Seawall Campground: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Acadia National Park

Foulds, H Eliot

Seawall Campground is one of two campgrounds located in Acadia National Park, Maine. Acadia was the first national park established east of the Mississippi River and today encompasses over 50,000 acres across Mount Desert Island, the Schoodic Peninsula, and other smaller islands. The campground encompasses 160 acres on the western half of the island, around 4 miles southeast of the Town of Southwest Harbor. Seawall was built according to the principles and practices of rustic park landscape design implemented by the National Park Service (NPS) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s and 1940s, which harmonized manmade development with natural topography and the surrounding landscape. The Seawall Campground is farther away from the popular attractions of the eastern side of the island, making it less heavily used than the park’s Blackwoods Campground. Seawall Campground consists of four camping loops (Loops A, B, C, and D) organized along a central entrance road. Marked by a stone and wood gate at its intersection with State Route 101A, the entrance road leads to a Checking Station dating to 1941, and then the four loops. Camping is assigned to numbered campsites that are identified with painted numerals at the edges of the paved camp roads. A separate entry road from Route 102A leads to two buildings constructed in 1941-1942 for the Seawall Naval Radio Station; a barracks now used as seasonal park housing, and a garage. Loops A and B were completed in 1937-1938 and feature typical one-way perimeter loop roads, which provide access to 38 and 27 spur-type campsites, respectively. Loop C was completed in 1940 and features a perimeter road connected to a series of later roads that access 43 link-type campsites. Just to the south of these sites are a pumphouse and toolshed built by the CCC, and just to the north is a group camping area developed in 1960 by the NPS. The three loops are served by four comfort stations, three of which are of the standard design constructed by the CCC. Many of the stone fireplaces are extant, as are the campground’s water taps. Only a limited number of other historic site furnishings such as wood signs, stone culverts, and stone and log barriers remain, but those few contribute to the rustic character of the site. Loop d was developed in 1960 with funding from the Mission 66 program that aimed to improve visitor facilities and park infrastructure throughout the NPS. Loop B features 104 walk-in campsites and is organized similar to Loops A and B, with a one-way perimeter loop road. Nestled in between Loops B and D is an amphitheater, originally built in 1962, which hosts evening interpretive programs. Vegetation at Seawall Campground is generally healthy and provides shade for the majority of sites. A spruce/fir coniferous forest is the dominant vegetative type, with sub-dominant species of mixed hardwoods as well as birch and aspen. The forest cover is characterized as mature, with 75 to 100 percent crown closure. Undisturbed areas of the forest soil are covered with mosses and ferns. A variety of northern temperate shrub species populate the understory of undisturbed areas.

Seawall Campground: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Acadia National Park

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