Cultural resources can be defined as physical evidence or place of past human activity: site, object, landscape, structure; or a site, structure, landscape, object or natural feature of significance to a group of people traditionally associated with it.

The types of cultural resources often found in national parks include:

• Archeological resources The remains of past human activity and records documenting the scientific analysis of these remains.
• Historic structures Material assemblies that extend the limits of human capability.
• Cultural landscapes Settings we have created in the natural world.
• Ethnographic resources Sites, structures, landscapes, objects or natural features of significance to a traditionally associated group of people.
• Museum objects Manifestations of human behavior and ideas.
  

Some examples of cultural resources found at Acadia National Park are:

• Native American:
  shell middens, camps, portage paths, ceremonial and/or sacred sites, plant gathering areas
• 17th -19th century settlement:
  farms, mills, quarries, estates, cemeteries, lighthouses, shipwrecks
• Park development era:
  park loop road, carriage roads, hiking trails, campgrounds, Schoodic Peninsula.
  

Cultural Resource Management Involves:

• Research – Identifying, evaluating, documenting, registering, and establishing other basic information on resources.
• Planning – Ensuring that information on resources is well integrated into management decisions and setting priorities.
• Stewardship – Ensure that planning decisions are carried out and resources are preserved, protected, and interpreted to the public.
  

Selected Recent Park Cultural Resource Projects

• Archeological Overview and Assessment
• Native American Traditional Use Study
• Reinterment and forensic study at Saint Croix Island cemetery
• Hiking Trails Cultural Landscape Report
• Schoodic Peninsula Historic District National Register Nomination