Asticou and Jordan Pond Path, crosses Acadia National Park, Hancock County, ME

The Asticou and Jordan Pond Path was mentioned in the guidebook by Clara Barnes Martin as a path “two miles long to Jordan Pond”, ([Martin, Clara Barnes, 1885, “Mount Desert on the Coast of Maine”, pg. 98]) presumably from the Asticou Inn area. The path appears on the Edward Rand 1893 Map of Mount Desert Island. Starting from the Asticou Inn and following a small roadway northward and then easterly along the northern side of the Cedar Swamp (a feature shown on historic maps: 1893 Map MDI, and various maps until 1941 Path Map Eastern MDI.). The eastern terminus was the Jordan Pond House.

As walking and path-making became increasingly popular during the 1890's this path served as the major thoroughfare for walkers between Northeast Harbor and the Jordan Pond House, and the Seal Harbor path systems. Both the Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor path committees maintained the trail. Many paths branched off this path leading to features to the north and south. In fact, there were so many trail junctions that in places it was quite confusing. In the 1914 Seal Harbor Village Improvement Society Annual Report, Joseph Allen, Path Committee Chairman, proposes centering intersecting trails to create junctions along the Asticou and Jordan Pond Path, particularly near the pipeline to Seal Harbor. In the 1915 path guide, the path is described as "an easy path between Jordan Pond House and Asticou Inn.” One point along the path was called "the five corners.” This was the intersection along the path with a trail up the "South End" of Jordan Mountain, a trail over Mitchell Hill, and a trail along Squirrel Brook to the pipeline. These trails are no longer marked. By 1928, trail construction had been incorporated into the route, as the 1928 Walks on Mount Desert guidebook referred to the path as “a broad graded … path” ([Grandgent, C., Peabody, J., 1928, “Walks on Mount Desert Island”, pg. 51,52,59]).

The Little Harbor Brook stepstone-crossing along the path is of interest. Originally a narrower streambed was crossed here with cut granite stepstones. By the early 1980s the steam had widened, and the gap was bridged with a wooden rustic style bridge in1983. In the 1990s this bridge was rebuilt higher using some of the original step stones for abutments. In 2014 the bridge was completely removed, and the stream is now crossed with additional stepstones in the original cut block style. Little Harbor Brook just north of this crossing was an open beaver pond into the 1970s, now completely overgrown.

Lack of maintenance over time severely degraded the features of the path. In 2014 the Acadia National Park’s trail program completed a major rehabilitation including new gravel surface along the entire route, rebuilt stone culverts and walls, and opened original drainages. One hundred yards of reroute slightly altered an area intersecting Penobscot South Ridge Trail. To increase sustainability modern features of stone and log checks were added at many places along the Path. With this rehabilitation, reworked and newly built features are interspersed with original construction. The Path was reborn, capturing the character-defining features of this early VIA/VIS constructed path.

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