Acadia National Park ⓘ

Native American peoples have inhabited the land we now call Maine since time immemorial. Today people from the four tribes—the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot—collectively known as the Wabanaki , or “People of the Dawnland” live throughout the state of Maine. Tribal governments have a government-to-government relationship with Acadia National Park. Generations ago, Wabanaki people traveled here overland and in seaworthy birchbark canoes. Setting up temporary camps near places like Somes Sound, they hunted, fished, gathered berries, harvested clams, and traded with other Wabanaki. Some called Mount Desert Island “Pemetic,” meaning “range of mountains.” This 'naming' was documented by the Wabanaki people guiding French colonizer Samuel de Champlain who first came to Mount Desert Island in 1604. Confronted with attempts to displace and erase them by European colonizers starting in the 1500s, Wabanaki people resisted and remained resilient. They shaped the history of their people and the place we now call Acadia National Park in the face of the colonial onslaught of guns, disease, and attempted genocide. Learn more in Ethnography: Asticou's Island Domain: Wabanaki Peoples at Mount Desert Island , Volume 1 and Volume 2

Though Acadia National Park lies in the Wabanaki homeland, for most of the last century, the federal government prohibited Wabanaki people from harvesting sweetgrass within the boundaries of Acadia National Park. Since 2015, the National Park Service has worked toward renewed gathering of certain plants or plant parts by federally recognized Indian tribes. This was a significant development for both national parks and the Tribes with whom they consult. It opened a path for Indigenous people to renew cultural practices and relations with valued places in their homelands.

Acadia partners with the nearby Abbe Museum , a museum that is committed to centering Indigenous people in their own histories, stories, and futures, and correcting harmful representations of the past. A Smithsonian affiliate, the museum holds the largest and best documented collection of Maine Indian basketry.

In addition, the park hosts the free, public Cultural Connections in the Park program every Wednesday from late June through September, in partnership with the Abbe Museum (sponsored by Dawnland, LLC, who operates Jordan Pond House and the Cadillac Mountain Gift Shop). Visit the park event calendar to view upcoming Cultural Connections programs.

A Lesson on the Muted Histories of the Schoodic Peninsula in Maine by Deirdre McGrath, PhD Student, Anthropology & Environmental Policy University of Maine

We would like to take you on a journey through time to learn about Wabanaki pasts in this place called Skutik , meaning the place of the fire in Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey (Passamaquoddy-Maliseet).

In the 1880s, a group of Harvard College students spent summers on Mount Desert Island; the Champlain Society did some of the first recorded detailed inventories of plants, birds, fish, geology, and waters of the island. Their citizen science (science that involves the participation of people who are not “professional scientists”) largely inspired the protection of Acadia as a national park. Their records continued to be used and referenced today to examine the impacts of climate change and other influences on Acadia's natural environment. In partnership with the local Mount Desert Island Historical Society, these efforts have been collected and digitized and will continue to grow over the years. In the 2000s Craig Greene, Glen Mittelhauser, and colleagues resurveyed the plant inventory begun by the Champlain Society members in 1880. They discovered that the plant communities in Acadia have changed dramatically over that time—one out of six species no longer occur in the park, many have declined in abundance, and several nonnative species have arrived and are becoming more common. The National Park Service is using this information to inform the management of invasive plants and the restoration of native plants in wetlands, on mountain summits, and in other areas of the park.

When Acadia was first established as Sieur de Monts National Monument, the major backers of the park’s creation (George Dorr, Charles William Eliot, John D. Rockefeller, and others) envisioned the park and the surrounding area becoming a retreat or field station for science. At the same time the park was protected, they helped to establish the Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, now world-class research institutions focusing on genetics and regenerative biology, respectively.

Early in Acadia’s history, the park hosted foundational research in ecology and geology. Acadia served as the setting for the first popular guide to the intertidal zone and first illustration of an intertidal food web. It has been an important contributor to studies of bird migration and animal ecology. In the 1950s Robert MacArthur studied warbler feeding habits in the park. His study yielded the niche differentiation theory and his main figure from that study has appeared in virtually every ecology textbook since the 1960s.

The last known nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons was reported on Mount Desert Island in 1956. By the mid-1960s, researchers determined that peregrines were no longer a breeding species in the eastern United States. Nest robbing, trapping, and shooting first contributed to their downfall, followed in the 1950s by ingestion of chemical pesticides and industrial pollutants. Occupying a position high on the food chain, peregrines are still exposed to high levels of chemical residues if they migrate to or eat migrant song birds from countries using pesticides now banned in the United States. As in other birds of prey, ingested chemical toxins accumulate in their bodies, causing reproductive failure and leading to the decline and eventual endangerment of the species. Acadia first participated in the reintroduction of peregrine falcons in 1984. The first successful nesting at Acadia in 35 years occurred in 1991. Since that time, at least one and sometimes four pairs have produced young in the park, bringing the total to more than 160 chicks. Learn more about Acadia's historic program on our Peregrine Falcons page.

Today, researchers recognize the value in these early studies, and have begun revisiting some of those data sets early researchers left behind. They are gaining important insights that are advancing science and informing the management of Acadia and other national parks. Scientists today are only able to revisit these studies because the scientists of yesterday carefully documented, preserved, and shared their data. Today’s researchers are continuing that tradition, sharing their data so that they are accessible to other researchers, as well as managers, educators, policy makers, and anyone interested in them. Park staff are also examining internal practices that have historically restricted Wabanaki access to their land, archeological objects and information. These historic practices not only impact our understanding this land and seascape that is and has been peopled by Wabanaki people for thousands of years but also the ability of Wabanaki people to connect with their homeland. You can find documentation, data, and papers resulting from research in Acadia National Park (and other national parks) in the National Park Service’s IRMA Portal or on our Science & Research page. If you have any sources of historic data from Acadia National Park that you would be willing to share, please email us .

The historical events, forces, and institutions of racism, sexism, inequality, and genocide thread through Acadia's landscape just like everywhere else. These are stories that often remain untold. Sometimes this is because history is often written by those who benefited from it, and the lives of women and people of color are often only found between the lines of written history. Other times it's because these stories may challenge our narratives of how things came to be. The story of the European colonization and settlement of coastal Maine is also the story of Wabanaki people who's strength and resilience ensured the survival of native people who still live here and throughout Maine, and continue to keep their traditions alive for future generations. Between the lines of the sidewalks and trails built by the civic groups that created Acadia National Park , is their role in relocating and banning the seasonal Wabanaki encampments from locations the association deemed necessary for other uses like hotels and wharves. Behind the achievements of Charles W. Eliot, a primary founder of Acadia, is his work as a prominent and outspoken Eugenicist, as were many in the conservation and wilderness preservation movements of the 19th century that led to the creation of the national parks.

The first meeting between the people of Pemetic and the Europeans is unknown, but a Frenchman, Samuel de Champlain , made the first important contribution to the historical record of Mount Desert Island. He led the expedition that landed on Mount Desert on September 5, 1604, and wrote in his journal, "The mountain summits are all bare and rocky..... I name it Isles des Monts Déserts ." Champlain's visit to the island 16 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock destined this land to become known as New France before it became New England .

In 1613, French Jesuits, welcomed by native people, established the first French mission in America on Mount Desert Island. They had just begun to build a fort, plant corn, and baptize the natives when an English ship commanded by Captain Samuel Argall destroyed their mission. The English victory doomed Jesuit ambitions on Mount Desert Island, leaving the land in a state of limbo lying between the French, firmly entrenched to the north, and the British, whose settlements in Massachusetts and southward were becoming increasingly numerous. No one wished to settle in this contested territory. For the next 150 years, the island's importance was primarily its use as a landmark for seamen.

