Discover Aroostook: Nature, Winter and Culture
Accommodation in Aroostook
Travel ideas in Aroostook range from a 92-mile water route to winter activities and specific stories of Acadian settlement and forestry and farming. For your planning, it helps to first choose your focus: trails and nature, winter activities, or museums and historic sites.
Waterways and Nature
The Allagash Wilderness Waterway stretches 92 miles from Telos Dam to Twin Brook in Allagash Village. Below Churchill Dam lies Chase Rapids, a Class II whitewater section. Guides in Aroostook County offer guided canoe and kayak trips; check the availability of individual guides before your trip. Deboullie Public Land in Aroostook County has 30 miles of hiking trails.
Winter: Trails and Regional Activities
The Aroostook Valley Trail is 28 miles long and connects Presque Isle, Caribou, Washburn, Woodland and New Sweden. In winter, it is used for snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and dog sledding. Aroostook County also has more than 2,000 miles of groomed and mapped snowmobile trails. One figure describes a specific trail; the other refers to the countywide snowmobile trail network.
Aroostook State Park is open for primitive camping and day use. As conditions can change, check current park information before your visit. A six-mile snowshoe trail in the park leads to the summit of Quaggy Jo Mountain. Each winter, Aroostook County hosts World Cup- and National Cup-level cross-country skiing and biathlon competitions.
Acadian History and Historic Sites
Fort Kent and Acadian Landing
The Fort Kent Blockhouse is a National Historic Landmark, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and serves as a museum. It is the only fortification associated with the “Bloodless” Aroostook War of 1838–1839.
The Acadian Landing Site commemorates the arrival of the first Acadian settlers and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Acadian Landing and Tante Blanche Museum complex includes a 19th-century schoolhouse and the Fred Albert House. The Tante Blanche Museum itself is a wooden building from the 1970s. Its name honors Marguerite Blanche Thibodeau Cyr for her deeds during the famine of 1797.
Acadian Village and Acadian Cross
Acadian Village in Van Buren comprises 17 buildings, seven of which are historic, and the village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Our Lady of Assumption Chapel in the village is a replica of an early-18th-century log church.
The Acadian Cross Historic Shrine is a 14-foot-tall marble cross. It represents the first cross erected by the first Acadian settlers in 1785.
Museums: Work, Technology and Natural Science
The Patten Lumbermen’s Museum presents the history of logging in Maine. Topics include the use of bateaux to transport supplies, stories of river drivers, life in remote logging camps and the role of bean-hole beans. The museum’s collection includes a Lombard Steam Log Hauler; only 83 of this type were made in the early 20th century. The museum is located on the Katahdin Scenic Byway. Together, these topics offer insight into the transportation, daily life and technology of logging.
A different perspective on working history is offered by the model potato house at the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum. It displays old potato sacks, seed cutters, sorting machines and scales, as well as photographs and memorabilia related to the potato harvest.
The Nylander Museum of Natural History was founded in 1939. The Northern Maine Museum of Science features exhibits on chemistry, physics, agriculture, forestry and biology, and maintains a nature trail on campus. The collections thus cover distinct subjects, from natural history and natural science to agricultural and forestry work.
Seasonal Event
The Maine Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield is one of the local seasonal festivals celebrating the season. If you’d like to include the festival in your travel plans, check the dates in advance.
Discover more destinations: Presque Isle, Caribou, Caswell, Piscataquis County, Somerset, Penobscot, Lincoln and York.
For the broader travel overview: Maine.
