Sight · Acadia National Park
A compact, labeled tour through native plant habitats.
Overview
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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.
See the Acadia audio tourRecorded for this place
Sieur de Monts and the Wild Gardens“Sieur de Monts is ahead, with the Wild Gardens of Acadia beside the Nature Center. More than four hundred native plant species are grouped into habitats such as seaside, heath, and conifer forest.”
Plays as you drive up to Wild Gardens of Acadia 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
Wild Gardens of Acadia is a native-plant garden at Sieur de Monts Spring, across the courtyard from the Nature Center. Winding gravel paths lead through a small, calm display of Acadia’s plant communities. It is a short stop for anyone curious about local flora, and a better fit for close looking than for a formal flower show. Visitors often spend about half an hour here.
More than 400 native species fill 13 labeled sections. The sample habitats include mountain, heath, seaside and coniferous forest. Compare plant groupings from one setting to the next, and read the labels as you go. For close-up photos, frame a plant with its habitat label and enough surrounding foliage to show the community it belongs to.
George B. Dorr bought the Sieur de Monts Spring area in 1909 and gave the Wild Gardens its name. In 1916, he established the Wild Gardens of Acadia Corporation to protect land for public use, education and research. The garden visitors walk through today came later: after the 1947 fire, superintendent Harold A. Hubler offered space to the Bar Harbor Garden Club in 1961 to display and propagate the island’s native wildflowers. Winding gravel paths were laid among maples and blackberries damaged by the fire.
The garden remains a hands-on community project, cultivated by Garden Club members and Friends of Acadia volunteers. It received a Garden Club of America horticulture award in 1985, became a Friends of Acadia committee in 2010, and received a park partnership award in 2011 for decades of volunteer stewardship.
Wildlife
131 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around noonSighting map
21 sightingsPeregrine FalconMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
403 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
307 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
205 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
EasyJesup Path and Hemlock Path Loop1.5 mi · 45 min · At the trailheadFlat boardwalks, birch wetland, Great Meadow, and hemlock forest
ChallengingSchiff Path1.1 mi · 1 hr · At the trailheadA historic Dorr Mountain connector with a steep granite finish.
ModerateEmery Path1.2 mi · 1.3 hr · At the trailheadA steep memorial staircase climbs from Sieur de Monts Spring
EasyWild Gardens Path0.3 mi · 15 min · At the trailheadA short garden path linking Sieur de Monts trails.
ModerateHomans Path0.6 mi · 45 min · 0.1 mi awayTwo narrow granite passages reward a short, steep climb.
ChallengingKurt Diederichs Climb0.8 mi · 54 min · 0.3 mi awayA steep memorial stairway with a carved name and Tarn views.
EasyKane Path0.9 mi · 30 min · 0.3 mi awayA short stone path skims the Tarn, then slips into the woods.
ChallengingBeachcroft Path2 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.3 mi awayA historic stone stairway climbs to Champlain’s open granite summit.
Visitor center · At the trailheadSieur de Monts Nature CenterA smart first stop for Acadia’s trail choices and natural history.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayAbbe Museum at Sieur de Monts SpringThe Abbe’s original 1928 museum, tucked into the Sieur de Monts woods.
Picnic area · 0.4 mi awayBear Brook Picnic AreaA wooded lunch stop with grill-ready pits and accessible toilets.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayCompass Harbor and OldfarmA short wooded walk leads from Dorr's estate ruins to rocky shoreline.
Sight · 1.1 mi awayCadillac MountainA short summit walk opens onto an island-and-ocean panorama.
Sight · 1.9 mi awayBubble Pond BridgeA stone arch that survived two rejected designs.
Entrance station · 2.1 mi awayPark Loop Road Entrance StationA year-round staffed stop for passes, maps, and park basics.
Sight · 2.1 mi awayEagle Lake Boat RampA practical lake launch with carriage-road access and a North Bubble view.Parkwolf’s Acadia ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
