Carrie Jones

Feb 11, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.

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ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—The Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum visited Acadia National Park last week in an excursion that involved visiting at least two major park projects and also a meeting with some local officials.

“Acadia National Park had the honor of hosting Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum for a visit on Friday,” said Amanda Pollock, deputy chief of interpretation for Acadia National Park.

His arrival on Mount Desert Island was quiet with many park employees not knowing until the following Monday.

Secretary Burgum was appointed in January 2025 in a 79-18 vote. As Secretary of the Interior, the former North Dakota governor became the head of approximately 500 million acres of public land, thousands of employees, and 1.7 billion acres of waters offshore. His job entails managing both national parks and maintaining tribal lands.

He is the U.S. Department of the Interior’s 55th Secretary.

“We were invited to give the Secretary a tour of the construction underway on seasonal park employee housing at Harden Farm. This 56-bedroom facility is an example of the power of public-private partnerships, and we were proud to be able to showcase Acadia’s leadership in addressing this challenging issue,” Friends of Acadia President and CEO Eric Stiles said.

Since the 1960s, the National Park Service has used a four-acre property off Bar Harbor’s Kebo Street for park employee housing. Initially, the site hosted eight one-bedroom apartments as an initial phase of a larger residential development.

“Funds from Friends of Acadia’s $10 million Raise the Roof campaign helped unlock more than $21 million in federal matching funds and an additional $2 million from the National Park Foundation,” Stiles explained.

“The visit included a park tour that highlighted major infrastructure projects, housing initiatives, and operational strategies, with strong emphasis on gateway community partnerships. We were proud to showcase how Acadia’s success depends on strong partnerships with local communities and organizations,” Pollock said.

Recently, the town has been working with the park to create other housing at a Town Hill location in Bar Harbor. The Harden Farm project is in a much later phase of construction than the work at the Town Hill parcel, which is still in planning stages.

“The town appreciated the opportunity to participate in the recent meeting with the Secretary of the Interior and partners connected to Acadia. It is important that the town is present in these conversations so local perspectives are represented. We remain committed to working collaboratively to balance visitor experience, resource protection, and the needs of our residents,” Town Council Chair Valerie Peacock said.

Year-round housing availability in the area has been a worry for local towns on the island, which also hosts Acadia National Park, a park that welcomes approximately 4 million visits each year. Bar Harbor’s sustainability task force is currently working on helping to define a vision of what sustainable tourism means to the community.

Simultaneously, work throughout the island via groups of regional leaders such as the League of Towns and non-profits such as Friends of Acadia, Island Housing Trust, and MD 365 have been working on navigating the pressures and opportunities that the park brings.

Much of that has been focused on housing.

According to the National Park Service’s website, “In September 2024, the National Park Service awarded a nearly $10 million contract to complete Phase 1 of construction at Harden Farm. In September 2025, the National Park Service awarded a contract for the second phase of construction, which will bring the remaining 28 bedrooms to life, adding a total of 56 bedrooms between the two phases to the park’s housing inventory. The National Park Service also awarded a contract to connect the site to the town of Bar Harbor’s sewer system.”

That work has included work along the Cromwell Harbor Road in Bar Harbor.

The project is multi-phase with the first contract at $9.9 million, phase two at $7.4 million, and connecting to Bar Harbor’s sewer system was $3.4 million.

Burgum’s visit came after the recent death of a young Maryland man at Bar Island, part of the park’s property and prior to a letter from U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), co-chair of the Senate National Parks Subcommittee imploring Secretary Burgum to “protect historical accuracy within the ‘monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties.’”

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