There was a brief period when it seemed Mount Desert would again become a center of French activity. In 1688, Antoine Laumet, an ambitious young man who had immigrated to New France and bestowed upon himself the title Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac , asked for and received a hundred-thousand acres of land along the Maine coast, including all of Mount Desert Island. Cadillac's hopes of establishing a feudal estate in the New World, however, were short lived. Although he and his bride resided here for a time, they soon abandoned their enterprise. Cadillac later gained lasting recognition as the founder of Detroit.

In 1759, after a century and a half of conflict, British troops triumphed at Quebec, ending French dominion in Acadia. With Native Americans scattered and the fleur-de-lis banished, lands along the Maine coast opened for English settlement. Governor Francis Bernard of Massachusetts obtained a royal land grant on Mount Desert Island. In 1760, Bernard attempted to secure his claim by offering free land to settlers. Abraham Somes and James Richardson accepted the offer and settled their families at what is now Somesville.

The onset of the Revolutionary War ended Bernard's plans for Mount Desert Island. In the aftermath of the war, Bernard lost his claim, and the newly created United States of America granted the western half of Mount Desert Island to John Bernard, son of the governor, and the eastern half of the island to Marie Therese de Gregoire, granddaughter of Cadillac. Bernard and de Gregoire soon sold their landholdings to nonresident landlords.

Near present-day Somesville, English homesteaders Abraham and Hannah Somes and James and Rachel Richardson settled their families in 1761. Not far from this settlement, the Carroll Family built a home, representing a coastal Maine farm and the hard work of year-round residents of Mount Desert Island in the 1800s. Generations of the family lived at Carroll Homestead , where visitors can still visit and learn today.

By 1820, farming and lumbering vied with fishing and shipbuilding as the major occupations. Settlers converted hundreds of acres of trees into wood products ranging from schooners and barns to baby cribs and hand tools. Farmers harvested wheat, rye, corn, and potatoes. By 1850, the familiar sights of fishermen and sailors, fish racks and ship yards, revealed a way of life linked to the sea.

Artists and journalists—who revealed and popularized this island to the world in the mid-1800s. Painters of the Hudson River School, including Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, glorified Mount Desert Island with their brushstrokes, inspiring patrons and friends to flock here. Following in the footsteps of Cole and Church came other artists such as Clement Drew, Julia Whiting, and Sanford Robinson Gifford who sought to capture the relatively unknown beauty of Mount Desert Island. Soon after these artists exhibited their work in major cities such as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, tourists began arriving by steamboats and yachts, establishing the village of Bar Harbor as a popular resort in the summer for the wealthy elite.

Undaunted by crude accommodations and simple food, these tourists sought out local fishermen and farmers to put them up for a modest fee. Summer after summer, the 'rusticators' returned to renew friendships with local islanders and, most of all, to savor the fresh salt air, beautiful scenery, and relaxed pace. Soon the villagers' cottages and fishermen's huts filled to overflowing, and by 1880, 30 hotels competed for vacationers' dollars. Tourism was becoming the major industry. Wabanaki people, resilient in the face attempted genocide, adapted and marketed basketry and other crafts to tourists as they continued to be pushed off of their native land by the growing European population.

For a select handful of Americans, the 1880s and the "Gay Nineties" meant affluence on a scale without precedent. Mount Desert Island, still remote from the cities of the east, became a retreat for prominent people of the times. The Rockefellers, Morgans, Fords, Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Astors chose to spend their summers here. Not content with the simple lodgings then available, these families transformed the landscape of Mount Desert Island with elegant estates, euphemistically called "cottages." Many of these weather summer residents formed the civic groups that eventually founded Acadia National Park . Although boat rides, picnics, and hikes of an earlier era continued, luxury, refinement, and large gatherings begin to replace them as the standard day-to-day activities. In the early 20th century, the fashionable nature of summers on Mount Desert Island began to fade and the Great Depression continued this trend. The momental flames of the Great Fire of 1947 consumed many of the great estates, but many still remain on the island today.

Mount Desert Island’s present-day trail system evolved over centuries of human use and settlement of the land. From American Indians who blazed trails on hunting forays, to European settlers who connected villages and harvested forests, their activities provided transportation routes on the island long before the first roads were built.

In the mid-1800s, rusticators came to the island to enjoy its beauty and to escape the bustle of large cities. They followed many of the existing paths and trails up mountains, through woods, and along ocean shoreline. Among the rusticators were Hudson River School artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. Their renderings of the island attracted city dwellers to experience the Maine coast.

Many of those who traveled to the island were very wealthy. They built 80- and 100-room “cottages” in which to pass their summers. Some cottagers socialized at tennis matches, lawn parties, and horse shows. Others, like the rusticators before them, were lured by the natural beauty of the island and preferred hiking. By the end of the 1800s, an era of active trail building had begun. Trails lost their utilitarian origins and were transformed into paths that promoted interaction with, and enjoyment of, the natural landscape.

In 1891, the first extensive trail plans were drafted. Much of the trail building was sponsored by village improvement societies. An innovative approach to funding construction was the creation of memorial paths. Individuals who financed a trail could name it after the person of their choice. Kurt Diederich’s Climb, which ascends Dorr Mountain’s east face, is an example of a memorial path. Plaques were often set along the trails in memory of the person who was being honored. Actual trail construction took innovative forms as well. Waldron Bates , chair of the Roads and Paths Committee of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association from 1900 to 1909, was the first to incorporate stone stairways and iron rung ladders into trails to traverse cliffs, talus slopes, and other steep areas. An example of his work is Gorham Mountain’s Cadillac Cliffs Trail. A plaque at the head of the trail memorializes Bates as “Pathmaker.”

Others who followed Waldron Bates carried on his legacy of innovation and craftsmanship. Rudolph Brunnow built the Precipice Trail over the formerly impassable cliffs of Champlain Mountain, and George Dorr, one of Acadia’s founders and the park’s first superintendent, promoted memorial paths. He oversaw the construction of several stairway trails leading from Sieur de Monts Spring to the summit of the mountain that now bears his name. From 1913 to 1916, six memorial and other approach trails would be built in the spring area by Dorr in conjunction with the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association. He hoped this beautiful system of connector trails would bolster the case for the proposed national monument. He would include photographs in the documents they submitted to President Woodrow Wilson to convince him to agree on the national monument designation. Dorr credits Andrew Liscomb for layout and construction of the trails at Sieur de Monts. With over twenty years' experience as the Superintendent of Paths, Liscomb led a skilled crew of trail builders and masons, as evidenced by the work that is still present. Dorr and Liscomb chose routes both narrowly winding among boulders and also sweeping and open along ledges and through talus fields. They used a combination of elements for these trails: tightly filled steps, coping stones, retaining walls, and solid stone pavements. These long sections of native stones laid in a row served as a continuous stone tread way. They are some of the most distinctive features introduced during construction of the memorial paths, particularly on Kane Path and Beachcroft Path. Iron was used sparingly on Beachcroft Path and Homans Path, but extensively on the Emery Path to hold steps, coping stones, and retaining walls in place.

By 1915 more than 200 miles of trails existed on the island. That same year, the state of Maine lifted the island’s ban on automobiles. By 1920 the major trail building era had ended, while an interest in building motor roads intensified. In 1929 the Seal Harbor Village Improvement Society recorded that “…an inevitable first effect of the oncoming of the automobile was the banishment of the horse and the desertion of foot paths and trails.”

The Great Depression, however, brought the New Deal and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to Acadia National Park. Two camps were established on the island in 1933, one on McFarland Hill (now park headquarters), and the other just south of Long Pond on the west side of the island. A good deal of their work involved trails. East-side crews primarily rehabilitated existing trails constructed by village improvement societies. West-side crews expanded the trail system on newly acquired tracts along the western mountains. The Perpendicular and Great Pond Trails are examples of work completed by the CCC.

Today, hikers can follow the footsteps of early settlers, American Indians, and outdoors enthusiasts of another era. Acadia’s historic trails are still as challenging to present-day hikers as to those of generations past, and their scenic values and ties to the landscape evoke the same sense of awe experienced long ago.

