There is one national park in Maine, and it’s a coastal beauty.

The park — located on Mount Desert and surrounding islands — was first known as Sieur de Monts National Monument when it was established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

The park was made up of land donated by a number of people, including 11,000 acres donated by outdoorsman and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., and also from gifts made by George B. Dorr, a wealthy scholar who donated his family’s Bar Harbor property, and author and landscape architect Charles W. Eliot, who wrote extensively about the beauty of coastal Maine, inspiring the creation of the park.

Since the beginning, others have continued to donate land and still others have donated time to work on trails, clean the park and do other volunteer work.

In 1919 the name of the park was changed to Lafayette National Park, and it was the first official national park on the East Coast.

It was officially re-named Acadia National Park in 1929.

According to the National Park Service, “Acadia derives from historical descriptions first used by fishermen and traders brought across the Atlantic Ocean to France by explorers in service to Henry IV,” then king of France.

Others believe the term “is derived from the native Mi’kmaq term akadie or cadie, meaning a piece of land (generally with a positive connotation), which was rendered l’Acadie by the French who explored and settled present-day Maine and Maritime Canada,” according to the park service.

This year — 2016 — Acadia will celebrate its centennial with a series of events at the park, starting with a bean supper hosted by the Mount Desert Island Historical Society on Monday, Jan. 25. There is also the Acadia Winter Festival from Feb. 26 through March 6. (For a full list of events go to: acadiacentennial2016.org)

Acadia National park is now home to 47,000 acres of recreational land where people from all over the world come to hike along 125 miles of trails, camp, fish, swim at fresh or saltwater beaches, bike 45 miles of carriage trails, rock climb and enjoy Maine’s rugged outdoors.

Cadillac Mountain, one of the park’s glacier-scoured granite peaks, is the highest point on the United States’ East Coast and is accessible by foot, by bike and by car.

The road to Cadillac Mountain is closed in winter, and during severe weather, but on most other days visitors can be found at the summit watching the sunrise. The mountain’s height and eastern location offers the first glimpse of the sunrise in the United States.

The park also has a number of nature centers where visitors can learn about the thousands of animals and plants that make Acadia their home.

It’s a place where visitors can hike coastal trails and see professional lobstermen at work hauling traps. Where people can camp under the stars, or munch on a popover with jam or ice cream at Jordan Pond House. And where visitors are as likely to see an otter bobbing in the surf, or deer browsing for leaves.

Although the park is accessible by car, some people say Acadia is best experienced on foot.

Nature writer Christopher Camuto, author of “Time and Tide in Acadia,” wrote: “Some days, walking Acadian summits, soaking up the informed silence of these mountains, you’ll want to bow to everything you see.”

For more information about Acadia National park, go to: nps.gov

*Source: National Park Service, acadiamagic.com

What to do in the park:

Bass Harbor Head Light is the only lighthouse on Mount Desert Island. Currently a private residence for the commander of the local Coast Guard unit, the lighthouse has short trails on either side that provide spectacular views.

At 1,530 feet, Cadillac Mountain is not only the tallest mountain in the park, but also the tallest mountain along the eastern coast of the United States.

“High Island” is the English translation for Isle au Haut, the name given by the French navigator Samuel Champlain during his explorations of the Maine coast in 1604.

The 27-mile Park Loop Road offers outstanding views of the park’s ocean shoreline, coastal forests, and mountain silhouettes. Some of the features of the Park Loop Road include Sand Beach, a 290-yard long beach with unique shell fragments and very salty water, Thunder Hole, a formation in the rocks that — as waves arrive in full force and collide with trapped air — makes a sound like distant thunder, and Otter Cove, with cliffs up to 110 feet high, it is one of the highest headlands north of Rio de Janeiro and offers spectacular views of land and sea.

Explore the Cranberry Isles and the lives of their hardy inhabitants in the Islesford Historical Museum on Little Cranberry Island. The island is accessible by mail boat or tour boat from Northeast Harbor or Southwest Harbor.

Did you know?

 • There are over 2 million visitors to the park every year.

 • Since 1999, propane-powered Island Explorer buses have carried nearly 6 million passengers in Acadia National Park.

 • Acadia National Park’s carriage road system, built by John D. Rockefeller Jr., is the finest example of broken stone roads designed for horse-drawn vehicles still in existence in America.

• Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park is the tallest mountain along the eastern coast of the United States. During certain times of the year, it is the first place in the U.S. to see sunrise.

• The average winter temperature is 27 degrees; the average summer temperature is 67 degrees.

• There was a major fire in 1947 referred to as “The Year Maine Burned,” that burned more than 10,000 acres of the park.

• There are 26 mountains in Acadia National Park and over 40 miles of ocean shoreline.

*Source: National Park Service

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