Tag Archives: history

Acadia National Park navigates new era for iconic lighthouse

Acadia National Park is poised “any day now” to take over the vacant Bass Harbor Head Light Station, setting the stage for a new era for the iconic lighthouse, one of the most popular attractions within the park’s boundaries. Ahead of becoming the new owner, Acadia is weighing recommendations in a new study of Bass […]

110 years ago first gift for what would become Acadia National Park made by Eliza Homans

eliza homans

Many people know that Acadia National Park celebrated its centennial in 2016, but few realize that it was 110 years ago this month that Eliza Homans of Boston provided a stunning donation of land that helped launch the creation of the park. In May 1908, Homans, then a longtime seasonal resident of Mount Desert Island, […]

First history of Acadia island sheds light on Baker Island and keepers of lighthouse

A new book about Baker Island tells the fascinating history and lore of the Acadia island known for its lighthouse. Author Cornelia J. Cesari is president of the board of directors of the nonprofit Keepers of Baker Island, which helps preserve a place that so many visitors to Acadia National Park have cherished.

Acadia National Park aided by policies of FDR and Theodore Roosevelt

As we mark Presidents Day and think of the challenges facing Acadia National Park under the Trump administration, may we remember the Antiquities Act signed by Theodore Roosevelt that ultimately led to creation of Acadia, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps that helped build Ocean Path and other trails.

Grand loop up Sargent Mountain tops hikes in Acadia National Park

A terrific aspect of hikes in Acadia National Park is that people can almost always get back to the start without retracing steps. Acadia’s tight, carefully designed network of 150 miles of trails allow hikers to create a  nearly countless number of loop trips. There are many circular hikes in Acadia National Park, but perhaps […]

Jordan Stream Path among best hikes in Acadia National Park

Jordan Stream Path is among the shortest and most overlooked hikes in Acadia National Park, but it travels to one of the park’s most unusual sights – Cobblestone Bridge, which is quietly marking its own centennial this year. Previously badly eroded, the Jordan Stream Path looks mostly pristine, following an extensive rehabilitation overseen by Christian Barter, a park trail crew supervisor who is also the park’s poet laureate.

On patrol with stewards of Acadia National Park’s stone cairns and summits

One in a series on Acadia’s Bates cairns Within minutes of stepping onto the popular Cadillac South Ridge Trail, Tim Henderson spots a couple of Acadia stone cairns vandalized by passersby. “These two cairns are usually broken, destroyed, knocked over or piled up with stones, because it is easy access,” said Henderson, one of an army of […]

If not for Earth Day, imagine a silent spring in Acadia National Park

As millions around the world mark Earth Day, imagine what Acadia National Park would be like without the banning of DDT, the Clean Air and Endangered Species Acts, or any of the other changes since that first massive showing of environmental activism in 1970: No peregrine falcons nesting on the Precipice of Champlain Hazy views […]

Signs of spring in Acadia: Return of peregrine falcons, mud season, and soon, rhodora

The Precipice Trail is closed for peregrine falcon nesting, and the carriage roads, off limits for mud season. And as sure as spring follows winter, colorful rhodora and other plants of Acadia will soon be in bloom. For Jill Weber, a consulting botanist for Acadia National Park, the flowers of spring bring a feast for […]