Overview
With amazing coastal views and 49,000 acres to explore, the Park offers an abundance of hiking, biking, and sightseeing options.
Plan Around Overview
A good stop is not just something to read about. Once it belongs on the day, move into a saved trip and build the route around it.
Use this detail page to confirm that the stop is worth it, then carry that decision into a trip draft while the park context is still fresh.
Overview Details
Located mainly on Mount Desert Island and a portion of the Schoodic Peninsula near Bar Harbor, Acadia's dramatic landscape of mountains and valleys was created by glaciers that carved through a granite ridge during the last ice age. Somes Sound, a valley flooded as the glaciers retreated, is the closest thing to a Scandinavian-style fjord on the eastern seaboard. Explorer Samuel de Champlain named Mount Desert Island when he landed here in 1604. In the mid-19th century, the famed artists of the Hudson River School helped put the region on the tourism map by portraying its beauty in their works. Wealthy summer residents built vacation homes linked by carriage roads, which today serve as highly accessible hiking and biking paths throughout the Park. Hikers and autos alike can summit 1,528-foot Cadillac Mountain for dramatic views of the Maine coastline, an outing that's especially popular at sunrise. Established: February 26, 1919 Area: 49,000 acres Website: [www.nps.gov/acad](http://www.nps.gov/acad) [@AcadiaNPS](http://twitter.com/AcadiaNPS)
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Learn About the Park
Nearby Parks Around Overview
Compare nearby parks around Overview when deciding whether to expand the route after this stop.
Nearby Points of Interest Around Overview
Use nearby POIs to quickly expand your options beyond Overview while the map context is still fresh.
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Jessie Benton Fremont
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ZERO LANDFILL IN THE PARKS:
THE YOSEMITE, GRAND TETON AND DENALI PROGRAM
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Fly rim-to-rim in a half-hour.
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50-Minute Airplane Tour
The ultimate Canyon airplane tour.
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50-Minute Helicopter Tour
Offering aerial tours of the North and South Rims as well as the Grand Canyon's East Rim.