At Sieur de Monts, there are six memorial paths: Emery Path, Homans Path, Schiff Path, Beachcroft Path, Kurt Diederich's Climb, Jesup Path, and Kane Path. Across the park, there are several other paths constructed during 1924 to 1930: A. Murray Young Path, Gorge Path, Canon Brook Path, Giant Slide Trail, Gorham Mountain Trail, and Cadillac Cliffs Trail. Notable trails constructed by the CCC are Ocean Path and Perpendicular Trail.

Although present-day visitors traditionally drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain before dawn to witness the first sunlight striking the American continent, the roads of Mount Desert Island were not always so accommodating. Since time immemorial, Wabanaki people traveled throughout the island using a sophisticated network of footpaths. When European colonists arrived in 1761, they too used these paths, widening many to make room for horses and buckboard wagons. The trail to the top of Cadillac Mountain, for instance, was widened and made a toll road during the 1850s. Early European settlers to Mount Desert Island quickly began constructing their own roads in order to enhance economic and social interaction. As early as 1777, residents had connected the island communities of Bar, Bass, and Southwest harbors with crude roads that were often impassable during inclement weather.

Acadia’s motor road system was constructed over a 36 year period. The planning and design were not without challenges resulting from a difficult topography, private and public land ownership, economic verses conservation interests, and the financial constraints brought on by the Great Depression and World War II. Non-contiguous segments of the motor road system were built from 1922 to 1958, providing work for both locals and those in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the 1930s and 1940s respectively. In total, the system was completed in eighteen different phases: sixteen of them on the eastern side of Mount Desert Island (twelve segments making up the Park Loop Road and four spurs that connect to it) and two segments making up the Schoodic Loop Road on Schoodic Peninsula.

George Dorr, a central figure in the park’s establishment and its first superintendent, had a vision in 1922 for connecting the Eagle Lake and Jordan Pond areas and allowing access to reach Cadillac Mountain. John D. Rockefeller brought these ideas to fruition by personally funding most of the motor road projects, in addition to expanding access to the park on his famous carriage roads. Using his connections to leadership in the National Park Service and wealth to acquire and donate lands, Rockefeller played a critical role in setting a standard for roadways and landscapes in national parks. Rockefeller planned for a "Park Loop Road" that would provide access for visitors around the island and show off the varied landscape of mountains and valleys carved by glaciers, in addition to the tremendous coastline. Construction begin in 1927 at the northern end of Eagle Lake to the Jordan Pond Tea House, and continued with small connecting road project for the next few decades.

The motor roads were praised for their scenic quality and careful consideration of moving with the land, but local opposition still came from those who feared negative impacts to the area. Rockefeller's original hope for the Park Loop Road was ultimately altered by this community opposition, but the final segment was completed by the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) in 1958. The key to success in Acadia’s motor road system was collaboration between engineers, landscape architects, conservationists, local laborers, the NPS, and BPR. Engineers including Leo Grossman, Walters Hill, and Paul Simpson helped with projects including the Cadillac Mountain Road project and carriage roads. Benjamin Breeze and Charles Peterson, landscape architects with the NPS, and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. planned and designed several motor roads segments and other park projects. Hundreds of skilled laborers made up the crews assigned to construction projects across the park. The completion of the motor road system, and the carriage road system and trail network, shows a level of skill, care, and passion from the various heads and hands involved—many of them nameless in our records. Their contributions can still be recognized today in the transportation network laid out for future generations of park visitors.

Spiral transitions and superelevations are employed as road construction techniques which widen and bank the curves and allow drivers to maintain speed and transition smoothly into the curves. The Cadillac Mountain Road is a good example of these techniques.

The roads intentionally move with the land, allowing for visitors to view and experience the landscape without sacrificing the topography. The motor road system was integrated with the carriage road system and hiking trails, creating a network for visitors to explore Acadia by car, foot, carriage, and later bicycle. Despite a long construction period, a consistent use of the Rustic Design is still visible today – where roads blend with natural features as much as possible. Much of the vegetation along the roads was destroyed in the Fire of 1947 but have since rebounded. These plants along the road shoulders and in wetlands, meadows, and forests continue to help blend the roads with the park’s landscape.

After Rockefeller’s death in 1960, the combination of lessened interest, limited staff, and shrinking budgets for maintenance meant motor roads and carriage roads feel into disrepair. With the assistance of special projects, volunteers, and donations by Friends of Acadia, the historic motor roads were rehabilitated and continue to be maintained – offering the same park driving tour experience intended by the visionaries, planners, engineers, and designers.

In recent years, transportation issues at the park have become more complex as Acadia's visitation increases. Traffic congestion from private vehicles, concessions buses, commercial tour coaches, public transportation shuttle buses, and bicycles creates public safety issues, impacts to the historic motor road system, and impacts to the park's natural and cultural resources. In order to address the best way to provide efficient and safe transportation, high quality experiences for visitors, and ensure protection of park resources, the National Park Service began developing a transportation plan in 2015. After years of planning, public involvement, and revisions, the park released a Final Transportation Plan/Environmental Impact Statement in 2019. Full implementation of the plan may take a decade or more and initial work began in 2020 with the vehicle reservation system .

Forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads, the gift of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and family, weave around the mountains and valleys of Acadia National Park. Rockefeller, a skilled horseman, wanted to travel on motor-free byways via horse and carriage into the heart of Mount Desert Island. His construction efforts from 1913 to 1940 resulted in roads with sweeping vistas and close-up views of the landscape. His love of road building ensured a state-of-the-art system.

Rockefeller’s interest in road building grew naturally from his father’s. John D. Rockefeller Sr., the founder of Standard Oil, had built and landscaped carriage roads on his Ohio and New York estates. From his father the junior Rockefeller learned many techniques that he applied to building his Mount Desert Island carriage roads.

Acadia’s carriage roads are the best example of broken-stone roads—a type of road commonly used at the turn of the 20th century—in America today. They are true roads, approximately 16 feet wide, constructed with methods that required much hand labor.

The roads were engineered to contend with Maine’s wet weather. Stone culverts, wide ditches, three layers of rock, and a substantial six- to eight-inch crown ensured good drainage. Rather than flattening hillsides to accommodate the roads, breast walls and retaining walls were built to preserve the line of hillsides and save trees. Rockefeller, naturally gifted with the eye of a landscape architect, aligned the roads to follow the contours of the land and to take advantage of scenic views. He graded the roads so they were not too steep or too sharply curved for horse-drawn carriages.

Road crews quarried island granite for road material and bridge facing. Roadsides were landscaped with native vegetation such as blueberries and sweet fern. The use of native materials helped blend the roads into the natural landscape.

Rockefeller participated in the construction process. He walked areas staked out for road alignment and observed work in progress. He knew the laborers by name and used experts to design the bridges and engineer the roads. Throughout it all, he paid rapt attention to the most minute details, from the placement of coping stones to the cost of a running foot of road.

The result of Rockefeller’s vision and attention to detail is an integrated system of carriage roads that blends harmoniously with the landscape.

Maintaining the extensive carriage road system is no easy task, and the National Park Service could not do it alone. Between 1992 and 1995, an extensive rehabilitation of the carriage roads was financed by federal construction funds along with matching private funds from Friends of Acadia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the outstanding natural beauty, ecological vitality, and cultural distinctiveness of Acadia National Park and surrounding communities. Woody vegetation was removed from roads, shoulders, and ditches, and drainage systems were reestablished to arrest erosion. The crown and subgrade layers were restored, and new surface materials were applied to replace thousands of cubic yards washed away over the years. Coping stones were reset or replaced, and some of the historic vistas that once greeted horseback riders, carriage drivers, and walkers were reopened.

To ensure that the carriage roads will continue to be maintained close to their original condition, the park has formed a partnership with Friends of Acadia. In 1995, Friends of Acadia established an endowment to help protect the carriage roads in perpetuity. Each year, the organization contributes more than $200,000 from this endowment to the park for carriage road maintenance. Volunteers working under the guidance of Friends of Acadia contribute thousands of hours cleaning ditches and culverts, clearing brush, and assisting park staff with other restoration projects. The commitment demonstrated by Friends of Acadia in maintaining the carriage roads is only one of many ways the organization helps support the park.

