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Stone Barn Farm Preserve
Stone Barn Farm: Fields, History, and a Walk to Northeast Creek
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Stone Barn Farm Preserve in Bar Harbor offers a Mount Desert Island walk that begins with a historic agricultural landscape and continues toward Northeast Creek. Maine Coast Heritage Trust protects the fields and woods around the old farm, giving visitors several changes of setting within one outing. Start from the Crooked Road entrance with the current trail map, then choose how much time to spend among open ground, farm buildings, and the woodland route beyond.
The buildings give the landscape a visible center. The farmhouse dates to the 1840s, with a later carriage house and a barn from the early twentieth century. Look at their relationship to the surrounding ground rather than assuming every structure is open for an interior visit. Restoration is part of the property's continuing care, while the public trails provide their own way to understand how buildings and land once worked together.
Harry and Cindy Owen bought the property in 1963 and protected it through a conservation easement in 2001. Maine Coast Heritage Trust acquired it in 2019. That sequence matters because the preserve did not appear all at once: decades of care preceded a public framework for its future. A pause beside the fields can become a way to consider what is retained when a familiar rural landscape remains whole.
Rebecca Goldfine's original Maine by Foot account enjoys the rolling fields, pond setting, and solid barn before following trails toward the creek. She describes a route through a small pine plantation and other woodland, with a steeper section near the water that can be avoided using an alternative path. Her observations are useful when planning a varied walk, while the current operator map remains the guide to selecting a route suited to your group.
The forest changes the scale of the visit. Open views across the farm give way to more enclosed ground, with oak and mixed woods leading toward wetland and marsh edge. Let that transition receive time rather than treating the creek as the only destination. Looking at the changing relationship between trees, slope, and water can make the wooded section feel closely connected with the fields behind it.
At Northeast Creek, choose an established viewing position and notice how the marsh opens the scene again. The broad water setting contrasts with both the forest and the farm's shaped ground. A photograph can show that change without stepping into wetland vegetation. The preserve also contains seasonal pools, another reason to leave water margins undisturbed and observe from the route rather than seek a closer angle through sensitive ground.
The trail visit is for foot travel, with dogs leashed. Camping, fires, and overnight parking are prohibited. Follow restoration signs around buildings and confirm any advertised program or interior access separately. Return across the fields with a little time to look back at the barn in its wider setting. Stone Barn Farm's appeal comes from the way the parts remain connected: historic buildings, land cared for over generations, woods that alter the pace of walking, and a creek reached beyond them. It is a place to enjoy an unhurried sequence of views while considering the work that keeps that landscape available.
Fun facts
- The farmhouse dates to the 1840s.
- The Owens protected the property through an easement in 2001.
- Maine Coast Heritage Trust acquired the farm in 2019.
Before you go
- Begin at the current Crooked Road entrance and select a route from the map.
- Follow signs around buildings and confirm interior access separately.
- Keep dogs leashed; trails are for foot travel.
- Use established creek viewpoints without entering marsh vegetation.
- Camping, fires, and overnight parking are prohibited.
Visitor perspectives
- Rebecca Goldfine enjoys the rolling fields, barn and woodland approach to Northeast Creek, noting an alternative route around a steeper section near the water.
Capture
- Include the barn within the field landscape from a permitted public position.
- Frame the transition from woodland to Northeast Creek without stepping into the marsh.
Social
Stone Barn Farm Preserve begins with fields and historic farm buildings.
Its Bar Harbor setting offers another side of Mount Desert Island.
The farmhouse dates to the nineteenth century.
The Owens’ conservation easement preceded the land trust’s acquisition.
Woodland paths lead toward Northeast Creek.
Field, forest, and marsh edge give the walk a changing rhythm.
Follow restoration signs and keep dogs leashed.
Leave time to see the barn as part of the whole landscape on the return.
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