Trenton
Trenton is the last mainland town before the causeway onto Mount Desert Island, which means every car heading for Acadia National Park passes through it. Most do not stop. The town is a few miles of Route 3 with lobster pounds, campgrounds, mini-golf and the island's airport,…
That is a mistake for two reasons: the lobster is genuinely good, and staying here costs substantially less than staying on the island.
Where the lobster is
Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound (4.4 across nearly 1,700 reviews) has been boiling over wood fires beside the causeway since 1956, and the queue at the window moves faster than it looks. Gateway Lunts Lobster Pound (4.1 from close to 1,300 reviews) is the other long-running option. Both are seasonal, cash-friendly, and served at picnic tables — this is the unglamorous version, which is the good version.
Practical value
The Hancock County–Bar Harbor Airport is in Trenton, with seasonal service, and it is the closest airport to the park by a wide margin. Several large campgrounds sit along Route 3 — Wild Acadia (4.5 from 484 reviews) and Timberland Acres RV Park (4.5 from 435 reviews) among them — and they fill less far ahead than the in-park campgrounds do.
The Island Explorer shuttle runs from the Bar Harbor Gateway Center here in season, so it is genuinely possible to park on the mainland and ride into the park, which sidesteps the island's parking problem entirely.
Getting here and when to go
Route 3 from Ellsworth, about fifteen minutes. Traffic on this stretch backs up badly on summer weekends in both directions — the causeway is the bottleneck, and there is no alternative route.
The season runs late May to mid-October. Outside it the pounds close and the strip is very quiet.
