Places – Sites – Monuments History

Satterlee Tea House Satterlee Tower

Satterlee Cottage Address: Great Head – Acadia National Park Location: On the Great Head Trail. The trail was part of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement system. of the late 1800's. City: Bar Harbor State: Maine First Owner: Satterlee – Herbert Penny Livingston Satterlee (1863-1947) Build Date: Circa 1911 – see below Destroyed: Buildings burnt to the ground in the 1947 Bar Harbor Fire. Subsequent Owners: Given to Acadia National Park in 1949 by the Satterlee’s daughter, Eleanor Morgan Satterlee (1905-1951).

Satterlee Tea House Address: Great Head – Acadia National Park City: Bar Harbor State: Maine Map: BATES-RAND 1917 - Satterlee Tea House.jpg Longitude: 44.328414 Latitude: -68.174178 First Owner: Satterlee – Herbert Penny Livingston Satterlee (1863-1947) Architect: The tea house was a good example of what is known as a “Martello Tower” – see below. Builder: John Kennedy Preble (1874-1950) - mason Build Date: 1914-1915 Destroyed: Buildings burnt to the ground in the 1947 Bar Harbor Fire. The tea house survived as rubble that was later cleared by park employees. Subsequent Owners: Given to Acadia National Park in 1949 by the Satterlee’s daughter, Eleanor Morgan Satterlee (1905-1951).

Note: Longitude and Latitude are what is listed for Great Head, most probably at its highest point, which was the location of the Satterlee’s Tea House. The Park’s cedar post sign is the location of the tea house, 145 above sea level.

Note: "Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.

They stand up to 40 feet (12 m) high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15–25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy artillery piece, mounted on the flat roof and able to traverse, and hence fire over, a complete 360° circle.

Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of a larger Genoese defence system, at Mortella (Myrtle) Point in Corsica. " – Wikipedia

For a wonderful perspective on follies and tea houses, see: “Waiting for Summer – Follies in New England” by Brad Emerson, The Downeast Dilettante site, March 4, 2010, Accessed online 09/23/15; ttps://downeastdilettante.wordpress.com/category/landscape-2/

“Nearly a century ago, the grounds behind Sand Beach were part of a grand 110-acre estate called “Great Head,” owned by Louisa Morgan Satterlee, the daughter of financier J. P. Morgan, who was one of the owners of the ill-fated Titanic. The estate, which was managed in season by a staff of ten household servants and five gardeners, was a wedding gift from Mrs. Satterlee’s father…

The path that now runs from the Great Head parking lot to the east end of Sand Beach was once the driveway for the Satterlee’s main house. The estate included the gardens, barns, greenhouses, servants’ quarters, guest houses, a water tower, and boathouse and tennis courts. An oddly out-of- place concrete foundation here, or stone retaining wall there, are all that remain.” (from “Great Head’s Long-Lost Eden,” Earl Brechlin, The Ellsworth American, July 26, 2012)

1910: J.P. Morgan bought Great Head as a gift for his daughter, Louisa Satterlee. John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) Morgan - Louisa Pierpont (Morgan) Satterlee (1866–1946)

1911: "Fred E. Steele of Cranberry Isles and H.L. Newman of Southwest Harbor, whose home is now at Mariaville are among the men employed on the Satterlee estate, Great Head. This fine property was recently purchased by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, it will be remembered, for his daughter, Mrs. Satterlee. Two bungalows are being erected and a stable, which the Satterlees will use this summer. Work upon their magnificent cottage will not be begun until they are here, in order to personally supervise every detail of construction and the laying out of the grounds. The bungalows have been built by Chester A. Hodgkins, contractor, in sections that they may be removed when the villa has been built." – The Bar Harbor Record, June 21, 1911, p. 5.

Fred E. Steele: Fred Elmer Steele (1865-1933) H.L. Newman: Herbert L. Newman (1862-1952) Chester A. Hodgkins: Chester Allen Hodgkins (1857-1917)

1911: "By the breaking of a derrick on the Satterlee estate at Great Head, Thursday, Nelson Hopkins of Bar Harbor nearly lost his life and is now in the Bar Harbor hospital at the point of death, as a result of being struck heavily on the head. Hopkins was employed with other men in sinking a well when the accident occurred and had it not been for the presence of a trained nurse at the Satterlee cottage the man would probably have died from the loss of blood." – The Bar Harbor Record, September 27, 1911, p. 5.

Nelson E. Hopkins did die from his injuries at Great Head: Hopkins – Nelson E. Hopkins (1872-1911)

1912: "Prominent among the arrivals [at Bar Harbor] of the week was J. Pierpont Morgan, who came in the Corsair, and spent several days during the Horse Show with his daughter, Mrs. Herbert L. Satterlee. The Satterlees have several small bungalows scattered about various parts of their Great Head property, which forms an ideal Summer home, and will erect a large villa some time in the future. Mr. Morgan returned in the Corsair to Newport the last of the week, after taking in the various events of Horse Show week. The Great Head property, the finest at Bar Harbor, comprises one of the two sand beaches on the island, together with bold headlands and some of the most picturesque scenery on the Maine Coast." – The New York Times, August 25, 1912.

1915: The Satterlee Tower at Great Head The tower … is located on the Herbert L. Satterlee estate at Great Head, on the highest point on the coast between the St. Lawrence and the Amazon Rivers. It rises 15 feet above the bold headland on which it is built and commands a wonderful view out over the water. It is about 18 feet in diameter. A flat roof is built about four feet below the top of the wall which thus furnishes a rail about the observatory and the roof is reached by a ladder within the tower. A large tea room with a wooden floor is found within the tower and a stove has been installed.

"Last fall, when work was begun, Melba, the little donkey, hauled 35 tons of cement and sand for the construction of the tower and this spring when work was completed carried about a ton more. Melba traveled about 500 miles altogether in conveying building materials. John Preble did the mason work." – The Bar Harbor Times, September 11, 1915, p. 1.

John Preble: John Kennedy Preble (1874-1950)

1916: "Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan, with Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Lee Satterlee and family, arrived this week on the yacht Corsair. Mrs. Morgan will again occupy the Jacques cottage, adjoining Great Neck, the Satterlee estate. The Satterlee cottage is among the simplest at the resort, as it has been the family’s desire to preserve natural conditions as far as possible. It is the only cottage with a beach and Mr. Satterlee has the distinction of being the only visitor to take a morning plunge in the cold surf." – The New York Times, July 16, 1916.

1916: "Among the arrivals [at Bar Harbor] of the week has been Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan, Sr., who will have the cottage of Herbert Jacques of Boston, which she has leased for the second consecutive season. Mr. and Mrs. Herbert L. Satterlee, her daughter and son-in-law, will be near her for some time, occupying their attractive and picturesque bungalow at Great Head…" – The Sun (New York, New York), July 23, 1916, p. 21.

1917: Beatrix Farrand designed a garden for Louisa Morgan Satterlee for the estate at Great Head.

Beatrix Cadwalader (Jones) Farrand (1872-1959), Mrs. Max Farrand

See: “2012-2013 – The Satterlee Garden at Great Head,” Beatrix Farrand Society site, 2012, Accessed online 09/24/15; http://www.beatrixfarrandsociety.org/exhibits/nggallery/thumbnails

The exhibit includes beautiful photographs from the Van Heerden collection including several of the tea house as it was enjoyed by the Satterlee family.

See: "Eleanor Morgan Satterlee – Louisa P. Satterlee" – “The Memorials of Acadia National Park” by Donald P. Lenahan, published by D.P. Lenahan, Bar Harbor, Maine, 2010, p. 50-51