Sand Beach is a rare thing on Mount Desert Island, a sandy beach in a park built of granite. Tucked into Newport Cove between the cliffs of Great Head and the offshore ledge called Old Soaker, it gathers sand that is as much as 70 percent crushed shell from mussels, sea urchins, barnacles and periwinkles. J.P. Morgan bought the beach and headland in 1900 as a wedding gift for his daughter Louisa, and her family gave it to the park in 1949. The Great Head Trail climbs from the beach past the ruins of a round stone teahouse the couple built on the headland. In 1911 the lumber schooner Tay wrecked on Old Soaker, and a storm in January 2024 uncovered her timbers for three days. Restrooms are at the parking area, and the water stays cold all summer.
Sand. In a park built out of granite, that's the odd thing here. This beach sits in Newport Cove, sheltered by Great Head on one side and the Old Soaker ledge offshore, so the waves come in quiet enough to drop what they're carrying. And what they're carrying is mostly not rock. As much as seventy percent of this sand is broken shell, from mussels, sea urchins, barnacles and periwinkles. Cold water dissolves shell, so a beach like this in a sea this cold tells you how much is alive out there. In nineteen hundred J.P. Morgan bought the whole thing, beach and headland, as a wedding present for his daughter Louisa. She and her husband built a round stone teahouse on top of Great Head. You can still find what's left of it on the trail. Their family gave all of this to the park in nineteen forty-nine.
Photo: NPS photo by Will Greene, public domain · Public domain