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Acadia
National Park
Information
from the Acadia U.S. National Park Service brochure
An Acadian Afternoon
Your hike begins in
the cool shade of the spruce-fir forest. Ribbons of
sunlight drop through the canopy to needle-carpeted
ground. The rat-a-tat of a pileated woodpecker
shatters the hush of the woods, and a red squirrel darting
along a tree trunk chitters as you pass by.
The trail rises; tree
roots underfoot give way to lichen-splotched granite.
Clumps of sheep laurel and low-bush blueberry grow along the
trail. Squat, gnarled pitch pines replace the straight
spruce and fir below, and the scent of pine resin baking in
the sun fills the air.
After a rugged
scramble over boulders, you pause in a shady spot to
sip from your water bottle, noting the goose-foot shaped
leaves of striped maple glowing emerald in the sun.
There are birch here and aspen and oak; a much different
forest that the one you started in. Could fire have
once swept through here, allowing faster-growing, sun-loving
plants to dominate in place of shade-loving spruce? OR
is some other process at work? What will become of
these younger forests as time passes?
Stone steps appear
ahead, a slope of loose rock scree magically
rearranged. The trail, built more than a hundred years
ago by a summer resident, is but one of many contributions
made by those who sought to preserve parts of the Acadian
landscape for others to enjoy.
On a ranger-led walk
earlier in the day, you learned to identify the trill of the
white-throated sparrow, and now it pierces the air.
Like so many other species, the white-throated sparrow
visits only for the summer, spending its winters far beyond
park borders in the south. As the trail climbs, the
forest shrinks away to stunted weather-beaten trees and
barren granite. You step lightly, and on stone, for
life here is already tough for the plants that must survive
in the severe climates of mountain tops, without a hiking
boot crushing them. Three-toothed cinquefoil clusters
behind rocks and sinks its roots into what little soil
exists in the joints of granite bedrock. One careless
kick of a rock could destroy decades of growth and crucial
habitat for summit plants, including some rare sub-alpine
species.
A panorama of shore
and sea emerges, revealing the landmarks that define
Acadia's coast - Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and Otter
Point. Across the bay, Schoodic Peninsula juts into
the ocean. Visitors in the 1800s once looked out upon
a similar scene, but instead of hearing the mutter of
lobster boats, the saw the sails of hundreds of fishing
sloops dotting the bay.
At the summit you are
encircled by the mountainous and oceanic world of
Acadia. In only one mile you have hiked from sea level
to the solitude of a mountain summit. Now you are
faced with decisions: Explore father one? Return to
your starting point?
Beguiled by cool ocean
breezes and the sun beating on your shoulders, maybe you
simply sit back and contemplate the sky and seas, and the
scudding clouds, and the fine afternoon that brought you
here.
People of Mount
Desert Island
The earliest
indigenous people of Mount Desert were hunter-gatherers who
plied the sea in dugout canoes in pursuit of sea mammals and
fish. Bits on animal bone, pottery shards, and stone
tools, discarded in clam shell heaps, reveal clues about
their daily lives,
More recently, the
Wabanaki inhabited the island year round, hunting,
gathering, and trading with European fishermen and
explorers. Explorer Samuel Champlain created the first
reliable European record of Mount Desert Island in
1604. Though there were attempts to settle the island
after his visit, 150 years of war between the French and
British made it disputed territory unsafe for habitation
until 1761, when English colonists established the first
permanent settlement.
Islanders fished,
farmed, quarried granite, and engaged in shipping.
When the first visitors arrived in the mid-1800s, the
tourist trade offered a new source of income.
Landscape painters of the Hudson River School inspired
droves of weary city dwellers to seek out Mount Desert
Island. Huge wooden hotels, and extravagant
"cottages" built by wealthy summer residents, soon
transformed quiet farming and fishing villages.
Amid the bustle and
clamor of socials and lawn parties, there were those who
still appreciated the natural beauty of the island. In
1901, Harvard president Charles Eliot formed the Hancock
County Trustees of Public Reservations to help preserve some
of the beautiful spots on Mount Desert Island. The
Trustees acquired about 5,000 acres in donated land that
they presented to the Federal Government. President
Woodrow Wilson signed Sieur de Monts national Monument into
existence in 1916. As the park expanded with more land
donations, an act of Congress re-designated it as a national
park in 1919, making it the first to be established east of
the Mississippi River.
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