ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

LOCATION/STATISTICS

• Located in Maine.
• 2.25 million visitors in 2013
• The amount of land in the park is composed of 50 thousand acres.
• Established 2/26/1919
• Altitude ranges from 0-1530 feet.
• Average temperature for Summer is 67 degrees

HISTORY OF THE PARK

• The area was originally inhabited by the Wabanaki people.
• Originally named Sieur de Monts but then changed to Lafeyette National park in 1919 under Woodrow Wilson
• Then in 1929 it was renamed again to Acadia National park because the land reminded the explorer of an area called Arcadia back in Greece.
• The Rockefeller family donated 11,000 acres of land
• There was a major fire in 1947 that destroyed 10,000 acres of land inside the park and damaged a total of almost 18,000 acres
• The fire was actually suggested to have actually enhanced the beauty of the park

ATTRACTIONS/ACTIVITIES

• Carriage roads and bridges. Today the roads and bridges continue to be the turn of the century broken stone roads in America. However the roads need to be maintenances and can be time consuming
• Hiking trails are another attraction. The hiking trails inside the park are all interconnected and range from easy to strenuous.
• Cadillac Mountain, standing at 1,530 feet is the highest point along the Atlantic seaboard and is the most dominant land feature on Mount Desert Island.
• Eagle Lake is the largest fresh water lake in Acadia National park. Fishing is allowed only if you have a license.

ANIMALS

• There is a wide variety of animal life on Acadia National Park
• animals include Falcons, songbirds, herons, marine life, and other amphibians suck as salamanders, frogs and toads.
• Marine life can include seals and dolphins.
• Other animals such as foxes, raccoons, otters, skunks, deer, and occasional moose can be seen within the Park

TREES AND PLANTS

• Acadia National Park offers a variety of plant life.
• The Forest Habitats include, Pitch-Pine woodlands, rocky woodlands with Black Spruce and Heaths, Mature Spruce and Fir forests.
• Ferns and other kinds of plants such as grasses, ferns, freshwater plants, marine plants like algae can be found, along with other mosses and wild flowers.
• Almost one quarter of Acadia's flora is non native and about 25 species are listed as rare plants.