New England Trip

We did not get rain today, but we did have low-hanging clouds that obscured the top of Cadillac Mountain. From the route to the top, we got some interesting pictures of clouds hovering over the islands just off the coast, but at the top of Cadillac Mt. we were literally standing in a cloud that was blowing around us. We drove down the mountain to find beautiful weather around mid-day, and had a great tour of the coast. Along the way, there were lots of walking trails to take from the overlook areas, and one that we took led to a beautiful view of surf breaking on rocks below a spectacular house on a bluff.

Cadillac Mountain is named for a Frenchman who once owned most of the land around Frenchman’s Bay under a deed of gift from the King of France. Cadillac later founded the city of Detroit, and the Cadillac automobile was named for him.

Here there are private properties adjacent to the park properties, and the road runs in and out of the park and private land. We learned that the Federal government has set a limit on acquisition of properties by national parks, but private citizens can give an easement to the park, essentially giving the development rights to their property to the park as a charitable contribution. Acadia National Park has lots of property contributed in this way. The private homes on the easement land remain, and can be maintained and rebuilt as needed, but no additional development of the land can be done without the park’s consent and control.

Mount Desert Island is more like a peninsula with the Atlantic on the east and south sides, and bays on the western shores. We drove clockwise around the park road from Cadillac Mountain near the north end of the island, down the east side along the Atlantic Shore, and then back up the middle of the island past some inland lakes. The coastal views of surf on the rocky coast were beautiful. One sandy beach, aptly named “Sand Beach,” was full of people who didn’t venture far into the cold water but tolerated the chilly air in swim suits remarkably well, threw Frisbees, and lay on beach chairs in the sun. At the rocky beach stops, we saw lots of people wearing flip-flops picking their way over the steep rocks. One guy stood right on the edge of a rock, high above the breaking surf, to have his picture taken with a very small child clinging to his neck. It seems that our athletic shoes have become frumpy.

On the way north up the west side of the park, we stopped at the Jordan Pond House, which is actually a new structure that replaced an inn and restaurant that was built in the 1800’s but burned to the ground in the 1970s. The house is famous for its “popovers,” very light pastries served with butter and locally produced blueberry and strawberry jam. We took an outdoor table overlooking Jordan Pond, and had popovers with iced cappuccino for “tea” and enjoyed them immensely, despite the swarming bees that have been attracted to the dishes of jam on many tables. People were alternately buttering their popovers and fanning the bees away. Maybe the atmosphere is better in a stiff breeze. We bought some popover mix and jam in the gift shop, and will try our hand at making them at home.

Acadia National Park is definitely on our top 10 list of beautiful places we have seen. It’s up there with Zion National Park, Big Sur, the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Different from all of those, but absolutely beautiful. And one of the really special features of it is that it’s got some of the familiarity of the east coast, only extra special.