If you’re looking to end your summer on a high note, then you have a real opportunity at your finger tips. What could be more special than saying a fond farewell to hot summer days than by visiting the United States’ newest national park, Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine, an 87,000-acre national monument located in the northeastern part of the state.
The new national park was made possible thanks to a $100 million donation from Elliotsville Plantation, a charitable foundation created by Burt’s Bees co-founder and philanthropist Roxanne Quimby. The land itself is valued at about $60 million, while the foundation also pledged an initial $20 million that’s gone to park upkeep and its first facilities (a park service superintendent and two visitor centers are already in service) alongside another pledge of $20 million in future donations.
President of Elliotsville Plantation, Lucas St. Clair, said, “I look forward to people coming and exploring landscape on their own, and I look forward to these communities that have been really struggling starting to realize some of the economic benefits that national parks can bring.”
It’s a beautiful way to commemorate August 25’s 100th anniversary of the National Parks Service.
