Acadia Favorites: The Carriage Roads

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[dropcap letter=”T”]he park’s 45 miles of idyllic carriage roads are the best examples of broken-stone roadways in the country. Created by philanthropist and early park champion John D. Rockefeller Jr., who wanted car-free roads for his own enjoyment, they’re also super fun for runners, skiers, and cyclists. Some background:

■ Construction was a bear: The roads are 16 feet wide with three layers of rock underneath. Construction included stone culverts, arched bridges, and wide ditches, and the work stretched from 1913 to 1940.

■ Rockefeller was famous for his attention to detail on the project — he reportedly knew the names of all of his laborers and was consulted on even the minutest decisions.

■ Large hunks of granite line the roads as guardrails. They’re officially called “coping stones” but nicknamed “Rockefeller’s teeth.”

■ The Friends of Acadia organization has an endowment devoted to carriage road maintenance — it gives the park some $200,000 annually just for carriage road upkeep.

_{Photograph by Mark Fleming}