Acadia All American Road
Acadia National Park Carriage Roads, ME

Forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads weave through the valleys and mountains of Acadia National Park, the gift of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and family. With the rise of automobile use, Rockefeller saw cars as a threat to his island getaway; as a result, he decided to create the carriage roads for horse and foot traffic only. His construction efforts from 1913 - 1940 resulted in roads with sweeping vistas and close-up views of the landscape. In building the roads, he went to great lengths to ensure their aesthetic character. He also desired to build roads that complemented their surroundings and accordingly used native materials such as island granite, logs, and boulders.

Rockefeller had new designs created for each span he built. Some use Gothic treatments while others are more naturalistic. Mrs. Rockefeller loved the sound of horses' hooves across a wooden bridge, so on the Aunt Betty Pond Carriage Road, a series of six small wooden spans meander back-and-forth across a creek to exaggerate the effect.

Constructed primarily by hand, the carriage roads are the best example of hand-cut stone roads left in America today. The roads were made specifically with Maine's extreme weather in mind and include three layers of rock, stone culverts, and wide ditches. Rockefeller also carefully aligned the roads to follow the contours of the land. Many roads were designed to provide scenic vistas or places for rest and contemplation.