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FALL 2016 ISSUE 02 / VOL. 01
VIDEO SLIDESHOW
Maine’ s in-and-out shoreline has few sandy beaches, but one of the nicest is Acadia National Park’ s Sand Beach, visible toward the back of this photo.
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Riders can see much of Acadia along Park Loop Road, but some prime vistas are only accessible via the 57-mile network of carriage roads, which are off limits to motor vehicles. The carriage roads were built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., an avid horseman, so he could travel into the heart of Mount Desert Island on byways where motorized traffic was not allowed. He had the vision and financial wherewithal to make it happen, and between 1913 and 1940 he built the roads, then gifted them to the park. If your time and budget allow, a ride through Acadia in a horse-drawn carriage is a singular experience.
On the other side of Mount Desert Island is a museum dedicated to the motorized vehicles Rockefeller sought to avoid. To get there, we start our motors and ride west out of the park. In Somesville, we turn right on Pretty Marsh Road and six miles later arrive at Seal Cove Auto Museum. The collection of cars and motorcycles from the Brass Era( 1895-1917) is impressive to say the least, and given the generic steel building in which they’ re housed, quite unexpected.