A portion of park user fees, authorized by the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program, also helps fund carriage road maintenance. Between 2001 and 2004, federal funds and park user fees paid for a major re-pointing, cleaning, and water-proofing of all carriage road bridges within the park. User fees have also funded annual projects, including repairing stone walls and opening overgrown vistas. More than one hundred vistas have been cleared in the past ten years.

Park volunteers, visitors, and groups like Friends of Acadia are continuing a tradition of philanthropy begun by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and other early conservationists. Their valuable contributions of time, effort, and funds help protect the park and improve the quality of your experience. For more information about joining in these efforts, stop at Hulls Cove Visitor Center or visit the Friends of Acadia website . Such generous spirit allows the park to better meet its mission of protecting and preserving its cultural and natural resources for present and future generations.

After the colonization of Mount Desert Island and the subsequent settlers were joined by rusticators (wealthy summer residents and tourists), the communities of Mount Desert Island (MDI) and the surrounding area grew. The increased in tourist presence and large summer residences put pressure on the island infrastructure. In the late 1800s, various summer and year-round residents formed civic groups to manage the development. Their concerns ranged from sanitation and cultural events to the building of hiking trails.

The formation of the Hancock County Trustees for Public Reservations and the Village Improvement Associations were landmark moments in the formulation of Acadia National Park. Though they may not have envisioned their own 'America's Best Idea' in their backyard when they formed, these groups built an island wide trail system and their wealthiest members gathered together to purchase land that would later be donated to the United States government to make a national park.

Prominent members Charles W. Eliot and George B. Dorr joined philanthropist and summer resident John D. Rockefeller in pursuing national park status, and in 1916, presented 5,000 acres to the American people in the form of a national monument, penned into existence by President Woodrow Wilson. Dorr presented 5,000 acres of land to the federal government, and in 1916 President Wilson announced the creation of Sieur de Monts National Monument. More property was acquired and Dorr continued efforts to obtain full national park status for the monument. In 1919, President Wilson signed the act establishing Lafayette National Park and Dorr became the first park superintendent. Congress authorized the National Park Service to accept a donation of land on the Schoodic Peninsula in 1929 when the park’s current name, Acadia National Park, was adopted.

Acadia National Park was the first national park created from private lands gifted to the public through the efforts of conservation-minded citizens. These efforts contributed to the creation and development of the land conservation movement. These conservation efforts continue today through the stewardship of what is today the largest conservation easement program in the national park system and generous private philanthropy. Like much of the conservation movement in the United States, it cannot go untold that this conservation legacy grew from a foundation of the forced eradication and displacement of native people from their homeland.

Many people have and continue to shape Acadia through their efforts in protection and conservation of the park. Although the park’s timeline often highlights influential men, numerous women played significant roles in stewardship, philanthropy, and scientific research at Acadia. They contributed in the fields of botany, geology, preservation, landscape design, teaching, journalism, and more—leaving marks not just in Acadia’s history, but that of Mount Desert Island. And for thousands of years previous, women of the Wabanaki people lived on and took care of this land—passing down knowledge and wisdom through generations. Women of Acadia does not refer to just women from the past century, but also achievements, progress, and accomplishments made now. Currently, there are women leading and working in the fields of interpretation, natural and cultural history, law enforcement, education, maintenance, and administration. Those featured below are only a sampling of the countless women who have played a part in the creation, protection, and continued appreciation of Acadia. Learn more about Acadia’s women’s history and be inspired by their stories and impacts felt today.

After a long Maine winter, spring is always eagerly anticipated. This was especially true in 1947; the gloominess of World War II still lingered and everyone looked towards the weather to lift their spirits. It rained continually through April, May, and most of June. Finally, at the end of June, the sun came out, temperatures soared, and summer finally emerged. But weather patterns continued to be odd that year. Through the summer and into the fall, Maine received only 50% of its normal rainfall. Vegetation became bone dry and water supplies dwindled. Most residents did not worry and assumed rain would come eventually. The island enjoyed one of the most beautiful Indian summers in memory. But the autumn rains never came, and by mid-October, Mount Desert Island was experiencing the driest conditions ever recorded. The stage was set for a disastrous blaze.

On Friday, October 17, 1947, at 4 p.m., the fire department received a call from Mrs. Gilbert, who lived near Dolliver’s dump on Crooked Road west of Hulls Cove. She reported smoke rising from a cranberry bog between her home and the dump. No one knows what started the fire. It could have been cranberry pickers smoking cigarettes in the bog. Or perhaps it was sunlight shining through a piece of broken glass in the dump that acted like an incendiary magnifying glass. Whatever the cause, once ignited, the fire smoldered underground. From this quiet beginning arose an inferno that burned nearly half of the eastern side of Mount Desert Island and made international news.

In its first three days, the fire burned a relatively small area, blackening only 169 acres. But on October 21, strong winds fanned the flames. The blaze spread rapidly and raged out of control, engulfing over 2,000 acres. Personnel from the Army Air Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, University of Maine forestry program, and Bangor Theological Seminary joined local firefighting crews. National Park Service employees flew in from parks throughout the East and additional experts in the West were put on standby.

The pace of the blaze intensified, and nearly 2,300 acres burned on October 22. The fire crossed Route 233 and continued along the western shore of Eagle Lake. On the morning of October 23, the wind shifted, pushing one finger of the fire toward Hulls Cove. Firefighters shifted their efforts in an attempt to squelch the threat to that community. But in the afternoon, the wind suddenly turned again and increased to gale proportions as a dry cold front moved through, sending the inferno directly toward Bar Harbor. In less than three hours the wildfire traveled six miles, leaving behind a three-mile-wide path of destruction. The fire swept down Millionaires’ Row, an impressive collection of majestic summer cottages on the shore of Frenchman Bay. Sixty-seven of these seasonal estates were destroyed. The fire skirted the business district, but razed 170 permanent homes and five large historic hotels in the area surrounding downtown Bar Harbor.

Bar Harbor residents not actively engaged in firefighting tried to find safety, fleeing first to the athletic field and later to the town pier. At one point all roads from the town were blocked by flames, so fishermen from nearby Winter Harbor, Gouldsboro, and Lamoine prepared to help with a mass exodus by boat. At least 400 people left by sea. Finally, by 9 p.m., bulldozers opened a pathway through the rubble on Route 3 and a caravan of 700 cars carrying 2,000 people began the slow trip to safety in Ellsworth. According to eyewitness reports, it was a terrifying drive—cars were pelted by sparks, and flames flickered overhead. But the motorcade was orderly and successful, an uplifting end to a day that saw close to 11,000 additional acres blackened.

Still the fire continued to burn. From Bar Harbor, the blaze raced down the coast almost to Otter Point, engulfing and destroying the Jackson Laboratory on its way. The fire blew itself out over the ocean in a massive fireball. But that wasn’t the end of the destruction. Almost 2,000 more acres burned before the fire was declared under control on October 27. Organic soil and vegetation on the forest floor, along with matted tree roots infiltrating deeply around granite boulders, aided stubborn underground fires. Even weeks later, after rain and snow had fallen, fire still smoldered below ground. The fire was not pronounced completely out until 4 p.m. on November 14, nearly one month after it began.

By the end, 17,188 acres burned and more than 10,000 acres were in Acadia National Park. Property damage exceeded $23 million dollars. Considering the magnitude of the fire, loss of human life had been minimal. An elderly man returned to his home to save his cat and was never seen alive again. A car accident claimed the lives of an air force officer and a local teenage girl. A man and woman, already ill, succumbed to heart attacks. An unknown number of animals died in the blaze, but park rangers believe that most outran the fire and found safety in ponds and lakes.

