9 Maine Coast Hotels at the Edge of Acadia

John D. Rockefeller Jr. did not like motor cars. Between 1913 and 1940 he financed and largely directed the construction of about forty-five miles of carriage roads through what became Acadia National Park, built to a specification that excluded them entirely — sixteen feet wide, broken-stone construction, graded for horses, with coping stones along the edges that the workers called Rockefeller's teeth.

He also built seventeen stone bridges, no two alike, each designed for its specific crossing and faced in granite cut on the island.

Cars are still banned on them. The roads are now used by walkers, cyclists and, in winter, cross-country skiers, and horse-drawn carriages still run on them in summer. It is the most complete network of its kind in the United States and it exists because one man with a great deal of money objected to the internal combustion engine and did something about it.

The first sunrise

Cadillac Mountain, at 466 metres, is the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard, and for part of the year — roughly early October to early March — it is the first place in the United States to see the sunrise. People drive up in the dark for it, and vehicle access to the summit road now requires a timed reservation booked in advance.

The fire

Bar Harbor was a Gilded Age resort with something over two hundred large summer cottages. In October 1947 a fire that had smouldered for weeks in unusually dry conditions ran through the town and the eastern side of the island, destroying sixty-seven of the cottages, five hotels and around seventeen thousand acres.

The town rebuilt as a motel and inn town rather than a mansion colony, which is why Bar Harbor feels different from Newport, and why the forest on that side of the island is now a mixed deciduous one — the spruce that burned was replaced by birch and aspen, and the autumn colour there is a direct result of the fire.

The coast

Acadia and Bar Harbor are on Mount Desert Island, about five hours from Boston.

Camden and the midcoast have the schooners, the harbours and the Camden Hills running to the sea.

Portland, further south, is a working port with the best restaurant scene in northern New England.

Kennebunkport, south again, is the polished end with the beaches.

The nine below run south to north.

Kennebunkport

The southern coast.

The White Barn Inn occupies a nineteenth-century farmhouse and its outbuildings with a kitchen that has held a Relais & Châteaux reputation for decades, and a spa.

Hidden Pond sits on sixty wooded acres outside the village with cottages, two pools and a farm supplying the kitchen.

Portland

The working port.

The Press Hotel occupies the former Portland Press Herald building with a design drawn from the newspaper, a rooftop bar and the Old Port outside.

Camden and the midcoast

Harbours and schooners.

Whitehall occupies an 1834 building in Camden where Edna St Vincent Millay first read her poetry publicly, restored, with the harbour a short walk down.

250 Main Hotel sits on the Camden waterfront with contemporary rooms and boats outside the window.

Samoset Resort occupies a large site at Rockport with a golf course running along the water, several pools and family facilities.

Bar Harbor and Acadia

Mount Desert Island.

Bar Harbor Inn & Spa occupies a waterfront position in Bar Harbor with lawns to the harbour, a spa and the carriage roads a few minutes away.

West Street Hotel sits on the Bar Harbor waterfront with a rooftop, a pool and views over Frenchman Bay.

Harborside Hotel, Spa & Marina occupies a marina property with a pool, a spa and boats to the outer islands.

What we have left off

The inns and bed and breakfasts along the Maine coast are excluded, and there are a great many in nineteenth-century captains' houses. They are guest houses rather than hotels.

What to do

Cycle the carriage roads. Rentals in Bar Harbor, no cars, seventeen bridges, and the loop around Jordan Pond with popovers at the tea house afterwards is the classic.

Book the Cadillac summit road reservation in advance if you want sunrise, and check whether the season applies for the first-in-the-nation claim.

Sail on a windjammer from Camden or Rockland. Several are nineteenth-century working schooners doing multi-day cruises along the coast.

Eat lobster from a pound rather than a restaurant — a shack by the water where you pick it from a tank and eat it at a picnic table with a paper bib.

Go to Portland for the food, which is out of proportion to the city's size, and walk the Eastern Promenade.

Practical notes

Portland has a small airport; Boston is two hours from Portland and five from Bar Harbor. Bangor is nearer Acadia.

July and August are the season and Acadia gets very busy. September and early October are better — warm days, fewer people and the foliage arriving. Much of Bar Harbor closes from November to April.

Acadia requires a park pass and, for parts of the year, vehicle reservations for the summit road and the Sand Beach corridor.

Why are there no cars on the carriage roads?

Rockefeller built them between 1913 and 1940 specifically to exclude motor vehicles, and the ban still stands across forty-five miles and seventeen bridges.

Is Cadillac really the first sunrise?

From roughly early October to early March, yes. A timed vehicle reservation is needed for the summit road.

Bar Harbor or the midcoast?

Bar Harbor for Acadia, the midcoast for schooners and quieter harbours. About two hours apart.

How many nights?

Six. Three at Acadia and three working down the coast.

If you only book one

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