Welcome to the Park of the Week Newsletter for October 10, 2024. This week we’re featuring the first US national park established east of the Mississippi River.
Acadia National Park
Location
Maine Coast, United States
Claim to fame
Acadia National Park was the first national park established east of the Mississippi River, and it remains the only national park in the northeastern United States. Acadia (named after the anglicized version of a Mi’kmaq word) is where the mountains meet the ocean. The top of Cadillac Mountain, the tallest mountain on the US Atlantic Coast, is the first place in the US to watch the sun rise from October to March.
Reason to visit
Millions of visitors a year a drawn to Acadia National Park’s scenic mountains, islands, lakes, ponds, and beaches. The park is a spectacular place for viewing fall foliage, which usually peaks in mid-October.
Visitors enjoy scenic drives along the Park Loop Road, and countless recreational activities, including hiking, biking, climbing, fishing, birding, or swimming during warmer months. In winter, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing are popular.
Wild Fact
Acadia was home for thousands of years to the Wabanaki people and then spent decades as a playground for the wealthiest families of the northeast. Many of these wealthy folks donated land and money for the establishment of the park, including John D. Rockefeller Jr, who paid for and oversaw the design and construction of a system of carriage roads through Acadia in the early 1900s.
Today there are about 45 miles of paved carriage roads winding through Acadia, complete with historic stone bridges and large granite stones, nicknamed “Rockefeller’s Teeth,” lining their edges. The trails are popular for hiking, biking, and skiing.
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