Once the fire was over, it was time to start anew. Two crews, one hired by the park and one hired by the Rockefeller family, logged selected park areas for timber salvage and clean-up. Some timber was milled, slash was burned, and other logs, still visible today, were left to prevent soil erosion.

Nature, however, played the predominant role in the island’s restoration. The forests that exist today regrew naturally. Wind carried seeds back into burned areas, and some deciduous trees regenerated by stump sprouts or suckers. Today’s forest, however, is often different than what grew before the fire. Spruce and fir that reigned before the fire have given way to sun-loving trees, such as birch and aspen. But these deciduous trees are short-lived. As they grow and begin to shade out the forest floor, they provide a nursery for the shade-loving spruce and fir that may eventually reclaim the territory.

Fire has an important role in nature. It clears away mature growth, opening areas to the sun-loving species that are food for wildlife. The fire of 1947 increased diversity in the composition and age structure of the park's forests. It even enhanced the scenery. Today, instead of one uniform evergreen forest, we are treated to a brilliant mix of red, yellow, and orange supplied by the new diverse deciduous forests.

Bar Harbor, too, was changed by the fire. Most of the permanent residents rebuilt their homes, but many of the grand summer cottages were not replaced. In fact, many of the seasonal families never returned. The estates on Millionaires' Row have been replaced by motels that house the ever-increasing tourist population. But the fire alone cannot be blamed for ending the island’s once-grand "cottage era." The opulent lifestyle had already been suffering from the effects of the newly invented income tax and the Depression. The destructive flames merely provided a final blow.

The fire on Mount Desert Island was publicized in headlines in newspapers around the world because the island was a renowned summer retreat for the wealthy. But actually, the fall of 1947 was a dry one throughout the state, and many serious fires occurred. State-wide, more than 200,000 acres, 851 permanent homes, and 397 seasonal cottages were destroyed in "the year Maine burned."

Seeking out these memorials will take you on a journey to little known corners of the island—and to places you might have passed many times without a second thought as to the story behind the plaque or stone or sign. - Donald P. Lenahan, author of The Memorials of Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park is comprised almost entirely of once privately owned land that has been donated to the public. Beginning in the early 1900s, many different people and organizations contributed land or funded trail projects, sometimes in memory of a particular person. Preservation of this area was a meaningful and important part of life for many residents. The park today contains a wealth of memorials that give us information into its history, establishment, and management. Like the park's formations present natural history, these more recent signs do the same for some of our cultural history. Although most memorials are found within Acadia, some are along historic trails in the surrounding communities. Many of these trails existed prior to the creation of the park and are part of a network that extends all across Mount Desert Island—connecting people to the natural wonders found inside and outside the park. In addition to the physical memorials, others donated money and/or land for the establishment of the park. Some have trails and mountains named in their honor, others do not. Memorials were just one method of showing appreciation and gratitude for contributions made to Acadia, but currently no additional memorials are allowed. Suggested reading for additional information includes The Memorials of Acadia National Park by Donald P. Lenahan.

Explore a selection of memorial plaques found along trails, parking areas, and overlooks, and read about what legacy was left behind. Memorial paths at Sieur de Monts are also included. This list is not exhaustive, but does include people spanning centuries and their contributions to the park. Please be respectful of the memorials and surrounding environments, as some are experiencing wear or resource impacts. The locations below are all safe to access.

The year is 1933, and the country is mired in the darkest days of the Great Depression. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has just taken office after a landslide victory, promising a “New Deal” for the American people. He seems optimistic, but for most hope is hard to find. Many are on welfare, waiting in bread lines or at soup kitchens. Others beg from door to door for food or spare change to feed their families. One out of every four workers is unemployed.

Those were the days of desperation out of which the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created. Roosevelt saw an opportunity to mobilize hundreds of thousands of young men and put them to work in the service of nature. This “Tree Army,” as it became known, would be stationed in forests, parks, and rangelands throughout the United States and complete projects that would benefit both the land and CCC participants. In a letter to Congress, FDR wrote, “More important, however, than the material gains, will be the moral and spiritual value of such work.” It was a time when people needed not just a job, but a purpose.

Within three months after the bill was signed, approximately 275,000 young men were enrolled in the CCC looking for work and a way to provide for their families. As one of the “boys,” you were paid $30 per month, $25 of which was sent directly home. In return, you were expected to work six days a week, live in camp, and abide by the rules. At the end of the day, the food was hot and plentiful. Many were getting three square meals a day for the first time in their lives.

The American people weren’t the only ones facing hard times. Across the country, natural resources were being lost to poor conservation, heavy use, and severe drought. In Maine, one of the newer national parks was struggling. Even though Acadia National Park had been created 17 years earlier, it was still rural, small, and undeveloped. Most areas were overgrown and inaccessible, and the facilities were inadequate for the park’s large number of visitors.

Superintendent George Dorr desperately wanted to develop the area and saw a huge opportunity in the CCC. He petitioned Roosevelt for a camp to be stationed at Acadia. His wish became reality when one of the program’s earliest camps was established at Eagle Lake, the current site of park headquarters. Soon a second camp was established near Southwest Harbor, the Great Pond Camp. Out of more than 4,000 camps that would eventually be created, only 100 would run the entire span of the program, including the two on Mount Desert Island.

During the nine years the CCC was stationed at Acadia, they completed hundreds of projects. The majority of these were in forestry, such as fire fighting, fuel reduction, and disease control. The “boys” also performed most of the work in constructing the park’s two campgrounds, Blackwoods and Seawall. Their most enduring and endearing successes, though, are the stunning and unusual trails that lead hikers into the heart of Acadia, such as the Ocean Path and Perpendicular Trail. Granite blocks weighing more than a ton were carefully cut and laid by hand. Thousands of dead or downed trees were cleared. The work was hard, but fulfilling, and through their efforts, the CCC opened, protected, and beautified Acadia National Park.

Even though the program ended in 1942, the legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps lives on. More than three million participants gained new skills that they could use to find work or build a career. Hundreds of millions of trees were planted in forests across the country. Thousands of miles of trails were built. Out of America’s dark days came the largest conservation project and peacetime mobilization in history. It was a unique movement to restore, cherish, and save our treasured places.

The benefits to the men and the land were many, but the ones who benefit the most are those who come after—the visitors of today and of future generations. They will walk the trails, camp under the stars, and sit in the shade of the trees. They are the most fortunate. They represent the Tree Army’s greatest success.

More Information The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933–1942: An Administrative History , by John C. Paige

What if Acadia National Park (located in Hancock County, Maine) did not exist? What would Mount Desert Island, Schoodic Peninsula, or Isle au Haut be like without a park to protect mountains, shoreline, and woodlands? It’s difficult to know, but we can assume that forests would have been harvested and much shoreline currently open to the public would be off-limits due to private ownership. Perhaps condominiums would dot mountain heights, affecting the scenic vistas that are now protected. Because Acadia does exist, no one will ever know what could have been. The Hancock County Board of Trustees played a pivotal role in the founding and success of Acadia National Park.

On a cold winter day in the Boston home of Charles W. Eliot , president emeritus of Harvard University, and a summer resident of Mount Desert Island. He was looking through the papers of his deceased son when he came across an article written by him for Garden and Forest , noting that the increase in private ownership in Maine might eliminate public access to its scenic beauties. The younger Eliot wrote:

"It is time decisive action was taken, and if the state of Maine should…encourage the formation of associations for the purpose of preserving chosen parts of her coast scenery, she would not only do herself honor, but would secure for the future an important element in her material prosperity."

Mount Desert Island no doubt played a part in developing in the son, Charles Eliot, a keen eye for, and love of, natural beauty. He spent many summers exploring the island on an intimate level, as a member of the Champlain Society, a group of college students that studied the natural sciences and performed field work from their base camp on Somes Sound.

