Visitor Centers

East-facing entrance to Tekαkαpimək Contact Station.

NPS/R.Wang

Tekαkαpimək: Opening Soon!

Have you heard some buzz about the new visitor contact station? Here's some information to help answer a few questions.

Purpose

The Tekαkαpimək Contact Station provides a location for orientation and information of visitors to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Exhibits designed from a Wabanaki worldview provide an introduction to the monument's landscape and its significance.

Is Tekαkαpimək Contact Station open?

The Contact Station will open Saturday and Sunday, June 21st - 22nd from 9 am to 3 pm for visitation. Starting Friday, June 27th, the contact station is tentatively scheduled to be open Friday through Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm for the summer season. It will remain closed Monday through Thursday at this time.

 

Penobscot Place Name

The name Tekαkαpimək is from Penobscot language and translated into English means ‘as far as one can see.’ It is pronounced de gah-gah-bee-mook.

 

View of decorative weaving on desk inside Tekαkαpimək Contact Station

NPS/R. Wang

Who built the Tekαkαpimək Contact Station?

Elliotsville Foundation built the contact station under reserved rights attached to the deed for the Three Rivers parcel. Construction was coordinated with the National Park Service and a Wabanaki Advisory Board comprised of representatives from the Wabanaki Nations of Maine, namely the Penobscot Nation, whose ancestral lands the building stands on, and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mi’kmaq Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik and Motahkomikuk.The Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters, a philanthropic partner of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, conducted the capital campaign to raise funds from private donors.

Where is the Tekαkαpimək Contact Station?

The contact station is located in the southern portion of the monument, on Lookout Mountain. To get there, enter the monument's southern end via Swift Brook Road. Turn right on Contact Station Road (marked with a large sign for Tekαkαpimək Contact Station), and follow the road north approximately 2.5 miles to the parking area.

What services are available at Tekαkαpimək Contact Station?

National Park Service employees and volunteers staff an information desk where visitors can obtain park brochures and the park passport stamp. Restrooms and a water fountain are available when the building is open. The station contains exhibits that provide information from an Indigenous perspective about the natural and cultural history of the area now within monument boundaries. Walking paths and benches are available.

East of the parking lot, a gathering location known as the Eastern Lookout faces the rising sun and a view of all Wabanaki homelands. A deck on the west wing of the station allows for views of Katahdin, known as the "greatest mountain" in Wabanaki languages. Hear Katahdin pronounced in Penobscot or in Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoquey (Passamaquoddy-Maliseet).

 

• Tekαkαpimək pronunciation

  
  

  The name Tekαkαpimək is from Penobscot language and translated into English means ‘as far as one can see.’
  Audio Transcript

  "Tekαkαpimək, Tekαkαpimək"

 

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