Q & A with Marie C. Taylor, author of



What inspired you to write the book?

Over the years I had been keeping a list of places that worked well for us to visit with our dog. I realized that other people might not know what they could do with their dogs that might be fun. A good example is a day’s outing to Blue Hill village. I’m not sure how we stumbled upon the park at the end of Water Street which I describe in the book. But it is such a pleasant place and just down the street from the village.

How did you manage to get such a great photo of Thunder Hole?

We were sitting in our cottage one day when the weather wasn’t very good, listening to the police scanner which we always bring with us. We heard that the Park officials were closing off the steps leading down to Thunder Hole because of the high surf. We grabbed the camera and jumped in the car. When we got to Thunder Hole it was spectacular. My husband took the photo. The surf was so high he couldn’t even get it all in the photo. We were lucky. The Park authorities have changed how they broadcast now and we can’t hear their transmissions anymore.

Do you have a particular time of year that you enjoy on Mount Desert?

I really like to visit when the blueberries are ripe which seems to be the end of July. It’s a treat to walk the carriage roads and pick an occasional blueberry. But our annual visit has come to be the week after Labor Day. When we came on our honeymoon, it was October, 1982. I had to wear my wool hat and mittens to bed! We gradually kept moved the date earlier and have found that the week after Labor Day is ideal, since most of the businesses are still open and the weather is usually still warm.

Do you have favorite places that you visit each year?

We do different things each year, but we always try to have breakfast at the Looking Glass Restaurant in Bar Harbor and dinner at the Surry Inn in Surry. Quite a few years ago I found an old copy of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s autobiography, My Story. I read it and have since read a number of her mysteries. So I find it is fun to wonder around the grounds of her old estate “Far View” where the restaurant and Wonder View Motel are located. Also, the restaurant has a great view of Frenchman Bay. The Surry Inn means a lot to me since as you enter the inn, you are in the room that was once my sister and brother-in-law’s living room when they rented a large apartment in the house which is now the inn. It even has the same wallpaper on the wall. We always time our visit to the inn so we are having our dinner as the sun sets over Contention Cove. I do miss the ”Not So Sweet Pecan Pie” which they don’t seem to have on their menu anymore, though! It was really great!

Do you have a favorite walk?

The walks that we take when we don’t have a dog with us usually combine a hike and a carriage road. And I like to be rewarded with a spectacular view. I especially like the hike up Cedar Swamp Mountain. We hook up with a carriage road at the back side of the mountain and walk it for the return. For a walk with a dog, though, my favorite is the Asticou trail. We start at the Jordan Pond House and walk for about 20 minutes until we reach a carriage road, then turn about and head back to the Jordan Pond House to rest on the lawn. The trail is so peaceful and has that wonderful spruce fragrance. And moss just seems to cover everything. We do not usually do this walk on a weekend, though, since the parking lots are so crowded. The Explorer shuttle bus is definitely a good option.

What have been your dog’s favorite walks over the years?

Well for Molly, lunch was always preferable to a walk! I guess it was because she was food trained in her puppy kindergarten classes! That said, Pretty Marsh was definitely her favorite. At least she got most excited when we visited there. And it was always at lunchtime. For Kelley, her favorite walk is going to the West Meadow at Little Long Pond. She loves to chase balls so it is perfect for her.


How did you ever get Molly to stand on her doghouse?

On day when she was young I was gardening in the area beside her doghouse. She was in back of me. I made a sweeping motion with my arm for some reason. I guess she thought I was signaling her to get up on the doghouse or just wanted me to pay more attention to her. When I looked around she was standing on top of the roof, much to my horror! It took us a while to figure out how she could do it, since we didn’t always see her climbing up. My husband had built the doghouse himself and used real shingles and made the top of the roof flat, not pointed. The shingles gave her enough traction so she could claw her way up and once there she could stand and, on occasion, sit on the flat peak. We always picked her up and took her down so she wouldn’t hurt herself getting off. Thank heavens she finally realized she was too old or too heavy and stopped doing it. We never encouraged her, but I guess she just thought it was fun.

Do you board your dog when you visit Mount Desert Island?

Actually the first night we stay at the Wonder View Inn in Bar Harbor, a motel that takes dogs. It is a five and a half hour ride from where we live in Massachusetts to Bar Harbor. So we don’t think it is fair to have the kennel be her first stop after such a long ride. We take her to the Acadia Woods Kennel in Town Hill the next day and she never seems to mind. They are great there about letting us take her out during the day, so it works out perfectly.

Did you have a particular purpose in mind when you wrote the book?

I wanted to make Acadia a fun experience for a dog. Once we saw a dog on top of Penobscot Mountain. Another time we saw a dog on the Deer Brook Trail heading up Sargent Mountain. I just felt so sorry for them. Even the first time we took Molly on a trail, we forgot that part of the trail was over jagged rocks. My husband had to carry her while trying to keep his balance. It wasn’t fun! It made me realize that we had to adjust our walks so our dog could enjoy them too. I’ve tried to include a variety of walks to choose from depending on a dog’s energy level and how much time someone might have. My hope is that other dog owners will enjoy the walks and destinations that are described in the book. But more important, that their dogs will enjoy them as much as ours have over the years.

What changes have you made to the book in the third edition?

I took out a couple of the walks in Ellsworth. The walk at Indian Point in Ellsworth had experienced lot of erosion over the last few years. The walk behind the Library was a concern with construction planned. We will check back on them at some point.

For the new walks, two are Maine Coast Heritage areas that I did not know very well but visited recently and was impressed with their accessibility and beauty. And a couple of articles about work done by the community in Tremont led us to the Al Butler Memorial trail, a pretty spot with a quiet walk by the river. Finally, for variety, we took the ferry across to Great Cranberry and found several nice areas to walk and enjoy the island coast.