Acadia National Park in downeast Maine is where the mountains meet the sea on the U.S. Atlantic coast.

Acadia is poised to turn 100 in 2016, the same year the National Park Service itself becomes 100 years old.

The Beehive, left in the distance, a 520-foot granite peak, and Great Head, stretching to the right from the Beehive, as seen from Ocean Path.

This web site is meant to celebrate 100 years of Acadia, which began as a national monument in 1916.

Acadia could be another word for heaven. The park is some 49,000 acres of near-paradise, with trails that ascend along granite steps and crafted cairns to small mountain peaks that overlook the ocean and island upon island that stretch to the horizon.

The hikes can be rugged and steep but they often are never far from the ocean. The sounds of buoys, fog horns, peregrine falcons, sea gulls or working lobster boats can fill the air during a hike.

Acadia, located mostly on Mount Desert Island, about an hour’s drive south east of Bangor, was created by people such as John D. Rockefeller Jr., who donated lands and oversaw construction of the magnificent carriage roads, and George B. Dorr, the park’s first superintendent and son of a wealthy Massachusetts family who dedicated his life to helping found the park.

The views from the Champlain South Ridge Trail are toward Sand Beach, Beehive and Otter Cliff with Baker Island in distance.

If you visit Acadia and it’s a nice day, try to make your first stop the peak of Cadillac Mountain, the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic coast. You can get your bearings for the rest of your stay by reading a couple of plaques that identify islands and other landmarks along the coast.

Weather can change quickly in Acadia. If it’s a sunny day, take advantage of it and make the short drive to the peak of Cadillac.

Acadia is great hiking territory for families because the peaks can be a fairly short climb. Easy ocean-side trails are also spectacular with pink granite and sweeping views.

The lone National Park in the Northeast is a very special place.