“Man is born to die. His works are short-lived. Buildings crumble, monuments decay, and wealth vanishes, but Katahdin in all its glory forever shall remain the mountain of the people of Maine.”

Engraving on a plaque on a boulder by Katahdin Stream

Those words capture the spirit of the legacy of Percival Proctor Baxter, whose generosity, love of the wild and persistence led to the creation of Baxter State Park.

The town of Gorham has a piece of the Baxter family legacy. James Phinney Baxter, Percival’s father, gave Gorham, his birthplace, a library – now the Baxter Memorial Library – and money to run it. Percival Baxter gave the town a couple acres next to the library to be used as a park.

Over the years, expansions of the library and Shaw School have slowly nibbled away at the land Baxter left to the town. Now that plans for the Shaw School expansion have been approved by the Planning Board, the town is set to pave over most of what remains of the land. Under the approved plans, the town will continue to honor Baxter’s wishes that the land he donated remain a park by doing some landscaping on islands in the parking lot.

While the town’s plans to do some landscaping around the parking lot are good, the town could do a little more to honor the man who secured more than 200,000 acres of wilderness – known as Baxter State Park – for the people of Maine. The town could find another small piece of land somewhere in town and create a small park there in honor of Baxter’s wish that the land next to the library remain a park.

At the Planning Board meeting Monday night, Town Planner Deborah Fossum read a letter on behalf of one of the Baxter heirs, Eric Baxter. Although Eric Baxter, a nephew of the former governor, has no legal claim to the land since the town took it by eminent domain in 2001 to clear up the deed restriction that the land be used as a park, he argued that the town was “morally obligated” to honor Percival Baxter’s wishes.

Percival Baxter spelled out his wishes in capital letters in the deed for the land. “This Deed is made on condition that the land herein conveyed shall forever hereafter be used solely for PARK PURPOSES,” reads the deed, dated June 24, 1915.

Baxter did indeed allow the town to use a small strip of the land for the construction of a high school there in 1939. And, in 1954, while he was still alive, the town built a brick building on the property, which was eventually used as a maintenance building. In 2001, just after the town took the land by eminent domain, the town paved over part of the property to make a driveway for the expanded Baxter Memorial Library.

All that remains of the land now is a small island of patchy grass and a few young trees surrounded by pavement. That island is about to get a little smaller, and that’s a shame.

Although it was a small land gift, what has become of it probably wasn’t what Percival Baxter initially envisioned. It would be absurd to compare that small piece of land to the vast wilderness that surrounds Mount Katahdin. But Baxter State Park and the effort Percival devoted to its creation should serve as a reminder, at least, of how much parks meant to him.

Many people were against the idea of a state park at Mount Katahdin. Timber companies and hunters didn’t want to lose the land. After failing as a governor to convince the Legislature to purchase the land, Baxter bought it himself and continually advocated for its expansion.

Today the land is a monument to the beauty of this state for everyone to enjoy. As important as it is, a small park in a growing town is also important in its own way. It could be a nice complement to the Baxter Museum, a reminder of the town’s connection to this famous Maine family and a fitting tribute to a man who gave this state so much.

Brendan Moran, editor