Abbe Museum

This is a must-see if you are in Bar Harbor. My husband and I spent about an hour and a half exploring the exhibits, learning about the Wababaki history, admiring artwork, and checking out the gift shop. There is something of interest for everyone - lots of history to put everything into perspective, fashion, art, tools and weapons, and so much more. I only wish we were still here for the big festival the weekend after we left. I was looking forward to stopping here as part of our vacation and am so glad we had a chance to do so and took the time. Highly recommend you do the same to get an idea of the history of the area.

Very nice museum showcasing the areas native tribes. Works ethically with the tribes to repatriate artifacts. There is an active archaeology lab in the building that you can view.

Very well done exhibits combining history culture and art. Even the local art from children was amazing.

A MUST while you’re in Bar Harbor in my opinion. A very well curated museum showcasing Wabanaki history and culture- I will definitely be back next time we’re in the area as we were limited on time.

We really enjoyed this museum. I had read about it in the book, The Orphan Train, and since we were going to be in Bar Harbor, I thought it would be an interesting place to visit and learn about the indigenous people. The museum is only a couple of floors but it is jam packed with information.

Very interesting museum. Enjoyed the In t Shadow of the Eagle special exhibit. Small but very well curated museum.

A great museum that I highly recommend. Beautiful and modern exhibits with some changing content. Listen to speakers in local languages, contemporary music, and two short films. Very friendly staff. It's amazing how much is in the space. Remember to go downstairs too. I had wanted to see the large room but it was closed.

We had a great experience visiting. Shop staff were knowledgeable about the museum and town and very friendly. There's something for everyone to learn here and the exhibits are clear, engaging and creative. In the shop there are a range of things to buy including beautiful artwork by native artists.

Meh. Not worth the $10. It's small and underwhelming. I guess I guess I gave it an extra star on account of the fact that it's cool they support the local native Americans. But to go just for that isn't the best idea. They need to put more on display for the price. It should be two dollars to get in. That's all.

This is more history than museum to me. Native made tools and canoes and clothing. Many baskets. And a chronology Of the mistreatment of the five original tribes here in Maine. Actually still fighting for rights over a local River. The white man just takes and takes. I found it to be hard to stay long. There is a Military and Senior discount available.

There are two locations of this museum but Yelp would only let me do the downtown one even though this review is for the one located within Acadia National Park. Small. Musty. Old dioramas. We love museums but we quickly scanned through this location and left. Go to this location which also has the Junior Ranger program nearby for something more interesting.

Nice museum. We used the "buy one, get one" offer on admission (from their website) which made it worth the stop. It's normally $8pp. There were some really cool canoes and artifacts to look at. The historic information about the tribes was really depressing, but good and interesting to know. Seemed like there were more display boards for reading than actual artifacts. Enjoyed seeing the ones that were there. Overall, very clean museum and nice restrooms. There's a gift shop as well. The building itself is quite unique.

What a wonderful little museum. I have been wanting to come here for a long time and finally got the chance when I was in Acadia for the Night Sky Fest. I would recommend anyone who has the opportunity to come by...tickets are $8 per adult; no student discounts available, but there is a BOGO deal on the website. There's the gift shop on the right and a small snippet of the museum on the left that are free to browse through when you enter the building. Going through the museum, I got a really different sense of the exhibits than I would have any other museum. It felt local, homegrown in some ways, and really community focused. It's a museum that feels like it's working with its community members to guide how they tell their story, but doesn't feel like the information comes from a heart of hatred, despair, or resentment. It feels like the stories are told from those in the community who know what it's like to share their stories with those they care about and in that way, it makes the museum different. It's a museum about "us" rather than "them", often a narrative and POV we see in history books, told by historians and teachers, and explained on a plaque in other museums. There were a couple of exhibitions, including drawings and comments from children from various tribes, a beautiful acorn shaped atrium at the back, open for reflection on the circle of life, and the latest exhibition on root clubs (something I'd never heard of) and the commentary on tourist root clubs and various cultural uses of them. The lower level features a children's play area and, unlike other museums, the number of 'artifacts' from archaeological digs is few in number, but feels chosen with intention. You can see beautiful canoes and hear contemporary and traditional music, and overall feel that you were able to support this museum and the work they do. It's a small museum and can take less than 1 hour if you are speedy, but we took about 1.5 to 2 hours on a slow tour.

