Skip the crowds at the Jordan Pond House and opt for tea and popovers at the Asticou Inn instead. Say “Asticou,” and most people think of the lovely, 2.3-acre, Japanese-style pocket garden famous for its 70 varieties of azaleas, rhododendrons, and laurels, not the inn of the same name across the street. Truth is, the garden was created in 1956, when Charles K. Savage, longtime Asticou innkeeper, learned that famed landscape designer Beatrix Farrand’s Reef Point garden was being dismantled. Credit him for saving many of the treasures. Betwixt and between poking around Asticou Garden and the equally delightful English-style Thuya Garden located nearby, savor a break at the Asticou Inn for tea and popovers on the back porch. The views extend down landscaped lawns and over the yacht-filled harbor.
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Sleeping and Dreaming
The Asticou Inn and its adjacent azalea garden are exceptional spots to stop on Mount Desert Island. The inn itself is one of the nicest lodging options on the island just outside of the prestigious village of Northeast Harbor, close to everything you could want to do in Acadia. The gardens (which are open to all for a small donation) are a beautiful (flat) walk for when you get a little too tired of hiking mountains.