Charles Eliot became a landscape architect with the Olmsted firm in Boston, pioneering in developing design plans for preserving outstanding natural features in parks, while retaining their regional character. His defense for preserving a stand of virgin trees led to the formation of the Trustees of Public Reservations in Massachusetts. His work ended prematurely with his death in 1897.

Inspired by the article, Charles W. Eliot brought his son’s ideas to Mount Desert Island. The atmosphere on the island was receptive. Since the 1880s, others beguiled by the island’s beauty had organized themselves into public-spirited Village Improvement Societies, located in Bar Harbor, Seal Harbor, and Northeast Harbor. Their concerns ranged from sanitation to cultural events, and to the building of hiking trails. Eliot proposed to them to create an organization to set aside special lands. The response of the Village Improvement Societies was enthusiastic. Committees were formed, and on September 12, 1901, the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations was incorporated for the purpose of "…acquiring, owning and holding lands and other property in Hancock County for free public use."

Donations of land were slow to come in at first, but five years after the inception of the Trustees, they were presented with a large tract encompassing the Bowl and the Beehive. When timber harvesting threatened Cadillac Mountain, the Trustees acquired its western slope in a tract that also included Pemetic and Bubble Mountains. The work of the Trustees gained steam. Donors presented gifts of land ranging from an acre or two to preserve a brook or favorite view, to much larger, wild tracts. Some land was purchased with aid from the island’s water companies to protect watersheds of lakes and ponds used as public water supplies, further preserving undeveloped tracts.

The efforts of the Trustees were not without criticism. The withdrawal of so much land from town tax rolls provoked a challenge in the Maine legislature to repeal the group’s tax-exempt status. Without it, the Trustees could not afford to retain their lands. The measure was defeated, but Trustee George B. Dorr feared they would be challenged again, and he believed the only way to truly protect Trustee lands was to attain national park status. With Charles W. Eliot’s blessing, George B. Dorr pursued national park status, and in 1916, presented 5,000 acres to the American people in the form of a national monument, penned into existence by President Woodrow Wilson. An act of Congress in 1919 designated Acadia as the first national park east of the Mississippi River.

"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."

George B. Dorr’s words are still relevant today as Acadia National Park journeys into a new century. Thanks to the good stewardship of the park and its resources, Acadia is still much the same as when its lands were held by the Trustees. It is each generation’s responsibility to ensure this magnificent gift, enjoyed by millions, endures into the next century and beyond.

The Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations still exists today, maintaining the 300-acre Woodlawn estate in Ellsworth, Maine. Built for Colonel John Black in the 1820s, it was bequeathed to the Trustees in 1928 and can still be toured today. Today, Friends of Acadia follows in the footsteps of the Trustees. It is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the long-term protection of the natural and cultural resources of Acadia National Park and its region. Meet some of the key players in the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations today and learn more about their role in founding Acadia .

By the time the Northeast harbor Village Improvement Society (VIS) was formed in 1897, there were already many trails in he vicinity of Northeast Harbor. Like the Bar Harbor VIA, the Northeast Harbor VIS established finance, entertainment, sanitary, roads, paths, and trees committees. James Gardiner served as the first chairmen of the Committee of Roads, Paths, and Trees from 1897 to 1910. During this period, path building was carried out with the same enthusiasm as in the Bar Harbor area. In 1909, the town of Mount Desert took over responsibility for constructing and maintaining sidewalks and roads. This allowed the Northeast Harbor VIA to concentrate on the maintenance of wood paths. From 1910 to 1913, William S. Grant, Jr. served as chairman of the Committee on Trails and Paths. In his 1911 annual report, Grant expresses his dismay about the trail damage caused by wood harvesting. He describes the impact on the trails as "depriving them of shade and in some cases making it difficult to follow the trail through the brush and debris that are carelessly left behind." Grant recognized the efforts of the Hancock County Trustees of public Reservations and the importance of land protection to both preserve the natural scenery and insure access to mountain summits and other natural areas. Dr. Joseph Tunis serves as chairman of the committee from 1913 to 1920. Tunis embarked on an ambitious program of trail construction and five new trails were added in 1914. With the removal of the automobile ban in 1915, bridle paths and sidewalks were built for separation from unwanted automobile traffic.

The Seal Harbor Village Improvement Society (SHVIS) was incorporated in 1900. At this time, existing foot paths includes remnants of old logging roads and a few paths used by early rusticators, such as the Seaside Path from the Seaside Inn to Jordan Pond. Beginning in 1890, the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association also built paths to Seal Harbor to improve pedestrian connections between the two villages. Since the inception of the SHVIS, there was an active roads and paths committee. The purpose of the committee, as stated in the bylaws, was to "improve, so far as funds permit, the conditions of the roads, paths, sidewalks and signposts, and to attend the preservation of trees and plants." Early path work focused on trails in and around the village. Path Committee chairmen John Van Santwoord, Edward Lothrup Rand, and Joseph Allen were particularly energetic path builders.

The Southweest Harbor Village Improvement Association (SWVIA) was incorporated in 1914, recognizing the need to integrate the interests of year-round and summer residents and visitors. The organization's stated purpose was the "active cooperation of the permanent citizens with the summer residents and visitors in making such use of the remarkable natural advantages and beauty of the place as to render it a more delightful village to live in and visit." By 1914, there was already an extensive network of trails on the western side of the island including trails to all the major peaks. Many of these trails were early logging roadds that had fallen into disuse, while others had been used by toursts since the mid-1800s. Water Buell served as the first Path commitee chairman for the Southwetst Harbor VIA and imporved existing trails and cosntructed several new trails. Few records of the Southwest Harbor Village Improvement Association though some records can be found in the other VIA records. The formation of a public reservation (later to become Acadia National Park) on the eastern (and opposite) side of the siland had only a limited impact ont he work of the SWVIA. Most of the lands on the western side of the island, where Southwest Harbor is located, remained in private hands until the 1920s.

The place we now call Acadia National Park has been peopled for more than 12,000 years. The stories of this place are weaved throughout the land and sea . They start in the past and thread through today into tomorrow. Explore the many stories of the living cultures within and around the living landscape that is Acadia National Park.

This place has been known by many names through time; sometimes multiple different names at the same time. Pemetic. Mount Desert. Schoodic. Sieur de Monts. Lafayette. Acadia. Dawnland. Homeland. In its preservation as a national park, we can look back at the forces in time that led to the creation of 'Acadia National Park.' The path from colonization to early tourism to the formation of civic groups who eventually proposed and created Acadia National Park was far from a straight line. But each step along the way planted a stone along the trail to becoming Acadia National Park. Along the way, a world-renowned network of historic trails , motor roads , and carriage roads and bridges built the 'park-itecture' that now defines Acadia National Park to the world.

Acadia is home to a diversity of wildlife, from microorganisms living in tidepools to larger animals on land and in water.

These small, often misunderstood animals lead incredible lives. Learn about them and the many threats that have pushed them to brink.

The diversity of Acadia National Park is reflected in its plant life; more than 1,100 plant species are found here.

Life abounds in the serene waters of Acadia’s lakes, ponds, and streams. From waterfowl to fish, wildlife depends on aquatic vegetation.

Cone bearing plants with dark green, needle like leaves are a prominent feature of the Acadia landscape.

Get a close up look at this class of plants that carpet moist areas such as rocks, trees, and along stream beds.

Not quite a plant, not just a fungus, learn more about these unique organisms that paints so much of Acadia's landscape.

Driving all the biodiversity we see above ground, from the trees to wildflowers, is an underground web of fungal life.

Acadia’s birding opportunities vary throughout the seasons. Take a walk through the woods in the spring and hear warblers and other passerines singing in search of mates, or walk out the Ship Harbor Trail in summer to see guillemots, sandpipers, eiders, and other shorebirds riding the ocean waves. Paddle on Jordan Pond and Eagle Lake in the warmer months to see loons, eagles, and mergansers. While you typically can’t hike the Precipice Trail in the summer, you can visit the parking lot and participate in Peregrine Watch; a program where visitors can use scopes to check out the peregrines and their young nesting high on the cliff. Visit Cadillac North Ridge Trail in the fall to watch for and help record migrating hawks as they head south for the winter. If you’re brave enough, come back in the winter to cross-country ski up the Cadillac Summit Road. You might even catch a glimpse of a snowy owl scanning the landscape for its next meal. Whatever the season, birding is a joy in Acadia National Park.

