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A Fine Inn, a Garden of
“Naturalness”
By Allyson Brehm
With one of the
best views of Northeast Harbor, the Asticou Inn has been a Mount
Desert tradition since 1883.
Built in 1883 as a place for
“people from away” to come for the summer the Asticou Inn
overlooks Northeast Harbor. An early staff of the inn poses with
George Savage, who was responsible for the Asticou Azalea and
Thuya gardens, seated in the front row.
The walking entrance from Route 3 leads guests from the Inn into
the peaceful world of the Asticou Azalea Garden.
A family plays a game of chess in the hilltop Thuya Gardens in
Northeast Harbor. The gardens, designed by Charles Savage, can
be reached by car or walking up a series of terraces. |
This luxurious
inn and its surrounding gardens offer guests an escape to the “quiet
side” of the island.
In the past, the
inn was a place where summer visitors escaped the city’s heat to
spend the entire summer season drinking in the views from the
veranda or sailing in the harbor.
Things haven’t
changed much today, except maybe the length of most stays by
visitors.
According to
“Asticou: History of an Inn and an Era,” the name Asticou is
believed to mean “boiling kettle” and comes from a Penobscot Indian
chief who lived in what is now Northeast Harbor around the time the
island was discovered by Europeans.
The Asticou was
one of the few luxuries “cottages” to survive the big fire of 1947.
Not surprisingly, the inn saw a great increase in guests after the
fire.
The inn was
started by the Savage family, which settled in what is now Northeast
Harbor in 1790. After building their home overlooking the harbor in
1854, the Savages began taking in summer boarders. The house, known
today as Cranberry Lodge, is one of the many structures where guests
can stay while at the inn.
The inn
continued to be run by later generations of the Savage family until
the mid-1960s when ownership was transferred to the Asti-Kim Corp.,
a consortium of summer residents and local business people.
The Asticou
Azalea Garden located across the street from the inn is a place for
quiet enjoyment. The 2.5-acre garden was designed by Charles Savage
in 1956 and is now run by the Island Foundation.
When noted
landscape designer Beatrix Farrand was preparing to break up her
gardens at her Reef Point estate in
Bar Harbor,
Savage rescued the azalea collection. He had only one year to design
and create the garden to accommodate the flowers.
His vision was
to offer a place for guests to wander up from the harbor where there
was “apparent naturalness,” said head gardener Mary Roper.
The garden is
best remembered for its brilliant color during the azaleas’ peak
bloom time that lasts from mid-May until mid-June, said Roper. But
the fall color that peaks around Columbus Day is equally grand.
Savage’s goal,
said Roper, was for the gardens to “seem as if all the planting
happened on its own.”
Just a 15-minute
walk up the road is another garden designed by Charles Savage. The
Thuya Garden was created after the Azalea garden. The land was used
first as a holding area for plants, Roper said.
You do not have
to be a guest at the inn to enjoy the tranquil beauty at the two
gardens. Parking is available at both. |
