Cadillac Mountain

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Cadillac Mountain
File:Cadillac Mountain.jpg
Sunset behind Cadillac Mountain
Highest point
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Prominence Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). [1]
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [2]
Geography
Location Hancock County, Maine, U.S.
Topo map USGS Seal Harbor
Climbing
Easiest route Paved road or marked hiking trails

Cadillac Mountain is a mountain located on Mount Desert Island, within Acadia National Park. With an elevation of 1,528 feet (470 m), its summit is the highest point in Hancock County and the highest within 25 miles (40 km) of the shoreline of the North American continent between the Cape Breton Highlands, Nova Scotia and Mexican peaks 180 miles (290 km) south of the Texas border.[3]

History

Before being renamed in 1918, the mountain had been called Green Mountain. The new name honors the French explorer and adventurer, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. In 1688, De la Mothe requested and received from the Governor of New France a parcel of land in an area known as Donaquec which included part of the Donaquec River (now the Union River) and the island of Mount Desert in the present-day U.S. state of Maine. Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, a shameless self-promoter who had already appropriated the "de la Mothe" portion of his name from a local nobleman in his native Picardy, thereafter referred to himself as Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, Donaquec, and Mount Desert.

From 1883 until 1893 the Green Mountain Cog Railway ran to the summit to take visitors to the Green Mountain Hotel on the summit.[4] The hotel was burned down in 1895. Also in 1895, the cog train was sold and moved to the Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire.

Overview

File:Obama-cadillac-mountain.jpg
President Obama and the First Family at the summit of Cadillac Mountain on July 16, 2010.

There are various hiking trails to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, some more challenging than others. There is also a paved road to the top.

Driving or hiking to the summit of Cadillac Mountain to see "the nation's first sunrise" is a popular activity among visitors of Acadia National Park. However, Cadillac only sees the first sunrise in the fall and winter, when the sun rises south of due east.[5] During most of the spring and summer, the sun rises first on Mars Hill, 150 miles (240 km) to the northeast. For a few weeks around the equinoxes, the sun rises first at West Quoddy Head in Lubec, Maine, the easternmost town in the United States.[5]

On exceptionally clear days, it is possible to see Mount Katahdin, Maine's highest mountain, to the north and the Canadian province of Nova Scotia to the east, both over one hundred miles away.[citation needed]

Gallery

  • Highway to Cadillac Mountain IMG 2135.JPG

    The highway to Cadillac Mountain

  • View from Cadillac Mountain.JPG

    View of the Atlantic Ocean from Cadillac Mountain

  • AcadiaNationalPark 09.JPG

    The first rays of sun in the United States as seen from Cadillac Mountain

  • AcadiaNationalPark 36.JPG

    Sun rising from atop Cadillac

  • AcadiaNationalPark 35.JPG

    Sunrise with the Porcupine Islands in the foreground

  • Coastal islands as seen from Cadillac Mountain, ME IMG 2132.JPG

    The Porcupine Islands at noon

  • AcadiaNationalPark 23.JPG

    Sunrise from atop Cadillac

  • AcadiaNationalPark 17.JPG

    Sunrise with Dorr Mountain in the foreground, and the Atlantic Ocean in the background

  • Cadillac Mountain sunrise.jpg

    View of the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain

  • View from the top of Cadillac Mountain, ME IMG 2134.JPG

    Another view from the top of Cadillac Mountain

  • Tourists photographing Cadillac Mountain IMG 2146.JPG

    Tourists on Cadillac Mountain

  • Rocky terrain atop Cadillac Mountain IMG 2139.JPG

    The rocky terrain atop Cadillac Mountain

  • Stephen Mather plaque at Acadia National Park IMG 2459.JPG

    Plaque honoring Stephen Mather, first director of the National Park Service

The sky from light to dark during sunset atop Cadillac Mountain
Sunrise panorama from atop Cadillac
Sunrise panorama from atop Cadillac

References

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  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Analysis by Blanton C. Wiggin, published in the January 1972 issue of Yankee magazine, determined that the first sunrise in the U.S. occurs at Cadillac Mountain from October 7 to March 6.
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