Acadia's bird diversity spans a host of different taxonomic groups. Here are some of our most common groups.

Use the dropdown menus below to select the species category that you'd like to view. You can choose to get a checklist or to get the full list, which includes more information about each species. Once you make your selections, click on the view PDF button. This will generate your customized report. From here, you can click on the large Print button at the top of the document to print the report, or save the report by clicking on the blue-and-white floppy disk symbol to save the report.

The diversity of Acadia National Park is reflected in its plant life; more than 1,100 plant species are found here. A variety of environments called ' ecosystems ' exist throughout the park—from wetlands to coastline to mountains , forests , and freshwater environments such as streams , and lakes and ponds . Each ecosystem brings together unique factors such as moisture, soil and rock type, and access to sunlight that determine what types of plants grow there. On land, low-to-the-ground plants such as mosses, grasses, ferns, and lie beneath larger plants such as trees and shrubs. In tidepools and on the coast, marine algae, seaweed, and other marine plants rise and fall with the tides. The delicate balance of factors that helps plants thrive at Acadia are currently theatr to unbalance due to impacts from non-native plants , trampling from humans, and other threats such as climate change and air pollution. Humans have related to plants on this landscape since time immemorial . For medicine, food, and ritual, plants provided people with much of what was needed to survive. Later, colonists and settlers logged the trees and harvested plants as they worked the woodlands for a living. During your visit to Acadia you can help keep protect Acadia's plants by staying on designating trails, obeying all posted signs and regulations regarding plant gathering, and reduce your carbon footprint.

About a quarter of the plants that one encounters at Acadia National Park appear "grass-like." The amateur would probably call all of these grasses, but in fact some are sedges and some are rushes. Here is a little rhyme to help tell the three apart: "sedges have edges, rushes are round, and grasses have joints." Sedges usually have a triangular stem, rushes have round stems, and grasses have a jointed stem. Sedges, grasses, and rushes often inhabit wet areas.

Ferns thrive in cool, moist, shaded areas, which are quite common on the coast of Maine. Some of the easier-to-recognize ferns are species of rock polypody, which appear almost identical and are often found growing in leaf litter duff on top of large rocks. The fronds are singular and look like they are growing in a small colony or mat. Another pair of related common ferns are cinnamon fern and interrupted fern. Both are large ferns with vegetative fronds arranged in whorls around the center. Cinnamon fern has separate, fertile, spore-producing fronds which sprout from the center of the plant in spring. These fronds are a cinnamon-like golden brown in color, which accounts for the plant's common name. Interrupted fern produces fertile leaflets in the upper third of the vegetative fronds, hence the frond is "interrupted" by the smaller fertile leaflets "within" the frond.

If you are in a wooded area of Acadia National Park, you are likely to find common, native woodland flowers, such as wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), goldthread (Coptis trifoliaformerlyC. groenlandica), bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis), and starflower (Trientalis borealis). In August and September Acadia's native wildflowers, the asters and goldenrods, are in full bloom.

Over 20 percent of Acadia is classified as wetland. All classes of wetlands (swamps, marshes, and bogs) are found within the park. Some are freshwater, meaning they are fed by freshwater streams. Others are saltwater marshes which are located along inlets from the ocean. They all form the transition between land (terrestrial) and water (aquatic) environments. Even though they only make up about 7% of Acadia’s landscape, freshwater wetlands are home to a whopping two-thirds of Maine’s state-listed rare plants that occur in the region. They maintain biodiversity by providing a habitat for a wide range of species. Resident animals visit wetlands alongside species that are nesting, overwintering or migrating, such as birds along the Atlantic flyway. More than half of Maine's state-listed rare plants are found in wetland habitats, and at least one rare plant is found in each Acadia wetland type. Freshwater plants such as sedges and grasses support many Amphibians and reptiles and insects .

Not all of Acadia's wetlands are healthy. Poor sites, such as Great Meadow, have many invasive plant species (like glossy buckthorn), poor soil and water drainage. Climate change is further stressing wetland environments with warming temperatures, harder and more severe rain events combined with droughts, and changing seasonal rhythms. Together with our partners-in-science , Acadia park staff are studying these wetlands to inform park management decisions as to how to best preserve them for future generations.

Located adjacent to the Park Loop Road and the Sieur de Monts Spring area, the Great Meadow Wetland is part of a larger network of wetlands, streams, and ponds in the Cromwell Brook watershed, including the Tarn. Nestled at the base of Dorr Mountain, Park founder, George B. Dorr, focused much of his attention on this area and greatly modified it, adding greenhouses, trails and roads. This, coupled with prior modifications, greatly altered the flow of water through the wetland, impairing its ability to act as a wetland and allowing non-native species to thrive instead of freshwater plants . Together with its partners-in-science , Acadia is working to restore natural water flow into the wetlands and remove invasive plants. Learn more about our work to restore the health of the Great Meadow Wetland .

Bass Harbor Marsh is located on the western side of Mount Desert Island and is the largest area of salt marsh in Acadia. A small estuary is formed where freshwater streams meet the sea, with brackish (part saltwater, part freshwater) conditions influenced by the twice-daily tides. Bass Harbor Marsh has been severely impacted by invasive plant species that have displaced the native species that support a greater diversity of wildlife. Together with our partners-in-science, Acadia National Park scientists and volunteers are actively working to remove the problematic plants and restore the health of Bass Harbor Marsh. Learn more about Bass Harbor Marsh .

Acadia National Park is home to diverse plant life in part because it exists in the boundary area between two forest zones - eastern deciduous forest and northern boreal forest. Eastern deciduous forests are more southern and are typically dominated by broad-leafed trees that drop their leaves every year such as oaks, maples, and beeches. Northern boreal forests stretch down from the artic and are dominated by evergreen trees, or conifers that mostly keep their deep green leaves, called needles, year-round. These types of forest are more dominated by spruce and fir trees and moisture-loving deciduous trees such as birch. This transition zone between forest types occurs throughout Maine, but Acadia's coastal forests are notable for their cool, foggy climate, ocean salt spray, and harsh weather conditions. The persistent fog and geology create a moist forest environment in most places. As you go up in elevation toward the mountain summits, weather and wind become a big factor in forest makeup as well.

The forests within the current boundaries of Acadia National Park are not untouched as people have been working these woodlands for 12,000 years. Wabanaki people have lived in relationship with these forests since time immemorial and this continues to be the Wabanaki homeland. The Ash tree is particularly important to Wabanaki heritage and craft . Vibrant wabanaki communities cleared land using fire and harvested food from the woodlands. European colonizers and settlers developed pastures and farmland, and harvested resources such as timber and ice to survive in this harsh climate. In the 1700s and 1800s, ship-building and logging industrialized the scale of impacts to the forests and across the state of Maine wide swaths of land were logged. In the last 1800s and early 1900s, local citizens formed civic groups and built an island-wide trail network through the forest and championed the creation of a national park to preserve what was left. Though since that time, Acadia's forests have been preserved, the forest continues to change. Events like the great fire of 1947 had a big influence on what types of trees grow in certain places.

As the climate changes , the suitable habitat for spruce-fir forest species will shift northward, affecting not just the trees in the forest, but the relationships among all living things. Invasive diseases and pests are killing large swaths of trees as climate change weakens their defenses.The invasive Emerald Ash Borer insect is eradicating ash trees and the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid has been recently discovered in the park, threatened park Hemlocks. The Red Pine Scale has lead to huge die-off of red pine. In many places, the protected spruce-fir forest here is still older than other examples along the coast of Maine, where logging has been prevalent for generations. As Acadia scientists study the forest, like tree rings in time, they can look at the forest's path and better understand its future. Using science & research , the park and its partners-in-science , work together to use science to make decisions as to how best manage these special places in the face of these threats.

