In 1900, the wealthy financier J.P. (John Pierpont) Morgan purchased 117 acres, including all of Sand Beach and Great Head as a wedding gift for his oldest child and daughter Louisa Peirpont Morgan’s (1866-1946) wedding. Louisa married Herbert Satterlee (1863-1947) in New York City on November 15th, 1900. Louisa and Herbert had two daughters, Mabel born in 1901 and Eleanor born in 1905. The two daughters grew up exploring the landscape and making connections to the rockbound coast of Mount Desert Island.

Construction of the Satterlee Estate buildings commenced in 1911. The Satterlees began summering at their summer estate named ‘Satterlee Field’ that very summer. The first summer for the Satterlees was certainly filled with adventure. The estate grounds and buildings provided safe shelter for the displaced crew of the shipwrecked Schooner Tay that wrecked on Old Soaker and was washed ashore onto Sand Beach, as discussed during the second stop on this hike. According to a park conducted interview with one of the estate superintendents children , Dayton Salisbury, the “Staff on the estate included 2 chauffeurs,, 2 cooks, a kitchen girl, a parlor maid, a ladies maid, the housekeeper and 5 local men working on the grounds.”

The Satterlee family usually visited for 6 weeks each summer. The family stayed in “rustic” Adirondack style cottages and the staff stayed in smaller bungalows. The estate also had a barn and cows which provided fresh dairy products, gardens for fresh vegetables, and a nursery to assist in growing assorted plants for the estate gardens designed by renowned landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. Farrand designed the estate gardens to have a natural flow that blended the plantings/gardens with the surrounding landscape. Little benches, footpaths, and bridges led the visitor throughout the gardens.

The family summered at Satterlee Field between 1911 and 1946. After the Fire of ’47, discussed just a few stops ago, the youngest daughter Eleanor summered one last summer in 1948 before the daughters decided to donate the estate land to Acadia National Park, as discussed in the very first stop of this hike.