Sand Beach

The sea constantly reinvents the coastline of Acadia National Park. Waves and currents take material from one point on the coast, only to deposit it somewhere else. Cobble beaches are created in this manner, as rocks are dislodged and smoothed by the force of the ocean then placed on another section of shoreline.

Because Acadia's coast is young, sandy shores are rare. However at Sand Beach, the park's largest feature of this type, shore currents have shifted the tons of sand that the sea eroded from the rocks. Mixed into the sand are broken bits of shells and the skeletons of crabs, mussels, sea urchins, and other marine life.