Downeast Fisheries Trail
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    • STAND: a poetic exploration of Lubec smokehouses
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    • Lobstering Firsts
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Otter Cove

Park Loop Road, Otter Creek

In the late twentieth century, both sides of Otter Cove, now part of Acadia National Park, were lined with fish houses that supported as many as 25 families. Located in protected coves near fishing grounds, fish houses operated as staging areas for prepping bait, constructing traps, repairing nets, hooking lines, or sharing stories, all the outfitting necessary to fish for whatever species was in season. As the one remaining fish house in Otter Cove represents, these were more shacks than houses, often built out of randomly collected materials, and yet they were vital to fishermen who relied on skill, common sense, and each other for survival in the time before mechanization. Fish houses began disappearing in the middle of the 20th century, when technological advances transformed the world’s fishing industry.

207.288.3338 | www.nps.gov/acad/index.htm

Seasonal. Parking. Accessible. Water Access.

Otter Cove in winter
Otter Cove, north
Otter Cove, south
Otter Cove fish house
Otter Cove fish shacks

Events & Activities

Acadia National Park Ranger Led Programs 

 

Sources & Links


Traditional Uses of Fish Houses in Otter Cove, Acadia National Park Special Ethnographic Report, by Charles W. Smythe.  November 2008.  

Acadia National Park 

Mount Desert Island Historical Society  

Maine Folklife Center, Life of the Maine Lobsterman Interview Collection: Interviews with Edwin Lawson, 73, about lobstering on the Maine coast.

Trail Sites

  • Abbe Museum
  • Bad Little Falls Park
  • Bar Harbor Town Park
  • Bar Harbor Town Pier
  • Beals Heritage Center
  • Bucksport Waterfront
  • Cable Pool Park
  • Carryingplace Cove
  • Cobscook Bay Resource Center
  • Cobscook Bay State Park
  • Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery
  • Deer Isle – Stonington Historical Society
  • Downeast Institute
  • Frazer Point
  • Frenchman Bay Overlook
  • Frenchman Bay Scenic Turnout
  • Gleason Cove Park
  • Gordon’s Wharf
  • Great Harbor Maritime Museum
  • Green Lake National Fish Hatchery
  • Henry Cove
  • Islesford Historical Museum
  • Jonesport Historical Society
  • Long Cove
  • Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries (formerly Penobscot East Resource Center)
  • Maine Coast Sardine History Museum
  • McCurdy’s Smokehouse
  • Milbridge Historical Museum
  • Milbridge Town Marina
  • Morong Cove
  • Mount Desert Oceanarium
  • Naskeag Point
  • Otter Cove
  • Penobscot Marine Museum
  • Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory & Fort Knox
  • Peter Gray Hatchery
  • Pleasant River Hatchery
  • Prospect Harbor
  • Quoddy Head State Park
  • Roosevelt-Campobello International Park
  • Shackford Head State Park
  • Somesville Mill Pond
  • Taunton Bay Gateway
  • Tidal Falls
  • Waponahki Museum & Resource Center

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The Downeast Fisheries Trail consists of 45 locations from Penobscot Bay, Maine, to Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick, that showcase active and historic fisheries heritage sites, such as fish hatcheries, aquaculture facilities, fishing harbors, clam flats, processing plants, historical societies, community centers, parks, and other related places. The Trail is an effort to raise awareness among residents and visitors of the importance of the region’s maritime heritage and the role of marine resources to the area’s economy. The Trail builds on these local resources to strengthen community life and the experience of visitors.

For a printed map-brochure of the Trail, please call 207.581.1435.

Download the web version of the map-brochure. (6.8 MB)

For more information about the Downeast Fisheries Trail, email or call 207.288.2944 x5834.

Downeast Fisheries Trail Brochure Map - Web Version

Downeast Fisheries Trail Brochure Map - Web Version

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