2017 Trip Seven: Acadia and Cape Cod: Sept. 20

Ellsworth. Maine Wednesday Sept. 20

Schoodic Point

The sun came out today, briefly, and weakly. But that did not matter to us. We accomplished two priorities: Schoodic Peninsula and Cadillac Mountain.

Schoodic Point

High tide was at 11:30 AM. Tropical storm Jose was expected to increase the height and power of the normal waves. We thought, a Ranger confirmed, that the Schoodic Peninsula would be a good place with smaller crowds to observe the waves. Schoodic Peninsula is about an hour from Ellsworth. Its name probably derives from an Indian name meaning end point or end of land.

Schoodic Point

The Schoodic Peninsula portion of Acadia National Park has an interesting origination. A wealthy Maine resident who moved to New York and made a fortune in the telegraph business and banking bought property in this area. His money also bought influence in the United States Senate under conditions that today would be considered corruption and bribery. He wanted to develop the area on the Schoodic Peninsula in a manner similar to that of Bar Harbor. While he was able to amass property and lots of money, he died before his development desires in Schoodic came to fruition. His widow and daughters wanted to get rid of the 2000 acres of land and spend their time in New York and Europe. George Dorr, one of the originators of what was then called Lafayette National Park, worked out a deal changing the name from the French based Lafayette National Monument Park to Acadia National Park. The Moore daughters loved the British but disliked the French and the land donation was confirmed.

Two further arrangements added to Schoodic Peninsula park land. The first involved another land swap whereby a US naval facility used for listening to telegraph traffic on shipping in the Atlantic was transferred from the Bar Harbor area where it was in the way of John D Rockefeller’s plans for Acadia National Park to Schoodic Peninsula. That facility has since been decommissioned and is now park property.

The second arrangement occurred in the 2000s when a developer proposed to build a 3200 acre resort community directly north of the Schoodic Peninsula park property. An anonymous donor bought the property, built a modern campground, developed biking and hiking trails, built a visitor center and then donated everything to the NPS to be added to the Schoodic Peninsula park portion of Acadia National Park. This new section just opened two years ago.

Blueberry Hill and its cobble stones

Okay, enough with the history. We arrived at Schoodic Point at 9:30 AM, early enough to obtain a parking spot. Waves were crashing and surf coming in. We took pictures, listened to the waves, and then moved on to Blueberry Hill. Blueberry Hill was unique; the waves here pick up cobble stones-rounded stones between the size of an apple and a basketball. The stones make a tinkling sound as the waves move them off and on the shore. The waves today were most effective in doing this. I made a video but the wave and wind sound hides the sound of the cobble stones. Sorry.

Bunker’s Harbor where we had lunch

Schoodic Peninsula has a one-way loop road similar to the main Acadia Park. We left Blueberry Hill and returned to Schoodic Point to watch the waves some more. When we left at 11:45, the line to get in to the parking area was several blocks long. Slackers. We went to Bunkers Wharf for lunch where we split a fish and chips dinner which guaranteed us room for dessert, chocolate hazelnut mousse and pumpkin cake.

View from Cadillac Mountain

A little shopping in the small town of Winter Harbor followed but nothing grabbed our eyes. By now it was 1:30 PM, and the skies were getting lighter and no fog was present. We decided to take a chance and head to Cadillac Mountain. It took us 75 minutes to get there and the sky changed frequently. As we ascended the mountain, the skies were clear. When we reached the top, the fog and clouds had gathered; yet there was enough visibility to see a partial vista from the top. We submit them as proof that we made it to Cadillac Mountain and actually saw something.

We are back at the hotel, doing laundry and getting ready to spend Thursday driving to the Cape Cod area.

Ed and Chris Wednesday Sept. 20