Acadia National Park is located southwest of Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine. It makes up one half of Maine’s coastline. In spite of its location, it is one of the top 10 most visited National Parks. Acadia comprises 49,000 acres and was originally established as Lafayette National Park in 1919 as the first National Park east of the Mississippi River. The name was changed 10 years later. Eleven thousand of the original acres were donated by John D. Rockefeller, who also built 16 bridges and 57 miles of carriage roads, 45 of which are maintained in the Park. Numerous natural sites attract four million visitors per year. Some of the most popular sites are:
Cadillac Mountain
Surprisingly, at 1,530 ft. Cadillac Mountain is the tallest mountain along the entire eastern seaboard. From early October to early March, it is where the first sunlight hits the U.S. The first photo is dated 1930s.
Sand Beach
One of the most popular spots on the Park’s Loop Road is the 290-yard-long Sand Beach. It is the only beach open to swimming, but, with an average temperature of 55 degrees, not much swimming goes on, as illustrated in the third photo. The first is dated 1888.
Sieur de Monts Spring
George Dorr’s 1909 acquisition of 5,000 acres of what would become Acadia NP saved Sieur de Mont Spring from becoming a water source for a local bottling company. The first photo is undated and credit for the third showing then and now could not be found.
Thunder Rock
The defining sound of air escaping when tides force waves into a small opening gives Thunder Rock its name. The first photo is dated ca1920.
View from the sea.
Bubble Rock
Bubble Rock is a glacial erratic deposited 10,000 years ago. Strangely, estimates of its weight vary from 40 tons to 100 tons. However, we can, at least, be sure it is heavy enough to preclude being pushed downhill.
