Nearly thirty years ago, Connie Baxter created a book of photographs that presented Percival Proctor Baxter's vision of a solution to the man/wilderness dichotomy. Her book celebrated the magnificence of Katahdin and its surrounding 200,000 acres, which her Great Uncle Percy had given to the people of Maine.
Connie Baxter Marlow has revisited Baxter State Park, both with this revised edition of her book of stunning photographs, and in her thinking about Katahdin, her Uncle Percy's philanthropy, and the Native American connection to their sacred mountain. The park itself remains relatively unchanged, in delicate balance between the deeds of trust that were intended to keep it "forever wild as a public park," and the pressures of modern-day recreation. In new contributions to the book, Neil Rolde and Park Director Buzz Caverly place Percy Baxter's legacy in historical and contemporary context, while Percy Baxter's own words remain to convey his thoughts and wishes. Penobscot Elder Arnie Neptune and documentary writer Dennis Kostyk bring in the Native American worldview that broadens and adds depth to the Western view of man's connection to the natural world.
