Recalling the conservation and philanthropy that launched Acadia National Park a century ago, Friends of Acadia has marked the park's 100th birthday with a campaign to raise $25 million to tackle the park's "most urgent challenges ... and ensure that Acadia will thrive for many years to come."

“We come together today to celebrate Acadia. We come together to celebrate community, and we come together to honor those who came before—their foresight and generosity," FOA President David McDonald told a crow of 300 that gathered Friday for the advocacy group's Annual Meeting. "Today is the first day of Acadia’s second century, and we want to you think about that, and think about how you can be involved. This is a time and a place when people, and ideas, and resources, and passion, will come together to blaze new trails in conservation.”

On July 8, 1916, Acadia National Park was first set aside as a protected reserve for enjoyment and inspiration of the American people, through the generosity and foresight of individuals who loved the unique coastal landscape just off the coast of Maine.

MacDonald honored the FOA committee charged with the success of the campaign, including honorary chairs former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and Mr. David Rockefeller Sr.; and committee chairs Anne Green, Rob Leary, and Ann Rockfeller Roberts.

“Our national park is on the precipice and must address the needs of the next hundred years. Gifts from nature we can’t buy, but must make a long-term investment in," said Ms. Green.

The campaign to raise $25 million will reach into a wide array of projects on the park's behalf/Colleen Miniuk-Sperry

While its origins might indeed have had the blue blood of Rockefellers, Astors, and Morgans mixed into the mortar of its foundations, the park that welcomes all today is a refreshing mix of forested mountains and ocean-pounded coasts, of Downeast hospitality and architectural beauty, even of fresh lawbsta, delicious jam-smeared popovers, and afternoon tea.

Acadia is both a gentleman's (and gentlelady's) park where you can enjoy the setting of Jordon Pond over tea and the aforementioned popovers or take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the forests. The park offers a wonderful array of activities, from pedaling your bike along the 48 miles of carriage paths that John D. Rockefeller paid for, searching tide pools for sea urchins, sea stars, and anemones, or traipsing up a trail that leads to sweeping views of Frenchman's Bay, the Gulf of Maine, and the Atlantic itself.

During Friday's affair Sen. Mitchell spoke with gratitude of the legacy of his co-chair and the Rockefeller family at Acadia and recalled that the first time he met Mr. David Rockefeller more than three decades ago, it led to their working together on the effort that led to the restoration of Acadia’s carriage roads and the endowment that Friends of Acadia now seeks to bolster as part of the Second Century Campaign.

“Every one of us who has had the tremendous please of walking, running, skiing, taking our kids out on the carriage roads…can now look forward to maintenance and even improvement for a very long time to come," said Sen. Mitchell. "We’re very fortunate, really, first to be Americans…and second, being here, which gives us an opportunity for shelter, refuge, and respite from the turbulence in our country and in the world.”

In addition to Acadia’s carriage roads and trails, the Second Century Campaign will focus on the intertwined goals of Wild Acadia, to protect Acadia’s natural resources; The Acadia Experience, to address challenges of Acadia’s increasing popularity; Tomorrow’s Stewards, to get more young people outdoors and involved in Acadia’s future; and the FOA Endowment, to ensure FOA’s long term sustainability in its support of Acadia and the surrounding communities.

“Acadia needs friends. Friends of Acadia is known throughout the National Park Service as setting the bar for what a friends group can do," Acadia Superintendent Kevin Schneider said.

He asked attendees to continue to step up as donors, advocates, and volunteers for the park, but added that he believes that equally important is to “get out there and enjoy the park. Get out there and continue to nurture your connection to your wonderful place.”

Other highlights of the meeting included a standing ovation during the presentation of the Marianne Edwards Distinguished Service Award, Friends of Acadia’s highest honor, to Acadia Centennial Task Force Chairs Cookie Horner and Jack Russell for their inspired and tireless leadership of the yearlong effort that has brought more than 430 organizations, businesses, and individuals together as Acadia Centennial Partners to celebrate the past and inspire the future of the park.

After the meeting, attendees enjoyed a “birthday party” reception outside on the Bar Harbor Club patio overlooking Frenchman Bay, with cakes decorated for the Acadia Centennial and Friends of Acadia’s 30th anniversary and Acadia-themed Gifford’s ice cream.