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People inhabited this area at least 5,000 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers who shaped stone tools and used them to gouge out the trunks of hemlock trees to make canoes. They made tools for cutting and chopping and pounding, and as weights for fishing lines in the deep sea. In more recent times, the Wabanaki, People of the Dawnland, carried on hunter-gatherer activities as well. They built wigwams and canoes of birch bark.
They traded up and down the coast with other Native Americans, and European explorers and fishermen. In the 1800s, they taught tourists and summer residents how to canoe on Frenchman Bay and crafted baskets for sale to the burgeoning tourist trade.
The French navigator-explorer, Samuel de Champlain, made the first reliable European record of the area in 1604, though because of the turbulence that followed between the French and British, it was not until 1762 that a permanent European settlement was established.
These hardy folk subsisted here, farming and fishing, and eventually opening their homes to paying tourists, called Rusticators, who enjoyed the rustic lodgings and the primitive and wild state of the island.
Tourism flourished beginning in the mid-1800s, and the island supported a population of wealthy summer residents who came here to escape the pressures of city life. Acadia National Park was founded by those who wished to see their favorite views and special places preserved for the future, rather than developed and harvested. Thanks to the stewardship and foresight of George B. Dorr and others, the island retains a little of its wild nature, which first attracted visitors in the 1800s. Today, 3.5 million visitors a year enjoy what the park founders fought to preserve.
Learn more about the stories of our past, the people of our present and the inspiration for our future.
Wabanaki, Mount Desert Island, Maine

Wabanaki

Nearly 500 years ago, Wabanakis spotted the first European sailing ships cruising along their seacoast. The Wabanaki or People of the Dawnland had lived in Maine for thousands of years, successfully surviving as migratory hunters, fishers, and gatherers.

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Green Mountain Railway

Green Mountain House & Railway

High points like Cadillac Mountain always attract attention. In the late 1800s, when Cadillac was called Green Mountain, a hotel was built at its summit so guests could wake up in their rooms and already be in place to watch the sunrise.

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Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain

During the summer and early fall of 1604, Champlain ventured along the mid-Maine coast as far as Georges River. He named the islands of Mount Desert and Isle au Haut.

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