Acadia National Park just finished in the 15th spot in a survey about what local natural landmarks Americans would most like to visit.

Mainers know how special Acadia is and would probably vote it higher than 15th.

But not finishing in the top 15 is a good thing. We’re blessed. Finishing higher might have brought more attention to Acadia and therefore more people from away.

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And now that the majority of tourists have gone back to where they came from -- or will soon -- we get Acadia back to the way most prefer it ... without so many people.

FYI, admission to Acadia National Park -- and for that matter all national parks -- will be free on Saturday, September 24 for National Public Lands Day.

We’re blessed in Maine to just be driving down a road and see natural beauty in so many places.

But here are the Maine landmarks that made the list:

#15 Acadia National Park

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
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#112 Vaughan Woods.

Vaughan Homestead .org
Vaughan Homestead .org
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#113 Smalls Falls.

nrcm.org
nrcm.org
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#159 Mount Katahdin.

apelletr, Thinkstock
apelletr, Thinkstock
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#193 Ogunquit Beach.

Google Map
Google Map
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Here’s more from Aqua Expeditions, if you care to take a peek at what finished where, or look for a bucket list destination.

Great Smokey Mountains National Park finished Number One. It is in Tennessee on the border with North Carolina. It is beautiful, but if you are planning to go there for the solitude, know that the park has over 14 million visitors each year.

Here’s the Rest of the Top 10.

2. New York’s Niagara Falls
3. Missouri’s Elephant Rocks
4. Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park
5. California’s Redwood National and State Parks
6. Hawaii’s Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
7. Hawaii’s Hanauma Bay
8. Iowa's Pikes Peak State Park
9. Arizona's The Grand Canyon
10. Hawaii's Waikīkī Beach

LOOK: See America's 50 Best Beach Towns

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

RANKED: Here are the most popular national parks

To determine the most popular national parks in the United States, Stacker compiled data from the National Park Service on the number of recreational visits each site had in 2020. Keep reading to discover the 50 most popular national parks in the United States, in reverse order from #50 to #1. And be sure to check with individuals parks before you visit to find out about ongoing, pandemic-related safety precautions at www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

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