‘Acadia‘ has the WONDERFUL, FREE, ‘Island Explorer‘ bus service — part funded by Park Entrance Fees.
Providing a bus service to the summit of ‘Cadillac‘ — should be THEIR EXCLUSIVE prerogative. This shuttle to Cadillac does NOT have to be FREE. People will gladly pay.
It is wrong that a private company is allowed to profit from this.
This should be a Park Service initiative — that they get money for.
This makes me mad & sad.
Looks like there was some ‘insider’ trading — if you know what I mean.
The island itself, briefly settled by the French in 1604, is in the middle of the ‘Saint Croix River’.
There is NO access to the island from this site! There is a boat ramp. So, you can only get to the island IF you have your own boat. That is a bit of a poor show.
The French party only managed to stay on the island for less than a year!
The impressive bronze statues at the site.
It is small, with NO access to the actual island itself, but it is cute, well laid out with classic, National Park Service bilingual interpretive signage (i.e., very engaging) as well as 5 riveting bronze statues. There is a covered pavilion, overlooking the island, with a model of what the settlement on the island (in 1604) might have looked like.
5:30 minute YouTube video made up of 70 photos I took over my two visits.
It is definitely worth a visit & I ended up visiting it twice — the second time at sunset because I knew the light would do it favors (& I was right).
In purely historical terms this island is not that significant. ‘Saint Augustine‘ in Florida had been founded 39-years earlier & the British ‘Roanoke Colony‘ in North Carolina 19-years earlier.
To I, what was significant was that Samuel de Champlain was in the French party that set up this settlement — & he actually drew the plans for the settlement. Champlain WAS A BIG DEAL! He played a big part in the European appreciation of ‘Acadia’ & the well-known ‘Lake Champlain’ in Vermont is named after him. He also founded ‘Quebec’. But, he kind of screwed up here. In the winter they ran out of water & food.
Well, have a look. The video is sure worth viewing. You will feel like you were THERE. Enjoy.
Click to ENLARGE. All taken by Anura Guruge, on April 26, 2022.
Entrance closed & padlocked. I CHECKED. SMILE. Padlock is under the box.Click to ENLARGE & read here. Wikipedia link.
To be fair ‘Baxter State Park‘ was also closed — though that did not preclude I from being able to hike it, 3 days running, in glorious solitude when I truly had the Park to myself.
There is, however, a BIG difference between Baxter State & Katahdin Woods and Water (KWW). KWW is a National Monument. Yes, it is — & has been since 2016. So, you would have thought that it would have got some TLC from ‘Washington’. Not so, & from what I could see, the locals were v. cool with that.
The access road to the Monument, from Route 11, i.e., Swift Brook Road, was in pretty rough shape. Yes, I understand that it is closed, but it was rough. Roads around & IN Baxter were in much better shape.
You then encounter the ‘National Park — NO!‘ sign. (Topmost image) What is most incongruous about that sign is that it says “This Road Owner“. Ahh! Ahh? The National Park Service did NOT acquire the access road?
As my 3rd image shows the access road, indeed, was closed.
I, of course, walked in & hiked about 1.5 miles in. Nothing to see. SMILE. Just trees.
There was NO GATEHOUSE, let alone Visitor Center. Maybe they are further up the road. I don’t know. There is only so much I am willing to hike — especially if the views are boring.
There was supposed to be a National Park Center in Millinocket — at ‘#200 Penobscot Avenue”. I drove up & down it twice & never saw it. Couple of lots that had been torn down around the #200 mark!
So, I am not sure what is happening.
I spoke to a few locals. They weren’t sure either.
My MOST FAVORITE place in the whole World is a National Monument: ‘Canyon de Chelly‘. That is now a mature & well run National Monument. Yes, it is still early days for KWW. I hope it evolves to be in the same league as Canyon de Chelly.
