Lower Amphitheatre

This system of roads provide the perfect setting for a great run. Stay to the right and hammer out some miles!

Forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads, the gift of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and family, weave around the mountains and valleys of Acadia National Park. Rockefeller, a skilled equestrian rider, wanted to travel on motor-free byways via horse and carriage into the core of Mount Desert Island. His development efforts from 1913 to 1940 resulted in the amazing road system you can use today with extensive views of this rich landscape.

Acadia's carriage roads are the best example of broken stone a type of road commonly used at the turn of the 20th in America today. They are true roads, approximately 16 feet wide, constructed with methods that required much hand labor.

Road crews quarried the island for granite road material and bridge facing. The use of native materials helped blend the roads into the natural landscape and ensure their longevity. However, maintaining these roads today is no easy task, and has been made possible through the National Park Service as well as the non-profit, Friends of Acadia.

These roadsides were landscaped with native vegetation such as blueberries and sweet fern. Be sure to stop and pick some!