Without the sea, Acadia would be like a gem without a setting. The land rises from the ocean into mountainous summits and an etched, rocky coastline. Each headland, bay, and inlet reveals the majestic interface between sea and land. Acadia protects nearly 64 miles of coastline on Mount Desert Island, Schoodic Peninsula , Isle au Haut, and other islands . Each year millions of people see the park's dramatic and iconic coastline on either a scenic drive along the Park Loop Road or on foot from overlooks and hiking trails. Otter Cliffs and Schoodic Point are famous and frequently photographed coastlines, where waves crash up high and show the erosive power of the ocean.

The land that we know as Acadia began as mud, sand, and volcanic ash, deposited in an early ocean then buried and pressurized into rock. Rising mountains were shaved down by ice sheets that covered the north. This resilient land that makes up Acadia National Park began rising after glaciers retreated north around 15,000 years ago. Since that time, the forces of the vast ocean and weather have carved Maine's coastline into mudflats, salt water marshes, beaches, and a rocky shoreline.

After the ice sheets melted, sea level rise basically stopped--rising less than an inch every one hundred years. Animal and plant life as we know it settled into these coastal habitats. Influenced by ocean and air temperatures, precious nutrients, and the twice-daily rise and fall of the ocean tides, animal and plant life in the coast is truly life on the edge. Twice daily, the nutrient-rich ocean waters cover these plants and animals at 'high-tide'. However, during the 'low-tide', the ocean departs. On the rocky shoreline, low-tide leaves behind pools of water in the rocks known as tidepools . Inhabited by sensitive sea stars, dog whelks, blue mussels, sea cucumbers, rockweed, and other creatures and plants, even small changes in nutrients and weather can have drastic consequences. On coastal mudflats and in salt water marshes, the departing tide leaves a muddy bottom exposed and worms and other creates are an easier catch for birds and other land animals and sea wildlife. Beaches become wider.

With over nearly 64 miles of total coastline and forty miles of rocky shoreline, Acadia possesses a tremendously rich intertidal flora and fauna. In recent years climate change has sped the pace of sea level rise again, now rising more than an inch per decade (more than 10 times faster than before climate change) and getting faster as conditions continue to warm. Warming waters have led to an increase in ocean invasive species that harm and out-compete fragile native ones. Human impacts from tourism and air pollution join these influences in adding pressure that threatens to tip the scales. Acadia National Park staff and out partners-in-science are working to study and manage this fragile environment for future generations.

Acadia's largest wildlife inhabitants are in the ungulate family. This includes white-tailed deer and very rarely moose. As very large mammals that need a great deal of space, moose are rarely seen in Acadia. White-tailed deer, on the other hand, are plentiful. Your best bet to see them is at dawn or dusk around the Sieur de Monts area or along the carriage roads. Other herbivorous animals that are often overlooked are our resident lagomorph or rabbit species. The Snowshoe Hare is very large compared to the more familiar cottontail rabbit. Snowshoe hares are well known for being brown in the summer and pure white in the winter. The best time of year to see them is during early spring and fall when their coat color is changing.

Though seldom seen, carnivores play an important role in the ecosystems of Acadia. With discerning eyes, signs of red foxes and coyotes are found around the park. Raccoons also reside in the park, and provide a great reason to store your food properly at campgrounds. Striped- Skunks are a nocturnal species, and are more likely to be seen at night along the carriage roads. More secretive animals like bobcats, otters, mink, fishers and pine martens live in the park as well. When hiking more remote trails in the park, keep a sharp eye out for movement to spot these park residents. Black bears are rarely seen in the park but there is a permanent year round population on Mount Desert Island. Being connected to the mainland, the Schoodic Peninsula area of the park has more frequent sightings of these secretive creatures.

Most people think of rats and mice when they think of rodents, but Acadia is home to more than just that! We have several species of mice as well as beaver, woodchuck, porcupine, muskrat, voles, chipmunks, squirrels, and even flying squirrels.

North American Beaver are the most noticeable species in the rodent family here. Like humans, they drastically modify their home environment by building dams and cutting down trees, creating wetlands and other habitats that are used by many other species. Walk around Jordan Pond, the Tarn or Witch Hole Pond to see chewed stumps and other signs of beaver activity. While beavers were almost trapped to extinction by the beginning of the 20th century, they've come back in force and can be found throughout the park.

Bats are an often overlooked wildlife species because they are most active when we are the least active. All night long bats in Acadia National Park are busy feeding on thousands of insects. Many of these insects are considered nuisances and bats do an excellent job in keeping their numbers down. Little brown bats and eastern small-footed bats are two of the eight species of bats that have been found in Acadia.

Today, bats are an important research species in the park because of their dramatic population decline as a result of white-nose syndrome. Bat species in Acadia National Park have decline over 80%. The park and their partners are working to understand their role in the ecosystem, where their most important habitat is, and how we can help them recover including the federally threatened Northern Long-eared Bat.

Other mammal species present in Acadia include marine mammals like seals, whales, and porpoises. Intertidal creatures like sea star, lobster, and sea anenomes can also be found along Acadia’s coast. The marine wildlife page is a great place to learn more about the creatures that live in the ocean around Acadia National Park.

As anyone who has had the good fortune of experiencing it knows, there’s nothing quite like spotting a wild animal in its natural habitat. In fact, one of the many reasons that visitors come to Acadia each year is the opportunity to see wildlife. While seeing wildlife is never guaranteed, knowing a little more will increase the likelihood and make those chance encounters even sweeter. All it takes is patience, keen senses and a little luck! For suggestions on locations in the park with potential for wildlife sightings, check out this Tour de Wildlife .

Please give the animals the space they need! Depending on the animal, there are recommended safe distances to view them at.

Stepping off trail to get a closer view can disrupt wildlife and can cause damage to the fragile ecosystems in the park.

Feeding wildlife can habituate them to human presence and hurt their chances of survival.

All human food and pet food must be stored in a hard-sided food locker or enclosed vehicle when not in use. Additionally, make sure to clean up your site when you leave, and dispose of garbage properly. Even though black bear sightings are rare, racoons and other animals with a great sense of smell can still become negatively impacted when trash and food is improperly stored.

The park speed limits exist to keep visitors and wildlife safe. Use extra caution when driving at dawn, dusk or nighttime, as these tend to be the hours when wildlife is most active.

Many seemingly docile animals can react violently to pets and people if approached. For your safety do not approach wildlife and always keep pets on a leash.

Seeing a baby deer on its own or a seal pup on a beach may seem like a cry for help. However, many times this is normal animal behavior. Interfering with the animal may do more harm than good.

Wildlife may not know better, but YOU do. Although it may feel flattering if any kind of wildlife approaches you, back away and maintain a safe distance. It’s your responsibility and your safety - help us keep wildlife wild. If you have a wildlife emergency, call park dispatch at 207-288-8791 or 911.

Even if you don’t see a bear or a moose, don’t fret! There is still a lot to see if you know where and how to look. Besides, painted turtles, peregrine falcons, porcupines and harbor porpoises need fan clubs too! Use our wildlife pages to learn more about the incredible species that call Acadia home, and check out the tips below for a safe and successful wildlife adventure.

If you see a very rare animal or invasive wildlife, please let us know .

If there is a specific animal you’re hoping to see, read up on what types of environments it likes to live in and when it is the most active. For example, many mammal species such as beavers are crepuscular—meaning they’re most active at dusk and dawn.

It’s human nature to look for things that are big, new and different. When you’re exploring the park, take a minute to observe what’s around you. What are the ants doing? What kind of bird sings that song? There’s always something new to learn about an animal—even one you’ve observed 100 times. Plus, if you stare at a red squirrel long enough, it’s impossible not to smile.