Acadia National Park Totally Explained

Everything about Acadia National Park totally explained

Acadia National Park preserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast of Maine. The area includes mountains, an ocean shoreline, woodlands, and lakes. In addition to Mount Desert Island, the park comprises much of the Isle au Haut, a small island to the southwest of Mount Desert Island and parts of Baker Island, also nearby. A portion of Schoodic Peninsula on the mainland is also part of the park. In total, Acadia National Park consists of 30,300 acres (47 square miles or 123 km²) on Mount Desert Island, 2,728 acres (4.6 square miles or 11 km²) on Isle au Haut and 2,366 acres (3.5 square miles or 9.2 km²) on the Schoodic Peninsula.

History

Th park was created by President Woodrow Wilson, as Sieur de Monts National Monument on July 8, 1916, administered by the National Park Service. On February 26, 1919, it became a national park, with the name Lafayette National Park in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, an influential French supporter of the American Revolution.
   Legislation passed in 1929 authorized the government to accept additional gifts of land beyond the limits of Mount Desert Island. Almost immediately, the park was enlarged to include parts of the Schoodic Peninsula. At the request of the donor of the Schoodic land the park was renamed Acadia National Park on January 19, 1929
   From 1915 to 1933, the wealthy philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. financed, designed, and directed the construction of an extensive network of carriage trails throughout the park. The network encompassed over of gravel carriage trails, 17 granite bridges, and two gate lodges, almost all of which are still maintained and in use today.
   On November 11, 1938, Law Enforcement Ranger Karl A. Jacobson, age 22, was shot and killed in the line of duty by a deer poacher in the Schoodic Peninsula Section of the park. A suspect was arrested for the murder and sentenced to one day in jail due to his old age and mental state.(External Link

)
On October 17, 1947, 10,000 acres (40 km²) of Acadia National Park burned in a fire that had begun on the mainland in a cranberry bog. The forest fire was one of a series of fires, known as The Great Fires of 1947 that consumed much of Maine's forest as a result of a dry year. The fire burned for days and was fought by the Coast Guard, Army, Navy, local residents, and National Park Service Employees from around the country. Restoration of the park was supported, substantially, by the Rockefeller family, particularly John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Re-growth was mostly allowed to occur naturally and the fire has been suggested to have actually enhanced the beauty of the park, adding diversity to tree populations and depth to its scenery.
Acadia National Park is the only national park in New England and the first established east of the Mississippi River.(External Link

)

Towns and Tours

The town of Bar Harbor is located on the northeast corner of Mount Desert Island. Southwest Harbor, on the western side of the fjord Somes Sound, is well known for boat-building and fishing, and has the largest year-round population on Mount Desert Island. Northeast Harbor is known for its beautiful private "cottages" yet retains a small town atmosphere. Cadillac Mountain, named after the same French Explorer who went on to found Detroit, Michigan, is on the eastern side of the island, and has always been a famous tourist destination because its pink granite summit is one of the first places in the United States to see the sunrise. Miles of scenic carriage roads were originally built by Rockefeller, Jr., with great sensitivity to the trees and contours of the land. The mountains of Acadia National Park offer hikers and bicycle riders views of the ocean, island lakes, and pine forests.

Centennial Initiative Project

The National Park Service, as part of their Centennial Initiative celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016, has created a project to promote voluntary, multimodal park access for present and future generations. Going “car free” offers visitors the opportunity to explore Acadia by foot, bicycle, shuttle bus, commercial tour bus, private automoblie, or private and commercial vessels. The project includes an inter-modal transportation center on state-owned land four miles north of the park, multiple-use trails to connect gateway communities with the park, and rehabilitation of historic carriage roads surrounding Eagle Lake.

Wildlife

The park is home to some 40 different species of mammalian wildlife. Among those are red and gray squirrels, chipmunks, white-tailed deer, moose, beaver, porcupine, muskrats, foxes, coyote, bobcats, and black bears. Species that used to inhabit the island include the mountain lion (or puma) and the gray wolf. It is thought that these predators have been forced to leave the area due to the dramatic decrease in small prey and proximity to human activity. Many other marine species have been observed in the surrounding area and waters.

Gallery

Image:Bass harbor head light 20041002 123635 1.1504x1000.jpg|Bass Harbor Head Light. Image:Cadillac mtn summit view.jpg|View from the summit of Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island. Image:Sand_Beach_Acadia_Nat_Park.jpg|Sand Beach Image:Thunder_hole.jpg|Thunder Hole Image:PanoBearBrookView.jpg|View from the top of Bear Brook Picnic Area Image:Image-Schoodic2.jpg|Schoodic Peninsula near park exit Image:Acadia Seawall.jpg|Coastline Near Seawall Image:Acadia national park map.png|Acadia National Park, located near Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine. Further Information

Get more info on 'Acadia National Park'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://acadia_national_park.totallyexplained.com">Acadia National Park Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.