Restaurant · Acadia National Park
Lobster rolls beside a working harbor, under a yellow canopy.
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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.
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Thurston’s Lobster Pound in Bernard“Thurston's Lobster Pound is ahead in Bernard, on a working wharf over Bass Harbor. I'd choose it for a lobster roll or a traditional lobster dinner, eaten beneath the yellow canopies with boats beyond your table.”
Plays as you drive up to Thurston’s Lobster Pound in the Parkwolf Acadia Tour Guide.
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“…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
Thurston’s Lobster Pound is a seasonal seafood restaurant on a wharf over Bass Harbor in Bernard, on Mount Desert Island. You eat beneath bright yellow canopies with the working harbor just beyond the tables. I’d make the drive when you want a proper seafood meal with a view, rather than another in-park overlook. It’s outside Acadia’s boundary, but fits naturally into a day on the island’s southwestern side.
The menu centers on locally harvested lobster and crab. Lobster rolls are the best-known order, and traditional lobster dinners are the other classic; there are non-seafood choices such as cheeseburgers too. The menu changes with the season, so treat those as the broad shape of the meal rather than a fixed list.
The Thurston family’s wholesale business began here in 1946, supplying local fishermen with fuel, bait, and other gear while buying their catch. The restaurant opened in 1993 with just 12 tables beneath a yellow awning. It’s still part of a working wharf, so you may see lobster boats bring in the day’s catch; that activity is most likely in the mid-to-late afternoon, but it isn’t guaranteed.
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
EasyShip Harbor Nature Trail1.3 mi · 45 min · 1.4 mi awayAn easy cove walk with a rough, tide-pool headland.
EasyWonderland Trail1.4 mi · 45 min · 1.6 mi awayA short fire-road walk to rocky coast and tide pools.
EasyHio Road Trail4 mi · 2 hr · 2.1 mi awayA mostly level forest road between Seawall and Route 102.
ModerateBernard Mountain Trail2.5 mi · 2.5 hr · 3.9 mi awayA 2.5-mile loop to a wooded summit and an occasional west view.
ModerateSluiceway Trail0.9 mi · 1 hr · 3.9 mi awayA short, steep wooded climb into the Bernard Mountain trail network.
ModerateRazorback Trail2.1 mi · 2.3 hr · 4 mi awayA steep forest climb to an exposed granite ridgeline
ModerateGilley Trail0.6 mi · 24 min · 4 mi awayA wooded climb linking Gilley Field with the Great Notch junction.
ModerateMansell Mountain Trail0.8 mi · 1 hr · 4 mi awayA direct granite climb to a small overlook toward Southwest Harbor.
Sight · 1.4 mi awayBass Harbor Head Light StationA working harbor light, with a rocky shoreline view below.
Campground · 2.3 mi awaySeawall CampgroundA west-side base near tidepools, woodland walks, and the rocky coast.
Picnic area · 2.5 mi awaySeawall Picnic AreaLunch beside the ocean, then explore its naturally sorted cobbles.
Sight · 4.2 mi awayLong Pond South Boat LaunchA four-mile lake for paddling, away from coastal wind and tides.
Sight · 4.6 mi awayCarroll HomesteadAn old farmhouse that brings Mount Desert Island's early years close.
Sight · 5 mi awayBeech Mountain Fire TowerA steel lookout over Long Pond, ocean, and island peaks.Parkwolf’s Acadia ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
