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Acadia
A TIDAL REACH AT SUNDOWN
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, formerly Lafayette, is located in old Acadian territory on the coast of Maine. The greater part of it is located on Mount Desert Island, so named by the French explorer Champlain, who first saw its bare rock peaks against the western sky. Recently the park was extended beyond the limits of Mount Desert Island, to in clude a bold promontory across Frenchmans Bay.
The coast of Maine, like every other boldly beautiful coastal region whose origin is nonvolcanic, was formed by the flooding of an old and water-worn land surface, which turned its heights into islands and headlands, its stream courses into arms and reaches of the sea, and its broader valleys into bays and estuaries.
From Penobscot Bay to Frenchmans Bay the scenery culminates in bold mountainous formations and in a beauty which has long been famous. A multitude of islands links these bays with delightful waterways traversed of old by the Indians in their bark canoes and now ideal for power and other quiet-water boating. Mount Desert Island is the easternmost and largest in this archipelago. Its mountain range, the dominant landscape feature of the national park, fronts the sea.
SURF ON THE OCEAN DRIVE
OUTLET TO THE TARN
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Last Modified: Mon, Oct 31, 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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