HOULTON, Maine — Jessica Smallwood still remembers the day in sixth grade when her Houlton class was scheduled to take a trip to Bar Harbor, a journey which was to include a stop in Acadia National Park.
“I was really excited to go because we had been studying national parks in history class for about a month, and naturally Acadia was one we largely focused on,” the 39-year-old recalled Friday. “I had never been there, so I was so excited to go.”
That excitement ended two days before the trip, when she came down with stomach pains that turned into appendicitis.
“So I ended up missing the whole trip, and despite living right in Maine, I have never been to Acadia National Park,” she said.
Acadia is celebrating its 100 birthday this year, and park rangers anticipate a boost in visitors due to the occasion. Despite the park’s marking its centennial, there are some Aroostook County residents who, like Smallwood, have just never made the trip.
Betty Atkerson of Presque Isle is one of them. The 62-year-old said that all three of her children have been to the park on school trips and have come back to tell her stories about seeing the top of Cadillac Mountain or about hearing the roar of the waves crashing into Thunder Hole.
“I have only see pictures of it or seen it on the news,” she said. “Back when I was in school, we didn’t do trips like that, and certainly very few people had the money to take a trip down to Bar Harbor. It certainly looks beautiful in the pictures.”
Eric Michaud of Caribou said he and his family took a number of trips to Bar Harbor when he was growing up, but they never ventured into the park. The 23-year-old said he finds it funny that President Barack Obama has been to the park and he, a Mainer, has not.
“Maybe it is a sign that there is something there that I should check out,” he said Friday.
