Acadia National Park

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Acadia National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Acadia National Park Coast.jpg
Map showing the location of Acadia National Park
Location Hancock / Knox counties, Maine, USA
Nearest city Bar Harbor
Coordinates 44°21′N 68°13′W / 44.350°N 68.217°W / 44.350; -68.217Coordinates: 44°21′N 68°13′W / 44.350°N 68.217°W / 44.350; -68.217
Area 47,452.80 acres (192.03 km2)
933.23 acres (3.78 km2) private[1]
Established July 8, 1916 (1916-07-08)
Visitors 2,374,645 (in 2011)[2]
Governing body National Park Service
Aerial view, 3D computer-generated image

Acadia National Park is a National Park located in the U.S. state of Maine. It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast. Originally created as Lafayette National Park in 1919,[3] the oldest National Park east of the Mississippi River,[4] it was renamed Acadia in 1929.[3]

Contents

History [edit]

The area first was inhabited by the Wabanaki people.[5]

In the fall of 1604, Samuel de Champlain observed a high-notched island composed of seven or eight mountains rising to bare-rock summits from slopes of birch, fir, and pine. Over four centuries later, the area remains essentially the same.[6]

Beginnings [edit]

The landscape architect Charles Eliot is credited with the idea for the park.[7] George B. Dorr, called the "father of Acadia," along with Charles's father Charles W., the president of Harvard, supported the idea both through donations of land and through advocacy at the state and federal levels. It first attained federal status when President Woodrow Wilson, established it as Sieur de Monts National Monument on July 8, 1916, administered by the National Park Service. On February 26, 1919, it became a national park, with the name Lafayette National Park in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, an influential French supporter of the American Revolution. The park's name was changed to Acadia National Park on January 19, 1929.

From 1915 to 1933, the wealthy philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. financed, designed, and directed the construction of a network of carriage trails throughout the park. He sponsored the landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, with the nearby family summer home Reef Point Estate, to design the planting plans for the subtle carriage roads at the Park (c.1930).[8] The network encompassed over 50 miles (80 km) of gravel carriage trails, 17 granite bridges, and two gate lodges, almost all of which are still maintained and in use today. Cut granite stones placed along the edges of the carriage roads act as guard rails of sort and are locally known as "coping stones" to help visitors cope with the steep edges. They are also fondly called "Rockefeller's teeth".

Fire of 1947 [edit]

Main article: Great Fires of 1947

Beginning on October 17, 1947, 10,000 acres (40 km2) of Acadia National Park were burned in a fire that began along the Crooked Road several miles west of Hulls Cove.[9] The forest fire was one of a series of fires that consumed much of Maine's forest as a result of a dry year. The fire burned until November 14, and was fought by the Coast Guard, Army, Navy, local residents, and National Park Service employees from around the country. Restoration of the park was supported, substantially, by the Rockefeller family, particularly John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Regrowth was mostly allowed to occur naturally and the fire has been suggested [10] to have actually enhanced the beauty of the park, adding diversity to tree populations and depth to its scenery.

Friends of Acadia [edit]

In 1986, a group of Acadia-area residents and park volunteers formed the membership-based nonprofit organization Friends of Acadia for the purpose of organizing volunteer effort and private philanthropy for the benefit of Acadia National Park. The group's first major achievement was a $3.4 million endowment to maintain the park’s 44-mile carriage road system in perpetuity, which leveraged federal funds to fully restore the road system. Subsequent projects and partnerships included Acadia Trails Forever, making Acadia the first national park with an endowed trail system; the Island Explorer, a free, propane-powered bus system serving the park and local communities; and youth initiatives such as the Acadia Youth Technology Team, which engages local teens to help their peers connect with the park and develop the next generation of park stewards.[11]

Schoodic Education and Research Center [edit]

In 2002, the National Park Service acquired the former naval base located in the Schoodic Peninsula District of Acadia National Park, and renovated it into the Schoodic Education and Research Center (SERC). SERC is one of about 20 National Park Service research learning centers in the United States, and is the largest of all these facilities. It is dedicated to supporting the scientific research in the park, providing professional development for teachers, and educating students to become a new generation of stewards who will help conserve our natural and cultural treasures.[12]

Terrain and features [edit]

Frenchman Bay and the Porcupine Islands around the town of Bar Harbor, viewed from Cadillac Mountain

The park includes mountains, an ocean shoreline, woodlands, and lakes. In addition to Mount Desert Island, the park comprises much of the Isle au Haut, parts of Baker Island, and a portion of the Schoodic Peninsula on the mainland.

