Acadia’s dramatic landscapes are interwoven with the tales of people who lived on Maine’s rocky shores. Visitors are delighted by hiking stone-stepped trails, walking around the lighthouses on Baker Island and at Bass Harbor Head, or bicycling past the Rockefeller gatehouses and over the carriage road bridges, each with their own unique date chiseled by stone masons.
But what is not seen is the gradual degradation of these facilities as they face wear and tear in Maine’s changing climate and as federal appropriations for maintenance activities fail to keep pace.
Acadia’s historic structures require specific care that preserves their historical integrity and addresses modern issues, such as extreme storm events or the removal of asbestos, mercury switches, and other hazardous materials.
Thanks to the generosity of donors, Friends of Acadia has facilitated the work of the National Park Service to assess the conditions of these historic structures at Acadia and begin the work of restoration and rehabilitation. For example, Friends of Acadia funded detailed drawings and a conditions assessment report of the lighthouse tower, the Keeper’s House, the oil shed, and the fuel house on Baker Island. Friends of Acadia also contributed funds to enable the National Park Service to complete the environmental conditions assessment at the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse so that the park could begin planning for future adapted uses.
Through this effort, Friends of Acadia is adding capacity to the National Park Service to manage Acadia’s outstanding cultural resources.
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Acadia National Park