Forty-five miles of carriage road were built for horses between 1913 and 1940, and one concession still runs them the way they were intended. It is the only horse-drawn carriage operation in Acadia.
The operator is Acadia by Carriage, LLC, in its own words “authorized to provide Horse Drawn Carriage Tours, Horse Stall Rentals and Equestrian Camping within Acadia National Park”.
The two tours
| Day Mountain | Rockefeller’s Bridges | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 1 hour | 2 hours |
| Departures | 9:00, 11:00, 1:00, 3:00 | 9:30, 1:30 |
| Adult, 13+ | $48 | $84 |
| Child, 12 and under | $38 | $66 |
| Infant on a lap | Free | Free |
What the longer one actually covers:
“We visit 3 stone bridges built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. from 1917 to 1933 and pass through the Jordan Pond Gatehouse (1932).”
That is the one to book if you are booking either. The bridges are the reason the carriage roads are a National Historic Landmark rather than just a nice place to walk, and an hour on Day Mountain does not reach them.
The season, on which the park is wrong
The operator:
“The 2026 season for carriage tours, stall rentals and equestrian camping runs from Saturday, May 23rd through Sunday, October 18th. Open 7 days a week.”
The Park Service’s hours table: “Wildwood Stables Carriage Ride Tours | May 24 | Oct 15”
One day out at the start, three days out at the end — and the end is where it matters, because someone checking the park’s page on 17 October will conclude the season is over when the operator says it is running.
Believe the operator.
Where it goes from, and how to get there
Wildwood Stables, 49 Dane Farm Rd., Mount Desert, ME 04660
“All of our carriage tours depart from Wildwood Stables, just off the Park Loop Road. The Island Explorer Bus (4 Loop Road) stops at Wildwood.”
So this is another thing the free bus solves outright.
The accessible carriage
There is a wheelchair-accessible carriage with a rear ramp:
“In 2022, the operator of the Wildwood Stables in Acadia National Park, and the park received a custom-built wheelchair accessible carriage. The carriage has a ramp on the back that should be accessible to most types of wheelchairs.”
For a visitor who cannot walk the carriage roads or ride a bike on them, this is a way onto the Rockefeller bridges that does not otherwise exist in the park.
To ride the accessible carriage, book it by phone, on 207-600-7204.
Money, if plans change
“A full refund is available if a tour is cancelled more than 24 hours before the tour departure time. Tours cancelled less than 24 hours from departure time are ineligible for a refund. Customers will also receive a full refund in case of operator cancellation due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.”
Two more clauses worth knowing:
“Rain cancellations accepted in-person, at the time of departure of a scheduled tour.”
“No-shows at departure time, for what ever reason, are not eligible for refunds.”
So rain is decided at the stables at departure time, in person, and not before — which means driving out in doubtful weather rather than calling it off from your room.
Book early
Spaces are limited, and the Park Service advises reserving well in advance of your date. Two departures a day on the two-hour tour, one carriage at a time.
While you are on the carriage roads
Two rules that exist because of these horses:
“Cyclists must yield to all other users. Pedestrians must yield to horses.”
And horses are banned from part of the network:
“Horse and pack animal use is prohibited from Intersections 1 through 8. This includes a steep access road from the Visitor Center to Intersections 1 and 3, the Witch Hole Pond Loop, and part of the Eagle Lake Loop, except for a connector segment along the south end of the lake between Intersections 7 and 8.”
Which is why the tours run from Wildwood and go south and east rather than up toward Eagle Lake.
Is it worth it?
At $84 a head, only if the history is the point. Two hours behind a pair of horses on roads built for exactly that, through three Rockefeller bridges, is a genuinely distinctive thing to do and there is nowhere else to do it.
If you just want to see the carriage roads, rent a bike. Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop lists its basic hybrid at $45 a day (read 23 September 2026), and you can cover ten times the ground — the rules and the mud season closures are here.
Booking it
Acadia by Carriage is in none of the affiliate programs we belong to, so this page has no booking link for the ride. The Viator link below is the wider catalog of what is bookable around Bar Harbor, not this ride.
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