Acadia — Park Overview

This camera offers a wide view over Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine — the first national park east of the Mississippi and the highest rocky headlands on the U.S. Atlantic coast. Acadia is a mosaic of pink-granite mountains, spruce-fir forest, cobble beaches, and a deeply indented shoreline where the land meets the cold Gulf of Maine. The view changes constantly with the famous coastal weather, from brilliant clear days to rolling sea fog. Acadia is spectacular in every season. Summer brings green forest and busy carriage roads; autumn turns the hardwoods brilliant red and gold, usually peaking in mid-October; winter quiets the park under snow. Cadillac Mountain, the highest point, is one of the first places in the United States to see the sunrise for much of the year. Maine is on Eastern Time, six hours ahead of Hawaii. The park protects Cadillac Mountain, Jordan Pond, Thunder Hole, and the 45-mile network of historic carriage roads built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. Bar Harbor, just outside the park, is the hub for lobster, whale-watching, and island life. Peregrine falcons nest on the cliffs, and the cold offshore waters draw seals, porpoises, and seabirds.