Yesterday was a huge day for us. We spent almost the entirety of it on Mount Desert Island and in Acadia National Park. I’ll say this quickly just to get it off my chest. Acadia is a magical place. It should be one of the seven natural wonders of the world. As I was standing in the middle of some very photogenic locations yesterday, I told myself that the scene in front of me looks fake. Many scenes really did look fake, as if they were overly saturated with color somehow. We got lucky yesterday too. It was full sun all day long and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. I’d say 55 degrees in November with a few leaves left on the trees is just about perfect conditions. And best of all, since we visited after November 1, it was free to access the park. It usually costs $30 per car, but over the winter months, the park doesn’t charge anything at all.
I’ll tell you that we didn’t cover the entire park. We’d need a lot more time to do that. We did, however, visit a few locales that were situated on the left part of the island (the Southwest Harbor side), away from the more crowded Bar Harbor area.
I’ll break our adventure up into three separate posts because I took quite a few photos. Over 450 of them. Don’t worry, I’ll pare them down and I’ll post only the best ones on this blog.
I had different activities planned for our trip. First, I wanted to see the famous “bridge” that’s located in the town of Somesville. They claim this bridge is the most photographed bridge in Maine. How they know that, I have no idea, but I’ll tell you that photos of it are all over the place. I’m sure if you searched Google for “bridge” in Maine, it’d show up in your results.
After the bridge, I wanted to see the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse and then after that, I wanted to hike the Ship Harbor Trail. These latter two stops I’ll discuss in subsequent posts. As if each activity could be topped, each one was by the next. I’ve never seen such stunning scenery in my life. And as we progressed, the scenery became more and more beautiful.
Are you ready for a few photos?
Somesville Museum & Gardens Bridge
This is another photo of the bridge from a different angle.
What’s nice about this bridge is that it’s situated right off the main road. We parked in the museum parking lot and walked directly to it. I forgot to mention above that another benefit of visiting this area in November is that it’s virtually empty. There were very few tourists yesterday, so we had the island to ourselves. Sure, there were others here and there, but we had no trouble capturing photos of the wonderful sights due to people being in the way.
On the road the railings were decorated with planters. The flowers were nice to look at and photograph as well.
What struck me even more than the bridge was what we saw directly across the street. This is, you know, someone’s house. It’s adjacent to both Mill Pond and Somes Harbor.
I mean, really? You can’t get better than that. Look at that view!
I’ll leave it at that. I’ve got many more photos of the lighthouse and the rocky coast of Acadia in the next posts, so stay tuned and thanks for reading!
Directions to the Somesville Museum & Gardens Bridge
I’ll give directions to the bridge and museum from Ellsworth, which everyone has to drive through to get to Mt. Desert Island.
- Starting at the intersection of Main Street and Route 1 in Ellsworth, drive south on Route 1 for 1.01 miles until you meet Route 3. Stay to the right and continue south on Route 3.
- Stay south on Route 3 for 8.43 miles until you come to a fork in the road that leads to both Route 3 and Route 102. Stay to the right to travel south on Route 102.
- Continue driving south on Route 102 for 4.81 miles until you see the white bridge on your right.
If you’ve visited this bridge as well, please leave a comment to let me know. Otherwise, leave a comment to give me your thoughts on it. Thanks!
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