Maine State Parks and Historic Sites

The State of Maine has 32 State Parks and 12 State Historic Sites. Of the 32 State Parks, 13 have some access and 6 are listed as having good access. Accessible bathrooms are not necessarily present in the parks with some access. None of the Historic Sites have any handicap access. We are in the process of reviewing the access at some of our parks and providing a narrative description of the available access

• Bradbury Mountain State Park   Pownal
• Damariscotta Lake Beach State Park   Jefferson
• Mt.Blue State Park   Weld
• Peacock Beach State Park   Richmond
• Range Pond State Park   Poland
• Rangley Lakes State Park   Rangley
• Wolf Neck Woods State Park   Freeport

Bradbury Mountain State Park - Day use and Camping

This is a fairly large park with many different features.

The picnic and day use area has several new accessible bathrooms. It's unfortunate that the use of badly adjusted screen door closers and eye hooks for latches mean that some people would need assistance to use them. There is a nicely packed path to a large accessible covered picnic area. The path to the nearby playground is crossed by many tree roots. The play area is somewhat accessible from the main driveway. Park personel told me that the play area is slated for replacement and will likely get a new path then.

There are many miles of trails throughout the park. The difficulty varies. You can choose from a steep rocky climb to the top of a hill overlooking the area or wide flat paths through the woods. Although many of the trails are accessible themselves, the trail heads aren't. As an example, the Northern Loop Trail has a stone barrier to step over to get to the otherwise accessible trail. Trails from the camping area suffer from poor maintenance and above ground water lines crossing them

The camping area has accessible bathrooms. Note that this campground has pit toilets and running water, but no showers. The roads in the campground are very rough with substantial potholes.

This park has a lot of potential, but is not very accessible in it's current condition. Let's hope that some renovations are coming soon.

Damariscotta Lake Beach State Park (Day use)

This small park has a relatively large sandy beach. Most of the park is accessible. The area around the beach and the bathrooms is almost flat. There is a fairly long slope leading to the group shelter and the path is grassy and soft. The shelter is accessible, but make sure that the cook is ambulatory, as the grill is not accessible.

As the path to the bathrooms illustrates, there is not much pavement in the park. Most of the surfaces are fairly firm, but could get soft after a heavy rain. The bathrooms have accessible stalls with real commercial latches! Excuse my enthusiasm, but many of the parks have homemade wooden latches that don't work well.

It's possible to roll a wheelchair to the beach area. There is no hard access onto the sandy part of the beach.

Mt. Blue State Park- Day Use Area - Weld, Maine

Mt. Blue State Park has several distinct areas. I checked out the beach, Center Hill and the camping area.

The beach and picnic areas feature a large lawn that is fairly level and a picnic area that extends into the woods. There is handicap parking at both ends of the lot. There is no pavement on any of the paths, but they are packed dirt and are reasonably smooth.

There is a picnic table in the woods that is labeled for access. It is at the left side of the parking lot. It's down a short trail from a new paved parking spot. I think that many of the other tables can also be accessed. There is also a shelter area that is accessible. The beach has a substantial drop off to get to it. Access can be gained in the canoe rental area near the accessible picnic area. There is a beach wheelchair available and you would likely need it to get onto the beach. It can be checked out at the gate, or at the lifeguard station. There is no hard surface to the beach itself, so it is not accessible to people who cannot transfer into the beach wheelchair. The main picnic and play area is accessible if you go back to the parking lot and use the path at the right side of the lot. There is a real need for a path to tie the accessible features together and for good signage to direct you to where you might want to go.

The bathhouse was not built to be accessible but has been retrofitted. The entrance to the bathroom is through the changing area. The lock on the accessible stall in the Men's room was not working when I was there (July 2002).

Altogether, this is a pleasant area to have a picnic and spend the day. Perhaps a few suggestions to the park personnel could get a few of the rough points smoothed over.

This area has great views, especially in the Autumn. Follow the signs from the center of Weld. Be sure to turn at the Center Hill sign if you don't want to got to the Mt. Blue trailhead. There is an accessible picnic area and outhouse at the overlook. The parking lot is gravel and seems to be well packed. None of the trails are accessible. The bathroom door was too heavily sprung and the lock didn't work well. (If everyone compalains about the locks maybe they'll get better ones?) It was still usuable, but some people might need assistance.

Peacock Beach - Beach and Day use Park

This is a small day park near the city of Augusta. Two accessible parking spaces have recently been added. They provide access to a small picnic area overlooking the lake. The main part of the park is at the bottom of a very steep hill. Although the path has no steps, or other barriers, it is much too steep for most people with any sort of ambulatory disability. There is a relatively new accessible bathroom at the bottom of the hill. This disconnect is almost beyond comprehension as anyone who needed an accessible bathroom would be very unlikely to be able to get to it.

Range Pond - Beach and day use park

This park has recently seen the addition of several accessibility features. The most noticeable is a new concrete ramp that extends into the water. At the bottom is an area that has grab bars and an in the water bench for transferring to. To my knowledge, this is the only ramp of this type in the state. (Please tell me I'm wrong and give the locations of other similar ramps) They have also added two ramps to the beach. This has been a great safety feature, as there is a long step to the sand. There is ample handicap parking and an easy roll through to the facilities and beach area. There are a group of accessible tables reserved with handicap symbols. Unfortunately, they are some distance from the main ramp. The bathrooms are reasonably accessible.

View of the ramp and bench.

View of ramp to beach

One of the trails at Range Pond.

Rangley Lakes State Park

This park is currently under construction for better access. The check in area has been recently paved for access. The camping area has a seperate roll in shower and toilet combination. Some of the other bath areas are also accessible. The camping access is some of the best I've seen. However, the beach and recreation areas are currently very inaccessible. There are plans to make some major changes in August of 2002. The beach itself will likely remain inaccessible. The water is reached via a long, steep, concrete stairway. The boat launch area has an accessible outhouse and is otherwise mostly accessible. However, it would require some effort to get a wheelchair onto any of the floating docks.

Wolf Neck Woods State Park

Looking for a quiet walk in the woods? This might be the place to do it. There are several picnic and trail areas that are firmly compacted and smooth. Most of the area is sheltered by trees. There are accessible parking areas and accessible restrooms nearby. The accessible trails do not go to the water, but there are several water views.

A real plus is that the main recreation area, bathrooms, picnic tables, and shelter are all close to each other. You should bear in mind that they are all a short walk from the second parking area. The park is a quiet, pleasant place to go for a roll or a stroll. -You'll never know you're near Freeport.