Charles William Eliot called the first meeting of what would evolve into the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations in 1901, but it was Dorr's vision that ensured the lands would be protected and preserved for future generations.

[2] Dorr purchased a small spring at Sieur de Monts in 1909 and carved the words SWEET WATERS OF ACADIA into a nearby rock.

[5] Atop the spring, Maine architect Frederick Lincoln Savage designed an octagonal canopy structure in the Italian Renaissance Revival style.

Granite coping stones along carriage road edges act as guard rails; they are nicknamed "Rockefeller's Teeth.

Despite income from his highly successful Mount Desert Nurseries, Dorr's inheritance was depleted in the decade preceding the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President.

Saved to future generations as it has been to us, in the wild primeval beauty of the nature it exhibits, of ancient rocks and still more ancient sea, with infinite detail of life and landscape interest between, the spirit and mind of man will surely find in it in the years and centuries to come an inspiration and a means of growth as essential to them ever and anon as are fresh air and sunshine to the body.

He also led fundraising for a new building, Emerson Hall,[8] to house the department, as well as helping the university acquire properties between Harvard Yard and the Charles River.

[5] Concerned about the future existence of his Old Farm property, Dorr reportedly offered it to Franklin D. Roosevelt as a summer retreat, but the President declined.

[1] A memorial stone was placed in his family lot at Mount Auburn Cemetery, in his native Massachusetts, where he was cremated;[11] his ashes were returned to Bar Harbor, where they were scattered.