Women's History Month: Celebrating Women of Acadia for Women's History Month

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Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women of Acadia

March 7th, 2023

Schermerhorn memorial bridge at Lake Wood, 1932 (under water today). Annie Schermerhorn Kane (1857-1926) and Fanny Schermerhorn Bridgham (1846-1919) donated funds and land for trail building, and their philanthropy extended to the local community as well.

Women play an instrumental role in Acadia National Park – both today and through the park’s history.

Through forward-thinking philanthropy, keen operations savvy, and skillful documentation of the natural environment, women like Margaret Stupka, Annie Schermerhorn Kane and Fanny Schermerhorn Bridgham, Ardra Tarbell, and Eliza Homans helped shape the Acadia we know today.

In our four-part series, Then & Now: Women of Acadia, which ran in Acadia magazine, we share stories of the work and influence of some of those women – and their modern-day counterparts who continue the legacies of research, science, and trail making.

In honor of Women’s History Month, we look back on women of Acadia, both past and present.

A Passion to Serve

Then: Margaret Stupka, a trained botanist, was among the many “park wives” in the 1920-1940s. Now: Zoë Smiarowski is a recent National Park Service intern on women’s history.

Gifts for the Future

Then: The Schermerhorn sisters donated funds and land for trail building, and their philanthropy extended to the local community as well. Now: Biological Technician Morgan Ingalls studies bats and helps preserve Acadia’s wildlife.

The Power of Storytelling

Then: Ardra Tarbell’s business training helped ensure the stability of park operations during the early years of land transfers and challenging events. Now: As curator of the William Otis Sawtelle Collections and Research Center, Marie Yarborough manages “repositories of knowledge.”

When Good Deeds Speak for Themselves

Then: Eliza Homans donated 140 acres surrounding the Beehive and the Bowl to the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations—the first large gift of land for what would become Acadia National Park. Now: NOW . . . . Chief Ranger Thérèse Picard rushes into burning buildings and flies on lines under rescue helicopters.