Sight · Acadia National Park
A small stone arch on the car-free Hadlock Loop.
Overview
Map
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 place
Brown Mountain Gatehouse and Its Bells“Brown Mountain Gatehouse is ahead, with stone towers and red-brick bands at a historic carriage-road entrance. Bells let the gatekeepers know when a carriage or rider wanted through.”
Plays as you drive up to Hadlock 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
Hadlock Brook Bridge is a modest single-arch stone bridge over a rocky brook on Acadia’s Hadlock Loop. It makes a pleasant stop if you’re already walking or cycling the carriage roads and want a closer look at their old stonework. There’s no direct motor access; come in on foot or bicycle from a carriage-road access point. This is a brook crossing, not the loop’s waterfall stop: the 40-foot waterfall is at separate Waterfall Bridge.
Completed in 1926, this was the eighth of 17 bridges built along 57 miles of Mount Desert Island carriage roads between 1917 and 1940. It’s one of Acadia’s three small single-arch masonry bridges modeled after a bridge at the end of Swan Lake in Central Park. Look along the top of the parapets: unlike its sister bridges, these walls curve toward the upstream side to follow the road.
The 4.2-mile loop crosses this bridge, Hemlock Bridge, and Waterfall Bridge. Walkers, cyclists, and horse-drawn carriages share the car-free road, and the circuit has a significant climb and descent. By bicycle, allow roughly 30 to 40 minutes for the loop, plus time to stop here. For a photo, include the arch and brook beneath it; that shows the crossing as part of the landscape.
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
ChallengingMaple Spring Trail1.4 mi · 1.8 hr · 0.2 mi awayA steep brookside gorge with historic stonework and rebuilt bridges
ModerateBald Peak Trail1 mi · 45 min · 0.3 mi awayA short, steep granite climb to islands above Upper Hadlock Pond.
ChallengingBald Peak and Parkman Mountain Loop2.7 mi · 2 hr · 0.4 mi awayA steep granite loop to two peaks with ocean views.
ModerateHadlock Brook Trail1.5 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.4 mi awayA steep, rooty climb beside a waterfall to Sargent’s south ridge.
ModerateGoat Trail to Norumbega Mountain1.1 mi · 1.3 hr · 0.4 mi awayA short, steep climb to a mostly wooded summit.
ModerateParkman Mountain Trail2.4 mi · 2 hr · 0.5 mi awayA short granite climb with a view over Somes Sound.
ModerateAround Mountain Loop11.3 mi · 5 hr · 0.5 mi awaySeven historic bridges reward a long day on old carriage roads.
EasyNorumbega Mountain Trail1.3 mi · 45 min · 0.6 mi awayA forested ridge trail eases down to Lower Hadlock Pond.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayWaterfall BridgeA 1925 arch frames Hadlock Brook's waterfall along car-free roads.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayHemlock BridgeA rare Gothic arch tucked into the car-free carriage roads.
Sight · 0.7 mi awayAmphitheatre BridgeA granite arch curves around two trees toward a waterfall.
Sight · 0.9 mi awayBrown Mountain GatehouseA 1932 stone-and-brick gate marks the carriage-road entrance.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayLittle Harbor Brook BridgeA 1919 granite-faced arch over a shallow brook on car-free roads.
Sight · 1.2 mi awayCliffside BridgeA 1932 stone bridge with castle turrets above Jordan Stream.
Sight · 1.3 mi awayWest Branch Jordan Stream BridgeA granite carriage-road bridge with a six-foot Roman arch.
Sight · 1.5 mi awayJordan Pond Dam BridgeA raised 1920 crossing over the dam and toward the pond.Parkwolf’s Acadia ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
