Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
With three million visitors annually it is one of the most-visited parks in
the country. Still, even in the peak season of late July and the month of
August, there is stillness and solitude available to those willing to get up
a little earlier, explore some of the less-visited parts of the park, or wait
until evening when few cars and even fewer hikers and bikers venture
out.
Most of Acadia is located on Mount Desert Island, a knob of pink granite
sitting just offshore and connected to the mainland by a short bridge.
INTERESTING FACT:
MDI, as the island is called,
encompasses some 110 square miles, making it the na-
tion's third-largest island outside Hawaii and
Alaska. Of the lower states, only Long Island in New
York and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts are
larger.
Acadia is intertwined with the year-round communities of Bar Harbor,
Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor and Tremont. Isle Au Haut to the west,
reachable only by ferry or mail boat, and Schoodic Peninsula to the east,
a lovely rocky headland more than an hour's drive from the main portion
of the park, also attract many visitors.
Unique in the country, Acadia was a gift to the nation from early summer
residents. Appreciating the rare combination of rugged coastline, tower-
ing hills and crystal lakes, they set the land forever aside for the enjoy-
ment and pleasure of all. In 1919, Acadia became the first park east of the
Mississippi River. Its visitors following a tradiion of “rusticating,”
whereby early cottage dwellers spent their days in leisurely walks
through the hills and mountains engaged in serious conversation. The is-
land's network of trails was started privately by Village Improvement
Associations in the various towns.
John D Rockefeller, Jr.
Most prominent and generous of the donors who helped create
Acadia was the late John D. Rockefeller Jr., who donated more
than a third of the park's acreage. He also built some 55 miles of
beautifully engineered carriage roads, on which people bicycle,
walk, ride horses, and cross-country ski. Each graceful granite
arch bridge on the carriage roads is unique and worth a visit in it-
self.
