Acadia National Park, Maine Long Caption: Sunlight filters through a fog-shrouded swath of Acadia National Park, Maine. To preserve landscapes they loved, a group of philanthropists in 1913 gave the nation a gift: 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) on Mount Desert Island that would become the core of Acadia National Park. The park now covers some 47,000 acres (19,000 hectares).