10 Top Facts about Acadia National Park | Geddy’s
Visiting Acadia National Park this summer or fall? Here are the “top 10 facts” about the Park that you might not necessarily know. Test your knowledge …
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF ACADIA NATIONAL PARK?
- Acadia National Park was initially known as Sieur de Monts National Monument. In 1919, its name was changed to Lafayette National Park, in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, an influential French supporter of the American Revolution. It was renamed again in 1929 to Acadia, in honor of the former French colony of Acadia, which once occupied Maine.
- Acadia is the first national park created entirely from private donations. George B. Dorr and Charles W. Eliot, the President of Harvard, were instrumental in the creation of the Acadia National Park in 1916. John D. Rockefeller later bequest 11,000 acres and built over 40 miles of the infamous carriage roads.
- In 1947, “The “Great Fire” of Mount Dessert Island destroyed 10,000 acres of Acadia National Park, including many of the fir and spruce trees. The regrowth has created greater diversity of plant life in Acadia with Birch and Maple trees now being found there.
- Currently, the park has just under 50,000 acres. It is one of the smallest national parks in the United States. It is also one of the most popular, attracting 3 million visitors annually.
WHY VISIT ACADIA NATIONAL PARK?
- In spite of its relatively small size, Acadia National Park offers an abundance of attractions from rocky beaches to wetlands to spruce-fir forests & granite mountain peaks.
- Cadillac Mountain, the park’s most famous of 26 mountains, is named after French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. At 1,530 feet, it is also the tallest mountain on the Atlantic coast. Between early October and early March, it is the first place that the sun rises in the eastern US.
- Acadia National Park has more than 120 miles of hiking trails – ranging from easy to strenuous. So, there is something for everyone. Two of my favorite trails are Beehive & Precipice. For additional information on trails, please reference link.
- The park has 40 different species of wildlife, including chipmunks, white-tailed deer, moose, black bears, beavers, bob cats, bullfrogs, and Peregrine Falcons.
- Once almost extinct and native to Acadia, Peregrine Falcons are the fastest animals on Earth – diving through the air in pursuit of prey at more than 200 miles per hour. In late August through mid-October, approximately 2,500 raptors or birds of prey, including Peregrine Falcons, fly over Cadillac Mountain – making it a bird watchers’ paradise.
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO SEE THE PARK?
- Acadia National Park welcomes roughly 3 million visitors each year, with most showing-up between June and October. Mount Desert Island, which is home to Acadia National Park, has a year-round population of only 10,615 residents (2010 Census). In 2017, during its Centennial, Acadia National Park recorded a record of 3.5 million visitors.
We, at Geddy’s, are extremely fortunate to have this amazing park in our own back yard! We hope that you too will have the opportunity to enjoy Acadia National Park … and experience one of the incredible wonders of the world that we call home!
Cheers for now, 🙂
Heather
