This year’s Paddle Raise supports the preservation of Carroll Homestead, an historic landmark in Southwest Harbor, built by John Carroll in 1825. John and his wife Rachel raised their family here until 1870 and were followed by two more generations of Carrolls.
Tucked into the woods above Somes Sound, the Carroll Homestead is one of Acadia’s hidden treasures – a remarkable 19th-century home that offers a rare glimpse into the lives of early settlers on Mount Desert Island.
Donated to Acadia National Park in 1982, the homestead also serves as a vital educational resource.
“When the kids come out there, they really step back in time,” said Kate Petrie, supervisory park ranger at Acadia National Park.
The students get a hands-on experience that gives shape to what they’re learning about in their classrooms, from history and math to science and language arts.
The homestead is a wonderful place for locals and adult visitors, too. Some come to quietly wander the property and stand in the open field to scout for hawks and eagles.
It’s a cultural and historic resource people can interact with.
Even the well-built Carroll Homestead can’t last forever without critical restoration.
The home is showing centuries of wear. Over the hand-dug cellar, the sides of the home are drooping. Doorway thresholds bend. Park staff regularly sweep up ceiling dust that’s fallen through noticeable overhead cracks. While the heavy fireplace was shored up in the 1980s, the beams holding up the kitchen and second floor are 200 years old. Upstairs, daylight is visible through the walls, and wasps have sometimes found their way in.
Acadia’s maintenance crew tries to do what they can, but funding and resources are limited.
The Paddle Raise will fund a full assessment of the property to identify what restoration and repairs are needed, as well as support the preservation and restoration of the property, so it remains a valuable historic and educational resource at Acadia.
This work will help ensure that visitors 100 years from now can still see the dent by the hearth where grandma’s rocking chair would occasionally hit the wall and the windowsill where John Carroll carved notches that tracked the sun’s movement across the sky, so his family could tell the time even we he—and his watch—were away.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the homestead, making it an especially meaningful time to celebrate and preserve this piece of Acadia’s cultural heritage.
For additional questions about the Paddle Raise or Annual Benefit, contact Jen Byer, events manager, at 207-370-4910 or jen_byer@friendsofacadia.org.
Raise your paddle at this year’s Annual Benefit on August 10. Or give online.
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