Acadia National Park gets $10.8M to jumpstart employee-housing project

Photo / Courtesy Friends of Acadia/Julia Walker Thomas Construction of seasonal housing at Harden Farm can be completed with the award of two contracts.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Two awards totaling $10.8 million will advance housing units for Acadia National Park employees.

The National Park Service recently awarded two major contracts to complete the construction of employee housing at Harden Farm in Bar Harbor.

Of the total, $3.4 million will be used to connect the site to the town’s sewer system, while $7.4 million will be used to build 28 bedroom units for park employee housing.

In September 2024, the service awarded a contract to King Construction of Machias to build the first 28 bedroom units of employee housing.

With the additional funding, the contract for the second phase of construction, also awarded to King Construction, will bring the remaining 28 units to life. A total of 56 bedroom units built over two phases are being added the park’s housing inventory.

The contract to connect the site to the sewer system went to McKenzie Construction and Site Development of Washington, D.C.

Acadia National Park gets roughly 4 million visitors a year, but finding and housing employees to staff the park has been a growing challenge.

Hiring tool

If the park can’t provide a bedroom for prospective seasonal employees, most individuals cannot find a place to live within commuting distance to the park, according to the park service. That’s increasingly the case with prospective permanent staff.

“As we have seen this summer, Acadia National Park needs employees to clean and stock restrooms, rescue injured adventurers, manage visitor centers and complete countless other tasks to keep Acadia open and accessible,” said, Kevin Schneider, the park’s superintendent.

The construction at Harden Farm was financed by $9.5 million in donations from Friends of Acadia, a $2 million grant from National Park Foundation, funding from the National Park Service’s Centennial Challenge and Housing Improvement programs and Helium Act funds.

The future housing at Harden Farm will make it possible for rangers to accept positions in Acadia.

“These employees are essential to protecting Acadia’s resources and welcoming millions of visitors each year, and they deserve a safe, stable place to call home,” said Eric Stiles, CEO of Friends of Acadia, which raises private funds for the national park.

Identified as a potential site for workforce housing since 1959, Harden Farm is home to eight existing bedrooms constructed in 1960. Over the past several years, the National Park Service designed a plan to add 56 bedrooms of employee housing on the Harden Farm campus.

Last year, Friends of Acadia cut the ribbon on the Dane Farm housing project in Seal Harbor, consisting of two buildings for eight seasonal Acadia employees.

In 2023, the group purchased Kingsleigh Inn in Southwest Harbor to provide seasonal housing for 10 employees.