A Day in the Park

We toured Acadia National Park today.  Acadia is the first national park created from land donated entirely by private citizens, and the only national park in the Northeast.  It is one of the most visited parks in the US, with more than 2 million travelers each year!  It all started when weathly people gathered in the late 1800’s in the Bar Harbor on Mt. Desert Island to spend summers here—the Astors, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Carnegies and Morgans. A public land trust was created by these individuals to preserve Maine’s natural beauty.  President Woodrow Wilson established the area as a national park.  Later, John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated 11,000 acres, and designed and built 45 miles of roads which they call the “Rockefeller Roads”, using granite for the bridges. These roads, called carriage roads are throughout the park, but autos are prohibited from travelling on them.  So, walkers, bikers and horses can roam through the park without fear of being run over.  (The bears in the park call the bikers “meals on wheels”!! ha ha!)   Interestingly, grandson David Rockefeller turned 100 this year on June 12 and in honor of his 100th birthday is donating 1000 acres on Mount Desert Island to the public trust. 


We went to a part of the park called Cadillac Mountain which is the highest point on the Atlantic coast (1530 ft.)  This is the place where the sunrise can be first be seen to North America!  We considered getting up at 4:30 to see it, (but not for long).  The views from the mountain were awesome… you can see the islands in the distance (there are more than 3000 islands around the area). The top of the mountain is granite, remnants of the lava flow that created the area. 
We saw students with writing tablets and artists with canvases enjoying the environment.

Jim climbed atop the rocks to see Thunder Hole, a narrow granite channel where the waves whip up. 

We learned that many celebrities and stars have homes in this area—John Travolta, Tom Selleck and Martha Stewart.  We saw the old home of Edsel Ford, but we didn’t get invitations to any of their homes. (darn!)

We visited Jordan Pond, a clear lake on the western side.  Rising in the distance are a pair of rounded mountains called The Bubbles.

The breast view from the park!

We returned to the campground, and I had a “blog class” for a few that were trying to get a blog started.  Payment for the class was wine…trying to deplete the supply before crossing the border!   ...we were successful!