Ellsworth, Maine
The city of Ellsworth is the county seat of Hancock County, Maine. Incorporated as a town in 1800, and as a city in 1869, it has a very interesting history. I took the pictures below in a one hour period today from 3:30 to 4:30 PM. Yes, it gets dark early here in December.
I set up all three shots on a tripod and shot with a Canon 5D Mark III DSLR and a Canon 24mm tilt/shift …
Duck Brook Motor Road Bridge
The largest bridge that you’ve probably never seen on Mount Desert Island is the Duck Brook Motor Road Bridge pictured below. Ironically, anyone who drives the Park Loop Road, starting from the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, travels over the bridge (located here), but few people see the bridge itself. That’s too bad since it is by far the longest and tallest bridge in the park. In fact, it’s …
Acadia Senior College – Geology
One of the best things about living on MDI is being able to take courses at Acadia Senior College. This fall, Duane and Ruth Braun taught The Geology of Mount Desert Island. The format for this seven session class was one hour of lecture followed by a field trip. On these educational and fun outings we visited Seawall, Big Rocks, Cadillac Mountain, the Shore Path in Bar Harbor, Otter …
West Ledge Trail
Today Janice and I awoke to a temperature of 29°F. Yes, fall is here and winter is not far behind. We dressed warmly in preparation for a hike up the West Ledge Trail to the top of Bernard Mountain. To get there, we got onto the Western Mountain fire road and followed it nearly to Seal Cove Pond where there’s a little turnout opposite the trail head. Total driving time from our house: …
The Tarn
The Tarn is a small lake in Acadia National Park located between Dorr Mountain and Huguenot Head, a shoulder of Champlain Mountain. In his wonderful book Lakes & Ponds of Mt. Desert, William Newlin notes that The Tarn “has become so overgrown with rushes and lilies in recent years as to barely rate the status of lake” not to mention that it’s only eight acres in size. While not a body of …
Common Ground Country Fair
The 39th annual Common Ground Country Fair was held September 25-27 in Unity, Maine. Janice and I attended on Friday and Saturday, our first time ever. Two full days was just about enough time to see everything that was happening on the 40+ acre fair grounds. Some 60,000 people take part in the fair which celebrates rural and sustainable living in Maine. The photos here give just a taste …
Anemone Cave
I have heard about and seen images of the Anemone Cave ever since I first came to Acadia National Park in 1977, but I had never seen it. In fact, I never even knew where it was until recently. There’s a good reason for that. Access to the cave is difficult and dangerous and the environment is fragile. To protect it, the park service has removed it from maps and basically keeps it a secret. …
Bass Harbor Head Light
The lighthouse in Bass Harbor, Maine is one of the most photographed features on Mount Desert Island. Most images are of the lighthouse itself, taken from the shore below, but today I’m sharing a few that I shot from vantage points where few people are allowed to stand. Once or twice a year, the United States Coast Guard opens this historic site to the public for a few hours. The photos …
Bangor State Fair
The Bangor State Fair is an agricultural and recreational gathering of the population of the Greater Bangor Area and the entire state of Maine. It lasts for 10 days and typically draws between 60,000 and 70,000 people. According to the Bangor Daily News, this was the fair’s 166th year which makes it one of the oldest state fairs in the country.
Janice, Emma and I spent the day …
Southwest Harbor “Now”
This spring I photographed more than 30 scenes in Southwest Harbor, Maine for a “Then & Now” exhibit held at the Southwest Harbor Public Library during the month of July. The “then” photos came from the library’s Collection of Photographs and most dated from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the exhibit, the then and now images were paired and accompanied by a description of the …