n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 8 5 5 PERSONALITIES CoUrTeSY PHoTo Style & Stables 10 BY SARAH MOORE As the world beckons, Ariana Rockefeller Bucklin treasures her ties to Mount Desert. before the U.S. wakes up, and before I go to the farm. In the afternoons I’ll schedule calls in for my business [arianrockefeller. com], work until dinnertime, and then ear- ly to bed. Technology is certainly helpful!” Her life of style and stables overlapped earlier this year, “when I was given the chance to design a handbag for the inau- gural Longines Masters of New York show jumping competition.” Heir to the Rock- efeller success machine, Ariana has a mea- sured view of failure. “You learn through mistakes made and corrected. I’ve learned so much over the years growing my brand and committing myself to an athletic ca- reer.” She even adapts a Teddy Roosevelt quote from Man in the Arena: “[S]he who W hile the Rockefeller name holds international currency, it carries more personal caché in Mount Desert Island, where her family has carved its mark into the physical and cultural landscape. For Ariana Rockefell- er Bucklin, granddaughter to Chase Man- hattan CEO David Rockefeller (1915-2017) and great-great granddaughter to patri- arch John. D Rockefeller (1839-1937), these shores represent the convergence of fam- ilies and a love story–she married Colby grad Matthew Bucklin (of Northeast Har- bor’s C.E. Bucklin & Sons family business) after a lifetime of shared summers. Ariana and Matthew’s wedding ceremony took place in Abby Aldrich’s historic garden in Seal Harbor. But after you’ve interned in the office of the secretary general of the United Nations, started your own handbag brand, and com- peted on the world stage as an equestri- an athlete, and grieved for your grandfa- ther who meant the world to you, what do you do? What does it mean to stand on the shoulders of some of the nation’s most pro- lific entrepreneurs? “I’m at once a member of my family and my own person,” Rocke- feller says. “I’ve always considered my her- itage both a privilege and an honor.” The Columbia graduate has spent periods of time abroad, in Hawaii and Brazil, perhaps testing the outer reach of her family ties. Now 35, she divides her time between training as an equestrian show jumper in England and Palm Springs and designing handbags in New York. She insists that the dichotomy of farm life and a cosmopolitan role in fashion are symbiotic. “I have to pri- oritize and plan out my time in the city be- tween competitions, so I’m always very pro- ductive and organized in a short amount of time. In England, I can work on emails at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if [s]he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that [her] place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither vic- tory or defeat.” This quote hopefully doesn’t relate to the thorough investigation Roos- evelt ordered on Rockefeller’s Standard Oil in 1904. Over 110 years since John Davidson Rockefeller first fell for Mount Desert, Ari- ana feels the tug of Maine like a hom- ing call. “I’ve spent every summer and al- most every Christmas in Maine since I was first brought there at two months old.” Christmas Eve meals on Mount Desert are a Rockefeller tradition that spans genera- tions. The carriage roads that John D. Jr. designed and built between 1913 and 1940 would later ignite his great-granddaughter’s love of horses. “I learned to ride on those trails. My grandfather drove a carriage al- most every day during the summer, as did his father. I always loved driving on the car- riage roads with Grandpa. I even learned a bit about the sport from Grandpa’s head coachman, Sem Groenewoud, when I wasn’t training with my show jumpers. My Aunt Eileen continues the tradition with her Morgan horses.” When David Rockefeller passed away last year, the billionaire (whose fortune was estimated at $3.3B) passed a baton of phi- lanthropy down to the younger generation. The Collection of Peggy and David Rock- efeller sold in its entirety at a charity auc- tion at Christie’s New York for $832.6M, a record-breaking total for a single auction. Ringing Point estate on MDI sold for $19M to charity. Ariana was allowed to choose one keepsake. She picked a bracelet Da- vid had once bought for Peggy McGrath. (Continued on page 95) I’ve spent every summer and almost every Christmas in Maine since I was first brought there at two months old.