Acadia National Park is located on the coast of Maine. Most of the park is located on Mount Desert Island. From the 1880's to the 1920's Mount Desert Island became a retreat for he prominent people of that time. The Rockefellers, Morgans, Fords, Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Astors, chose to spend their summers there. Not content with the simple lodgings then available, these families transformed the landscape of Mount Desert Island with elegant estates, euphemistically called "cottages". In the great fire of 1947 many of these great estates burned down.
In 1901 George Dorr, a tireless spokesman for conservation, and others established the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations. The corporation, whose sole purpose was to preserve land for the perpetual use of the public, acquired 6,000 acres by 1913. Dorr offered the land to the federal government, and in 1916, President Wilson announced the creation of Sieur de Monts National Monument. Dorr continued to acquire property and renewed his efforts to obtain full national park status for his beloved preserve. In 1919, President Wilson signed the act establishing Lafayette National Park, the first national park east of the Mississippi. Dorr became the first park superintendent.
In 1929, the park name changed to Acadia. Today the park protects more than 47,000 acres.
Lakes and ponds add shimmering contrast to Acadia's forested and rocky landscape. They cover about 1,052 ha (2,600 acres) of the park, which is equivalent to approximately 7.4% of its area.


Carriage roads
The park features forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads weaving around the mountains and valleys. These were constructed by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. He wanted to travel on motor-free byways via horse and carriage into the heart of Mount Desert Island. His construction efforts from 1913 to 1940 resulted in roads with sweeping vistas and close-up views of the landscape.
Acadia's carriage roads are the best example of broken-stone roads - a type of road commonly used at the turn of the 20th century in America. They are true roads, approximately 16 feet wide, constructed with methods that required much hand labor.
Rockefeller also financed 16 of 17 stone-faced bridges, each unique in design, to span streams, waterfalls, roads, and cliffsides. The bridges are steel-reinforced concrete, but the use of native stone for the facing gives them a natural appearance.

Mount Cadillac
Mount Cadillac is the highest point of not only Mount Desert Island, but it is the highest mountaintop along the North Atlantic seaboard. It officially catches North America's first light from October 7 to March 6.

Bass harbor Head Lighthouse
Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse is the only lighthouse on Mount Desert Island. It is still operational and it is the private residence for the commander of the local Coast Guard unit.