Can't miss location in Bar Harbor. Small, cozy and well curated. Recommend to anyone visiting.

The town counterpart to the smaller one up the hill at Sieur de Monts Spring, and if you've been to that one you get a discount on the entrance to this one (and vice versa). This is a nice large and airy building and they have a lot of displays, but oddly I found the smaller one at Sieur de Monts more interesting. This one has gone the way of many newer museums and overloaded the exhibits with interpretative display boards, which seems to be an attempt to mask the comparatively small number of exhibits they actually have. Everything was pretty much contained in one gallery, and although it was certainly interesting, the rest of the building seems to struggle to fill the space. There was the inevitable children's art gallery, an educational room, more of that in the basement, and so on. There's certainly room for exhibit expansion here. The large circular 'room of the quarters' at the back is a nice piece of architecture and a contemplative space to sit in for a while, but it won't take you all day to 'do' this museum.

A wonderful way to learn about the Native American influence and impact upon Maine. It is a combination of hands on exhibits and artifacts. It was a quiet respite from the commercialism of Bar Harbor.

Museum is smallish but packs a lot of infuriation and exhibits. Beautiful quilt work in current exhibition also extraordinary baskets on display

Excellent history on Wabanaki peoples and how they lived and are living and are valued important people of Maine. Just fantastic you learn a lot and it's so educational wow!

Don't miss this gem. An excellent display of the past and current crafts, art and history of the area's Native American tribes in a space specifically designed for this purpose. Plan on at lest an hour but I took 2. They have several superb birch bark canoes. The history of how this region's tribes were screwed by English, French and American interests is typical and depressing. This museum's goal is to explain this history which goes back 6,000 years. The archeological exhibits are nicely displayed and explained. At this time of year there were only 4-8 other folks visiting.

My 8-year old son and I had a great time at Abbe. He loved spending tine in the basement children's section as well as listening to the stories on the handsets, watching the film, and seeing the canoes. Very nice staff made the visit enjoyable!

It was a neat museum (beautiful building), but the layout of the actual historical findings and such was chaotic. It would have been a much more pleasant experience if the rooms followed some sort of timeline and the audio speakers on the walls actually worked.

really small, but a fun thing to do on a rainy day!

An interesting collection of artifacts with some diagrams and posters. Downtown by Harbor had some interesting work from children. It might have been nice to hear Native American stories told by the staff...

This was a great informative afternoon! Lots of great creative child art and good hands on activities. We learned a great deal especially from the education consultant.

A nice native american culture and historical museum near the village green in Bar Harbor. This is the same museum that was at the Sieur de Mont spring area in Acadia but more expansive.

The Abbe Museum is a good way to spend the day once you've had your fill of Acadia National Park or other outdoor pursuits. I didn't find it to be the most fascinating museum I've ever visited, but I certainly learned a good deal about Native American culture in Maine and the surrounding islands. I was not a fan of the one hall that features a display of excerpts from Native newspapers, etc because it was difficult to understand the point of the exhibit. It was utterly too much reading to keep me interested and everything seemed out of context. I really enjoyed the examples of tribal basketry and other handicrafts. The time line also is very informative in helping one visualize Maine as it evolved as a landscape and state. I wonder if I might have enjoyed the original Abbe Museum in Acadia more. It would have been nice to have more artifacts on display or an exhibit that focused more on cultural heritage in the past and the present. I would avoid the gift shop as it didn't seem to have any fascinating offerings. They do sell handmade baskets from local artisans, but I don't know many people interested in forking over $200 for something the size of a baseball even if it is handmade. They do have a treasure hunt with reward to keep children occupied which I am sure pleases many a weary parent.