A Long History and a Modern Thank You at Jordan Pond House and Atlantic Brewing Midtown This Week.

Carrie Jones

May 16, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Coastal Kayaking Tours and Acadia Bike.

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ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—For well over a century, residents and visitors have hiked the Asticou Path and headed to Jordan Pond.

Back in the late 1800s, trekkers found Nellie McIntire at her teahouse positioned at the southern end of the pond.

“The original farmhouse on the property was completed in 1847 by George and John Jordan,” according to the National Park Service.

It burned, according to author and former owner T.A. McIntire.

“In 1852 a fire swept over the island leaving everything a blackened waste which was soon covered by the beginning of the present beautiful woods,” McIntire wrote of the house and site back in 1915.

All roads lead to Jordan Pond, McIntire wrote.

“By the late 1880s the land was in the hands of Charles How, a realtor from Boston who leased and eventually sold the house to Thomas McIntire and his wife. The McIntires opened a teahouse. Mr. How brought friends and associates there to enjoy the scenery and perhaps encourage their interest in some of his real estate. This was the beginning of the tradition for which the Jordan Pond House is famous today,” the park explains.

Years later, Nellie’s farmhouse would be gone and instead Acadia National Park’s Jordan Pond House Restaurant welcomed them. That restaurant burned in 1979.

There is still a restaurant though, rebuilt in 1982, it sits on lush lawns that slope toward the pond, nestled near the North and South Bubble Mountains.

It is the place where tourists, residents, and workers have consumed millions of popovers.

It is the perfect place, Friends of Acadia decided, to treat its volunteers to their own tea-and-popover—or whatever else is on the menu—feast, a soft opening for the restaurant and a big thank you (with a suggested donation) for the volunteers who help the organization help the national park. It’s also a small fundraiser for the organization.

“The dedication of volunteers makes an extraordinary difference to the park, and we are deeply grateful for the time, energy, and care they give. You can see the impact of their work all across Acadia. Last year, volunteers helped build and maintain trails, carry soil to mountain summits to support restoration efforts, care for the Wild Gardens of Acadia, clean up community roads, groom the carriage roads for skiing, and encourage visitor care and support of Acadia. These are incredible acts of community stewardship,” explained Stephanie Clement, Friends of Acadia’s Vice President of Conservation.

That thanks continued, May 14, at a Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours event at Atlantic Brewing- Midtown.

There, Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider thanked both volunteers and supporters of the park and called out Friends of Acadia’s help to the park from initiatives like housing for park employees to road clean-ups to education to grooming the carriage roads for winter skiing and snowshoeing.

“All that happened thanks to Friends of Acadia’s support,” Schneider said.

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EARLIER HISTORY OF THE HOUSE

Before Jordan Pond House sold popovers and hosted birthday parties, volunteers, and tea, it was the property of the Jordan brothers—George and John—who grew up in a family of 15 on the Beechland Road in Ellsworth.

The brothers bought a 2,960-acre piece of land that extended to Seal Harbor. They put a logging camp by the pond. There, they erected saw mills, bringing timber via oxen and horses to the Seal Harbor shore. They built a house on the hill. George raised a family there, according to the National Park Service, before George was killed at an accident at the mill.

“Then, in 1864, a fire ravaged the southern slopes of their timber lot with such ferocity that even the soil was burned sterile. However, the lake’s sawmill, home and buildings were spared. John and Alden, George’s oldest son, tried to keep things afloat, but Alden was drafted in 1865 to serve in Maine’s Civil War regiment. Even though the war ended before he was deployed, illnesses and debts would force the sale of the property,” the park explained.

By 1899 the property became the McIntires.

“Mr. T. A. McIntire, the present owner, purchased the property which comprises sixty acres almost in the center of a mountain park of five thousand acres which is part of the public reservation land. It includes all the mountains around the pond, and is intersected by a network of woodland paths unequaled in this country or abroad,” McIntire wrote in his 17-page pamphlet about the property.

And popovers became a staple.

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WHAT IS A POPOVER?

The quick version is that it’s like a Yorkshire pudding, but not.

Instead of adding the batter to steaming beef drippings, the batter is just put in muffin tins. Then it goes into a hot oven. Forty minutes or so later, the popovers are done, elevated out of their cups—a roll that’s like an airy soufflé with a custardy twist.

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All modern photos courtesy Constance Millinor.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

To learn more about how to volunteer with Friends of Acadia.

To read FOA’s latest impact report.

“The Story of Jordan Pond House” (1915).

Quick note: We’ve updated yesterday’s cruise ship story with a comment from the Pilot’s Association. You can view that here.

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