Visiting Bar Harbor, United States: Top Sights on Foot

Things to do in Bar Harbor include exploring historic churches, theatres, museums and architectural landmarks, as well as discovering the dramatic landscapes of Acadia National Park. Set on Mount Desert Island beside Frenchman Bay, Bar Harbor combines a walkable coastal town with access to mountains, forests, lakes and rugged Atlantic shoreline. Neywo has a free audio guide for Bar Harbor with 7 narrated places.

What to see in Bar Harbor

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park is the only national park in New England. It covers about half of Mount Desert Island, along with part of Isle au Haut, the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula and sixteen smaller islands.

Its landscape brings together exposed granite domes, glacial U-shaped valleys, cobble beaches, forests, meadows, wetlands, lakes, streams and a rugged coastline. The park covers 49,000 acres and supports a wide variety of plants and animals.

Cadillac Mountain is its highest point and the tallest peak on the Atlantic coast of the United States. From the summit, visitors can see the first sunrise in the country for much of the year. The area also has a long human history: the Wabanaki people lived here for more than ten thousand years before European fur traders and explorers arrived in the seventeenth century.

33 Ledgelawn Avenue

At 33 Ledgelawn Avenue, a distinctive Jacobethan-style building recalls Bar Harbor’s architectural past. Designed by local architect Milton Stratton, it was built in 1917 as St. Edward’s Convent.

Its design combines Jacobean and Elizabethan influences, giving the building a storybook appearance. The former convent was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. It later housed the Bar Harbor Historical Society until early 2019.

Holy Redeemer Catholic Church

Holy Redeemer Catholic Church is one of the religious landmarks included in Bar Harbor’s historic townscape. It forms part of the town’s architectural heritage alongside several other churches and chapels.

Saint Saviour’s Episcopal Church and Rectory

Saint Saviour’s Episcopal Church and Rectory has been a central landmark on Mount Desert Street since the late nineteenth century. The complex is built in the American Shingle Style, combining stone and wood.

The church has a large cruciform plan and a steeply pitched roof, while textured shingles give the buildings their characteristic appearance. The complex developed between 1877 and 1938. The rectory was added in 1899 and enlarged twice, with each extension maintaining the same Shingle Style character.

Abbe Museum

The Abbe Museum focuses on the living cultures and heritage of the Wabanaki Nations: the Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot. Its downtown location is at 26 Mount Desert Street, and it has a second site at Sieur de Monts Spring inside Acadia National Park.

The trailside museum at Sieur de Monts is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of Maine’s first purpose-built museum buildings and a rare example of Mediterranean-inspired architecture in the state. It is also one of only two remaining privately operated trailside museums still functioning within the National Park system.

Criterion Theatre

The Criterion Theatre on Cottage Street dates from 1932, when Bar Harbor was flourishing as a summer destination for wealthy American families. It is one of only two Art Deco theatres still standing in Maine.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. After falling on hard times and coming close to closure, it was purchased by a nonprofit in 2014. A major renovation followed, and the theatre reopened in May 2015.

Church of Our Father

The Church of Our Father stands in the village of Hulls Cove. Built in 1890 and 1891, the Episcopal chapel is a local interpretation of English Gothic Revival architecture, constructed entirely in stone.

Its architectural significance earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Explore Bar Harbor with a self-guided audio tour

Neywo’s Gilded Age Bar Harbor: Convents, Shingle Style and Art Deco is a 0.86-kilometre walking tour lasting 37 minutes, with 5 narrated stops. The route includes 33 Ledgelawn Avenue, Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Saint Saviour’s Episcopal Church and Rectory, the Abbe Museum and the Criterion Theatre.

The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Its narration is available in 11 languages, making it a simple way to follow a Bar Harbor self-guided walking tour while connecting the town’s religious, cultural and architectural landmarks.

Download Neywo and explore Bar Harbor with its free audio guide. The app offers one walking tour in the city, covering 0.86 km in 37 minutes with 5 narrated stops. If you are planning a wider trip through the United States, you can also discover other destinations in the Neywo guide.