3 Best Sights in Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, Maine

Originally part of John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s seaside estate, this stunning hilltop garden is the creation of its namesake—Rockefeller's wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller—and famed landscape designer Beatrix Farrand. An ever-present Narnia vibe begins on the drive up through the woods, where blowers keep the large mossy granite rocks free of leaves and needles, to magical effect. Even before entering on the Spirit Path, lined with Korean funerary statues, the garden’s earthy pink high wall entrances: it resembles those in Beijing’s Forbidden City. The English-style main border garden has many colorful annuals; one side is more shaded, so bed heights vary, adding whimsy to the symmetrical space. In smaller garden spaces nearby, you can rest on a bench, step through a pagoda, look out on Little Long Pond, and contemplate more Eastern sculptures, from seated Buddhas to guardian animals. An easy forest trail leads to the large terrace—with commanding, expansive ocean views—that fronted The Eyrie, the Rockefellers’ massive summer “cottage,” until it was torn down in 1962.

With many varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas, the Japanese-style garden is spectacular from late May to mid-June as the pink, white, purple, and yellow-orange flowers not only bloom but reflect in a stream-fed pond. Whatever the season there’s plenty to admire at this Land & Garden Preserve locale, especially in fall when the many native plants brighten the landscape. You can contemplate on a bench along the winding paths as intended, perhaps by the white sand garden—raked to evoke moving water. Created with azaleas from famed landscape designer Beatrix Farrand’s Bar Harbor garden, Asticou was designed by Charles Savage, a self-educated garden designer who managed his family’s nearby Asticou Inn. Check the website for "Garden Walks & Talks" and, in mid-July every other year, an evening Japanese lantern stroll.

Hidden atop a hill above Route 3, this peaceful Land & Garden Preserve property invites with elegant formal perennial beds on land that was once the summer home of Boston landscape designer and engineer Joseph Henry Curtis. Mount Desert Island native Charles Savage, a self-taught landscape designer, was the garden's mastermind and named it for the property’s majestic white cedars, Thuja occidentalis. Welcoming the public since 1962, it's filled with colorful blooms throughout summer: there are delphiniums, daylilies, dahlias, heliotropes, snapdragons, and other vegetation. Walk the immaculately groomed grass paths or enjoy the view from a well-placed bench. You can also take a look at the sitting room in the circa-1914 Curtis home, which has a large collection of books compiled by Savage. Check the website for docent-led tours of the “lodge” as it’s known and special events like Garden Walks & Talks. There is a small parking area at the garden, or park below it on Route 3 and walk up on the Asticou Terraces trail.