The story
How the great fire of 1947 changed the color of Acadia's east side.
These woods are dark because the fire never got this far. Before nineteen forty-seven, the whole east side of the island was one even sheet of evergreen, a lot like this. The fire burned more than seventeen thousand acres. Along the shore you've driven, what grew back turns red, yellow and orange in the fall. If you came for the October color, you have the fire to thank.
Photo: Victoria Stauffenberg, National Park Service, public domain · Public domain