5 Best Sights in Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, Maine

This is a great spot to get your bearings. A large 3D relief map of Mount Desert Island gives you the lay of the land, and there are free park and carriage road maps. The gift shop sells hiking maps, guidebooks, and a CD for a self-driving park tour and is well-stocked with books about Acadia. Ranger-led programs include guided hikes and other interpretive events, and there are Junior Ranger programs for kids, family-friendly campfire talks at campground amphitheaters (open to all visitors), and night sky talks at Sand Beach. 

The trust protects 14,000 acres of land in the Rangeley Lakes area. Both online and at its Rangeley office, the trust has maps and descriptions of its 35 miles of recreational trails and access roads, along with information about fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, picnicking, and other outdoor activities.

This impressive 1934 structure resembles a mansion but was built as housing for personnel at the U.S. Navy base that operated on Schoodic Peninsula for decades. Now part of Schoodic Institute, an Acadia-affiliated research and education nonprofit, the first floor houses a seasonal park welcome center. You can get information, watch a video about Schoodic, and check out kid-friendly exhibits about this neck of Acadia and the navy base. There's a small gift shop area. An automated fee machine inside the gatehouse at the complex's entrance sells Acadia weekly park passes.

Built with materials from the surrounding region and opened in 2015 along with the campground here, this striking post-and-beam structure serves double duty as campground host and information center—Acadia passes and Federal Lands passes are sold. Inside, a large Schoodic District relief map centers the room, which has a gift shop area and exhibits, some hands-on, about the park. Comfy chairs flank a fireplace, inviting visitors to relax, pamphlet in hand, after chatting with a ranger or park volunteer. Outside, the setting is village-like, with walkways and handsome signage for bike paths that converge here, a stop for the free Island Explorer buses, and restrooms in a cabin-like building. Trailheads for 3.2-mile Buck Cove Mountain and 1.5-mile Lower Harbor trails are nearby. A campground amphitheater hosts ranger programs for park visitors and campers.

This small information center is located at the park’s Seawall Campground along Route 102A near the island's southernmost point. Stop here for park information and to purchase park passes.