Acadia National Park Favorite Tips by Stephen-KarenConn Top 5 Page for this destination

Summer Playground for the Rich and Famous

Favorite thing: From the mid-1800s and into the early 1900s, Mount Desert Island was the summer home of some of the wealthiest people in America. Inspired by the landscape painters of the Hudson River School, the socially elite came in droves to enjoy the cool splendor of the Acadia coast - a welcome respite from the sweltering heat of the cities.

Especially during the 1880s and the "Gay Nineties" many of America's most affluent families chose to spend the summer here. These included the Rockefellers, Morgans, Fords, Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Astors. These and others built elegant summer estates, euphemistically called "cottages." Some formed "Village Improvement Societies" which constructed hiking trails connecting the Island's villages to its interior mountains. The Great Depression, World War II, and a great fire in 1947 marked the end of that extravagant era.

A few very wealthy people still have homes on the island. For the most part, Acadia today is a vacation destination for the average citizen, with accommodations ranging from rustic to posh.

Enlarge the photo to get a better look at one of the newer mansions on Mount Desert Island.

History of Acadia National Park