Accommodations are not available within the park boundaries, but inns, motels, bed-and-breakfasts and campgrounds are plentiful around Mount Desert Island. 

LODGING

When it comes to putting a roof over your head, Mount Desert Island has something for everyone. Altogether, the island has 4,500 rooms. You can choose from a romantic bed and breakfast to a state-of-the-art hotel with conference facilities. There are seaside lodges and roadside motels, pint-size inns and full-scale resorts, guesthouses and cute cottages.

Budget travelers may want to consider renting an apartment or staying at the local YWCA in Bar Harbor. Private campgrounds are another economical alternative.

For more lodging information, contact local chambers of commerce.

DINING

Acadia is not only a feast for the eyes. No visitor can claim to have truly experienced Maine without having sampled such Down East specialties as boiled lobster, steamed clams, clam chowder, baked beans, and blueberry pancakes and pie. You will find these dishes—and much more—at restaurants around the island. Mount Desert Island has an assortment of dining establishments—from casual lobster pounds to elegant rooms serving four-star cuisine. There are also cafés and chowder houses, delis, grills and sub shops. Your best bet will likely be seafood, since the island’s fishing boats bring a harvest back from the sea every day.

Jordan Pond House

The only dining facility in the park, Jordan Pond House Restaurant serves lunch, afternoon tea and dinner in the dining room or on the porch. Seating is also available at picnic tables on the lawn.

The Jordan Pond House carries on the 19th-century tradition of dining while overlooking Jordan Pond and the Bubbles. This dates back to the late 1800s, when teahouses catered to Acadia’s sophisticated summer visitors.

Today, Jordan Pond House continues these dining traditions with its famous baked popovers and homemade ice cream, fresh Maine seafood, and the  finest poultry, meats and vegetables.

The restaurant is open from mid-May through late October. It is operated by the Acadia Corporation, a Maine-owned company working with the National Park Service to provide food service and gift shops in the park. For more information and reservations, please call (207) 276-3316 or visit jordanpondhouse.com.

Maine Lobsters

Of all the creatures that inhabit Maine’s cold ocean waters, none is better known or more highly prized than the lobster. This hardy crustacean once adorned the state’s license plate and pops up on restaurant menus along the coast. The lobster’s fame is well deserved. Its meat—found in the powerful front claws, the large tail and the spindly legs—is a true delicacy, sweet and succulent. Its taste makes all the effort it takes to catch, cook and eat a lobster seem well worthwhile.

Two hundred years ago, the lobster did not enjoy its present luxury status. Early Maine settlers used lobsters as fertilizer, and legend has it that prison inmates complained about having to dine on lobster three times a week. Perhaps familiarity bred distaste, as lobsters were once so plentiful that they could be gathered at low tide along Maine’s rocky shore.

Today, lobster fishing requires considerably more work. Lobsters live on the ocean floor where they feed on snails, clams, mussels and other marine life. Lobstermen catch their prey using box-shaped wire traps, which they drop overboard and mark with brightly painted buoys (their distinctive color combinations are registered with the state). During the seven years it takes a lobster to reach its legal catch size, it regularly molts its shell. Most lobsters average around 1.5 pounds in weight, but lobsters as large as 40 pounds have been reported!

Maine is one of the best places to learn about and enjoy lobsters. While you're in town, take advantage!