In 1901, when did conservationists begin buying land on Mount Desert Island to create Acadia National Park?

More than a century before Acadia National Park officially existed, a small group of conservationists began quietly buying land on Mount Desert Island to protect its forests, mountains and coastline from unchecked development.

• Option 1: The beginning in 1901
• Option 2: Before 1890s
• Option 3: In the late 1800s
• Option 4: It was part of an earlier effort