Although we haven’t made any commitments yet because we want to be sure of the weather, as long as it looks good outside….. the family is heading to Acadia National Park this coming weekend.
We’ve been there before…well all of us except O. But, it’s sooooo beautiful and quite close so, we head up every once in a while. This trip we are planning a night in a hotel which is always fun. The rates are amazing right now so even though we’d usually pitch a tent and camp, we’re headin’ for a comfy hotel room this time!
We’re all really excited because, well, of course it’s always fun to leave home and go on a special trip, but, we’re also excited to go to Acadia again.
The land that makes up Acadia is very very beautiful. It sits on much of the land that makes up “Mount Desert Isle” as well as a few
other islands that off the coast of MDI. The coast of Maine is fantastic anyway, but, Acadia offers access to some of the best coastline up here. It’s just breathtaking.
Acadia also has an interesting and looong history. Of course, like all lands here, this area was occupied by indigenous peoples first. Then come in the Europeans or the “Explorers”.
Fast forward to the mid 1800s. Although there are towns now like Bar Harbor, and some settlers there is still a lot of open land in this area. This reality was soon realized by some of the most wealthy men of the time. Men with names like Pulitzer, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and others.
These elite families bought up a lot of the available land on Mount Desert Isle and began spending their summers there. They built gigantic summer “cottages” and left the rest for their playground. The Summercators or Rusticators as they were often called loved the land too. And, they soon realized that as industry and others find out this area was here, it could be in jeopardy of destruction.
So, they formed a group to preserve the land. And, eventually, worked together to donate their land and create a National Park out of it (I’m oversimplifying the whole thing by a mile so you can read more of it here.). In 1919 they succeeded and Acadia (well actually Lafyette at first) National Park was born.
It really is an absolutely amazing place full of hiking trails, places to kayak, a beach, historic Carriage Roads to bike on and sooo much more. If you have a chance, I’d definitely recommend a visit….even if you’ve already been there!