In total, Acadia National Park consists of more than 47,000 acres[3] (73 square miles, 190 km2), including 30,300 acres (47 sq mi., 123 km2) on Mount Desert Island, 2,728 acres (4.6 sq mi., 11 km2) on Isle au Haut and 2,366 acres (3.5 sq mi., 9.2 km2) on the Schoodic Peninsula. The permanent park boundary, as established by act of Congress in 1986, includes a number of private in-holdings that the park is attempting to acquire.

Cadillac Mountain, named after the French Explorer of the same name, is on the eastern side of the island. Its green, lichen-covered, pink granite summit is, because of a combination of its eastern location and height, one of the first places in the United States to see the sunrise. Miles of carriage roads were originally built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The mountains of Acadia National Park offer hikers and bicycle riders views of the ocean, island lakes, and pine forests.

The sky from light to dark during sunset atop Cadillac Mountain

The inlet Somes Sound, often described as the "only fjord on the East Coast",[13] is now called a fjard by officials[14][15]

About 2 million people visit this park per year.

Wildlife [edit]

The park is home to some 40 different species of mammalian wildlife. Among these are red and gray squirrels, chipmunks, white-tailed deer, moose, beaver (Castor canadensis), porcupine, muskrats, foxes, coyote, bobcats, and black bears. Many other marine species have been observed in the surrounding area and waters.

Excavations of old Indian sites in the Mount Desert Island region have yielded remains of the native mammals. Bones of wolf, beaver, deer, elk, Gray seal (Halichoerus grypus), the Indian dog, and the extinct Sea Mink (Neovison macrodon), as well as large numbers of raccoon, lynx, wolf, muskrat, and deer.[16] Although beaver were trapped to extinction on the island, two pairs of beaver that were released in 1920 by George B. Dorr at the brook between Bubble Pond and Eagle Lake have repopulated it. The large fire in 1947 cleared the eastern half of the island of its coniferous trees and permitted the growth of aspen, birch, alder, maple and other deciduous trees which enabled the beaver to thrive.[17]

Species that used to inhabit the island include the mountain lion (or puma) and the gray wolf. It is thought that these predators have been forced to leave the area due to the dramatic decrease in small prey and proximity to human activity.

Gallery [edit]

  • View from the summit of Mt Penobscot

  • View from a mountain peak

  • Jordan Pond

  • Sand Beach

  • Thunder Hole

  • View from the top of Bear Brook Picnic Area

  • Schoodic Peninsula near park exit

  • Sailing along the coast

  • Coastline and Sand Beach

  • Eagle Lake

  • Schooner Head

  • Sign to the park

See also [edit]

Portal icon Maine portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Listing of acreage as of December 31, 2011". Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved 2011-05-06. 
  2. ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved 2011-05-06. 
  3. ^ a b c "Park Statistics". National Park Service. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  4. ^ "Stories (History & Culture)". National Park Service. Archived from the original on 10 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  5. ^ Commissioned by the National Park Service, a 2-volume report "Asticou's Island Domain: Wabanaki Peoples at Mount Desert Island 1500–2000" (2007) was authored by Harald E.L. Prins and Bunny McBride. This digital text detailing Acadia National Park’s cultural and natural history is freely accessible NPS.gov
  6. ^ "Acadia National Park: Mount Desert Island". Trails.com / Demand Media. Retrieved 2010-01-16. 
  7. ^ "History of Acadia". AcadiaNet, Inc. November 1995. Retrieved 2009‑07‑25. 
  8. ^ Jane Brown (1995-03-01). Beatrix: the gardening life of Beatrix Jones Farrand, 1872-1959. Viking Press. p. 208. ISBN 0-670-83217-0. 
  9. ^ "Fire of 1947". National Park Service. Archived from the original on 30 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  10. ^ http://www.nps.gov/acad/historyculture/fireof1947.htm
  11. ^ http://www.friendsofacadia.org
  12. ^ http://www.nps.gov/acad/serc.htm
  13. ^ Debbie Harmsen (2008). Maine Coast. Random House. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-4000-1904-5. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  14. ^ "Somes Sound, Mount Desert Island". Maine Geological Survey. November 1998. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  15. ^ "The Story of Glaciers". EarthCache Program (National Park Service). Retrieved 2010-07-25. 
  16. ^ Richard H. Manville (1941-11). "Notes on the Mammals of Mount Desert Island, Maine". Journal of Mammalogy 23 (4): 391–398. doi:10.2307/1375049. JSTOR 1375049. 
  17. ^ D. Muller-Schwarze, Susan Heckman (1980). "The Role of Scent Marking in Beaver". Journal of Chemical Ecology 6: 81–95. doi:10.1007/BF00987529. Retrieved 2010-09-04. 

External links [edit]

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