Guidebook for Blue Hill, Maine

What is there to do? 1) A drive through Acadia National Park. Start your visit to Acadia National Park with a stop at Seal Cove Automobile Museum first. It tells the story of how the rusticators of Bar Harbor during the early 1900s wanted to ban car traffic, while the locals, building cars in their barns wanted car traffic. Afterwards, make your way to 25 Visitor Center Drive in Bar Harbor, to pick up the one-way, loop road through Acadia National Park, but first, drive up Cadillac Mountain. Acadia National Park is the only park in the USA where you look down from mountains onto the Atlantic Ocean. Now do the loop road that takes you through the beautiful Acadia National Park, where there are many scenic turnouts of the Atlantic surf crashing against the rocks. Stop at Jordan Pond for lunch. It's famous for its lobster chowder, popovers, and Bloody Mary's. While in Northeast Harbor, visit the Kimball Shop. Consider stopping at Wildwood Stables for a horse and cart ride. Travel was by way of buck board for many years, and people still remember those days. 2) In Stonington, a boat trip on the isle au haut ferry out to the island of isle au haut to visit the fisherman’s settlement there and to hike the trails is highly recommended on warm days. The Isle au Haut ferry also offers narrated tours of Stonington Harbor, light house tours, and bird watching tours out to the ledges to see the variety of sea birds that visit the coast of Maine in summer. Visit Merchant's Row and learn about the Age of Sail; learn about the rock quarries in Stonington that produced the granite for the Brooklyn Bridge. The Isle au Haut ferry is a great way to get out onto the calm, cold waters of the Coast of Maine to see its many islands, beaches, peninsulas, and sail boats. If you're into hiking, Isle au Haut has trails and is part of Acadia National Park. Bring cameras and warm clothes even on the hottest of days. Visit Www.isleauhautferryservices dot com for tour times and dates. 3) A picnic lunch at Schoodic point. Part of Acadia National Park, Schoodic Point is located on the tip of the next peninsula over from Mount Dessert island. Visit Winter Harbor in the way. Watch sea birds flying over the crashing surf of the Atlantic as you picnic on the flat, pink rocks there. 4) A visit to the towns of Stonington, Deer isle, Brooksville and Castine. With their many seaside restaurants, handsome waterside mansions, art galleries and museums, these towns are picturesque, scenic and located on the water. Driving to them is scenic. In Deer Isle, stop for drinks on the deck at Aragoosta restaurant. In Stonington check out Jill Hoyt art gallery and Opera House Arts. In Castine consider dining on the waterfront. In Brooksville, visit Four Seasons Farm and the Nearing Homestead. 5) If you are up for cycling, a must see is Rockefeller s carriage trails inside Acadia national park, intended for bicycles only. Car traffic is not allowed. Bicycles are rented from Bar Harbor Bicycle (see below for details) and buses with bicycle racks take you to the trails. The park is famous for its bridges and was designed by the same person who designed Central Park. The trails are flat for cycling. 6) Beach Day - A visit to the beach at Curtis Cove in East blue hill is highly recommended for its scenic setting. Follow it by an afternoon lobster boil at Perry’s Lobster Shack on the pier in Surry, overlooking Acadia national park. Bring your own bottle of wine and a sweater. You will be dining outside right over the water in the pier with views of Cadillac Mountain and Acadia National Park. There’s a beach next door to Perry’s which is located on Newberry neck, a peninsula ten miles long and half a mile wide with many sea views and lovely houses. The islands of Maine are a sunken mountain range. When the glacier melted, water submerged the range, leaving islands, and this is also why the roads in Maine dip and rise and are not flat. Glaciers wore the valleys down between boulders, moving back and forth, cutting deep valleys in the countryside. We also recommend a hike to Peter Brooks Waterfall for forest bathing, as well as a stroll through Blue Hill village to visit the Wine Shop, and a short steep hike up Blue Hill Mountain on the Osgood Trail. 7) Family dinners are a treasured tradition in Maine, and the nicest time at the Bungalow is late afternoon watching the sun go down. When the tide is high in late afternoon, we recommend a swim, then a fire, either on the rocks or in the fireplace, and a sit down meal of lobster, corn muffins, chowder, and blueberry pie.