is spectacular. Thuya Garden was built between 1912 and 1916. There is a cottage on the grounds that is open to the public and the docent is very informative. If you are adventurous, you can find a trail from Thuya Garden down to Asticou Inn... Or you can walk down the way you came.
From Thuya, you can walk or drive to Asticou Inn, which is one of the very few remaining grand hotels to survive the Great Fire of 1947. Across the street is the Asticou Azalea Garden. The garden was built by Charles Savage who "had shown an interest in Japanese garden design for many years. His design ideas for the Asticou Azalea Garden show some resemblance to a Japanese stroll garden but one that was designed for a coastal Maine setting. The garden is meant to inspire serenity and reflection and creates an illusion of space – of lakes and mountains and distant horizons."
Also across the street is Asticou Lane, which turns into Rye Field Lane. Clover Cottage, which was a property of the Asticou Inn, no longer exist, but it was located in Rye Field, which is east of Rye Field Lane. (See image below.) Willa Cather and Edith Lewis spent six summers at Clover Cottage in the 1940's. Cather wrote her last novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl, at this site.
Also across the street is Asticou Lane, which turns into Rye Field Lane. Clover Cottage, which was a property of the Asticou Inn, no longer exist, but it was located in Rye Field, which is east of Rye Field Lane. (See image below.) Willa Cather and Edith Lewis spent six summers at Clover Cottage in the 1940's. Cather wrote her last novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl, at this site.
Okay... on to Petite Plaisance, the home of Marguerite Youcenar and Grace Frick. They have an absolutely wonderful curator, the author Joan Howard, who knew and worked with Yourcenar and Frick. She is the author of a biography of Grace Frick, titled We Met In Paris. You can schedule an appointment for a tour at specific times. Well worth it! And Northeast Harbor is full of art galleries and shops.
From Petite Plaisance, take a very short walk east on South Shore Road... less than a block, where it's possible to see the north end of Greening Island and the site or Raventhorp, the summer home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's granddaughters Alice and Anne Thorp. (Greening Island is a private island with no bridge access... so this is as close as the Trail can come! It is the unmarked island just east of Southwest Harbor on the map above.) And then head over to Sargeant Drive, which travels the length of Some Sound. Absolutely beautiful in any season. Go north and then turn left on Route 3 to Somesville. When you come to the traffic light, turn left on Route 102, otherwise known as Main Street. Turn right on Brookside Road. This will end at the Brookside Cemetery, where Yourcenar and Frick are buried. They were both cremated, so there are small markers, not full headstones. The markers are at the far end of the cemetery, in a small island of markers surrounded by the path. Marguerite Yourcenar's funeral plate. The epitaph, written in French, is from her book The Abyss. It reads, «Plaise à Celui qui Est peut-être de dilater le cœur de l'homme à la mesure de toute la vie.» The translation is "May it please the One who perchance is to expand the human heart to life's full measure." Grace's reads "Hospes, Comesque" which translates "Friend and associate," a phrase from a short poem composed by the Roman Hadrian before his death. Grace had translated Marguerite's masterpiece Memoirs of Hadrian.