Sight · Acadia National Park
Take a carriage-road detour for twin arches and a 1925 medallion.
Overview
Deer Brook Bridge is a 78-foot-long historic carriage-road bridge near the north end of Jordan Pond, where Jordan-Sargent Mountain Road crosses Deer Brook. Its paired granite-faced arches and circular date medallion make it a distinctive stop in the woods. Reach it on foot, by bicycle, or by horse-drawn carriage; Acadia’s carriage roads are closed to motor vehicles, so this is not a drive-up stop.
Parkwolf’s verdictA bridge worth a walkMap
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Acadia Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Acadia National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
Bubbles Divide and Bubble Rock“You're nearing Bubbles Divide, the trailhead for Bubble Rock's perched boulder. For the shorter visit, walk to South Bubble and Bubble Rock and return the same way, about a mile with stairs and steep, uneven granite.”
Plays on the road 0.6 mi from Deer Brook Bridge in the Parkwolf Acadia Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“…As we drove through Acadia it gave us a tour, which was really cool. Lots of great info about the parks and how to avoid the crowds. It’s a great travel companion!”
Guide
From Jordan Pond House, the carriage-road route is about two miles each way. From Bubbles parking, the route via Bubbles Divide and Deer Brook Trail is about one mile each way, with more ups and downs. Take the carriage road for a steadier approach, or the shorter Bubbles route if you are comfortable with a hillier walk. Carriage roads can close during spring thaw until the gravel dries and firms up. Jordan Pond House is a separate dining stop at the pond’s south end.
The bridge has a reinforced-concrete core faced with granite blocks cut at the quarry and set in irregular courses. Its two semicircular arches are each 9 feet 8 inches wide, divided by a six-foot pier. The full bridge is 78 feet long and rises 22 feet 5 inches at its highest point. Look for the four-foot circular granite medallion above the pier. For a photo, frame both arches and the medallion together, with the rocky brook bed in front to show the bridge’s setting.
Completed in 1925, it was the sixth of 17 bridges on Mount Desert Island’s 57-mile carriage-road network, built between 1917 and 1940. Because this bridge stood on park land, John D. Rockefeller Jr. sought National Park Service approval for the first time for one of his bridges. The work cost $24,918. Rockefeller designed the roads for horse-drawn travel, following the island’s contours, preserving trees, and taking advantage of scenic views.
Wildlife
130 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around noonSighting map
21 sightingsPeregrine FalconMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
396 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
305 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
201 sightingsBeaverMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
34 sightingsMinkMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Acadia. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingDeer Brook Trail0.8 mi · 1 hr · 0.1 mi awayA steep brookside climb from Jordan Pond to Penobscot
EasyJordan Pond Carry1.1 mi · 42 min · 0.6 mi awayA shady woods link between Jordan Pond and Eagle Lake.
ModerateSargent East Cliffs Trail0.7 mi · 30 min · 0.6 mi awayThe fast, steep descent from Sargent’s summit toward Deer Brook.
ModerateBubbles Trail1.5 mi · 1.3 hr · 0.6 mi awayTwo summits and a perched glacial boulder in 90 minutes.
ModerateBubbles Nubble Loop3.5 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.6 mi awayThree summits, two lakes, and one boulder left by the ice.
ChallengingPemetic Northwest Trail1.2 mi · 1.8 hr · 0.6 mi awayA short, steep granite scramble to Pemetic's open summit.
ModerateConners Nubble Trail0.3 mi · 30 min · 1 mi awayA short granite climb to an open Eagle Lake view.
ChallengingGrandgent Trail1.1 mi · 1.5 hr · 1.2 mi awayA steep, one-way ridge link over Gilmore between two summits.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayBubble RockA hundred-ton erratic balanced on South Bubble’s summit ledge
Sight · 1.1 mi awayChasm Brook BridgeA granite arch tucked above a rocky, wooded gorge.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayWaterfall BridgeA 1925 arch frames Hadlock Brook's waterfall along car-free roads.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayHemlock BridgeA rare Gothic arch tucked into the car-free carriage roads.
Sight · 1.2 mi awayAmphitheatre BridgeA granite arch curves around two trees toward a waterfall.
Sight · 1.2 mi awayBubble Pond BridgeA stone arch that survived two rejected designs.
Sight · 1.2 mi awayWest Branch Jordan Stream BridgeA granite carriage-road bridge with a six-foot Roman arch.
Sight · 1.3 mi awayJordan PondClear water, bare granite, and the Bubbles in one frame.Parkwolf’s Acadia ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
