Big Chicken Barn Books & Antiques

This place is a great find. Glad we stopped after our visit to Acadia.

A friend and I dropped in here while we were «Sunday driving» our way home down Route 1. I’ve heard about this place for years, but in my 20+ years of vacationing in the area, I have somehow never made it in.
The Big Chicken Barn Books & Antiques is exactly what this place is. A big old chicken barn that has been converted into a used book and antiques store. The emphasis being on BIG! We were here for 2 hours and I don’t think I even cracked the surface of treasures to uncover.
The first floor is full of «stalls» that are rented out to people who then display their wares. Some items are of true value (like the «Gee Mister» framed poster in the Maine memorabilia room), while others are of value only to the person who finds that special item and can put it to use (like a plain old plant pot). If you collect something specific (old Life magazines, Coca-​Cola memorabilia, baseball cards), this is a great place to poke around and see if you can find that item you’ve been missing.
The second floor is filled with used books — FILLED. And, surprisingly, they are pretty well organized by subject. There are also old periodicals dating back to the 40’s at least — Life, Sport Illustrated, Better Homes and Gardens, to name a few. And, there are even a variety of old print ads for various products. Very cool. I wish I could have found one that would have framed well to hang in my kitchen. Sadly — nothing was tripping my trigger that day.
So, in short — this is definitely worth a stop if you are in the area. Especially, if you are looking to kill time on a rainy day.

This was such a neat find in Maine! I spent about 4 hours here over 2 days. And even that wasn’t enough time to see everything. There are so many unique items that I’ve never seen in my life before. I had a great time roaming around shopping and being amazed. It can be a bit chilly inside if you’re there in the winter, it is an old non-​insulated chicken barn, so bring a coat!

If you like antiques, this is the place for you!
Filled with all kinds of antiques from all eras, you are sure to find something special.
A must see when in ME.

I love this antique/​used book store. The second floor is where I head whenever I stop here which is anytime I am coming home after a trip to Acadia National Park. The selection of books and magazines is enormous. They will have a selection to suit any interest ranging in age from new publications to books many decades old.

This place is wonderful! It is huge and will take one whole day or more up see it all. I going back because I only got ½ of the first floor. There are three floors of antique heaven.

This is one of the places I remembered very vividly from my childhood in Maine and was very happy to come back to it now.
As with any antique store there are things that are trash of course. But as the saying goes one (wo)mans trash is another (wo)mans treasure.
I picked up a fenton milk glass bowl in the prettiest blue you had ever seen, some little random ornate looking box a lapis ring that was in no way shape or form an antique but still cool, a pretty little teapot and some other knick-​knacks.
If your looking for lots of high quality antiques this is not your place. Some random funky junk? Then it absolutely is!

This places perfect for endless hours of memory lane picking. A rainy day getaway if you can’t go for sail ;)

What an odd place. For starters it is enormous with boatloads of trash or treasure inside, depending on how you look at it. It really is a chicken barn. This place is loaded with «antiques» and I do use the term loosely since when is a sebago brewing glass similar to the one I bought a few months ago an antique. Some items look suspiciously similar to things I saw for sale at the Christmas Tree Shop. There are lots of antiques though. I’m a bit skeptical on the pricing though. If some of these items are really worth what they are asking then it’s time for me to start digging through my mother’s basement and attic and start selling on EBay. The second floor is full of old books and magazines. Musty books and magazines. If you are into antiques, I’m sure you cold easily spend hours here.

Many might say the Big Chicken Barn has something for everyone — I beg to differ! I stopped at this humongous place during a trip to Acadia National Park (like I suspect many people do). I stopped more to just check out the place, but I tried to find two specific items: a smallish old coffee advertisement sign and a John Irving book (one I didn’t already have). Perhaps I wasn’t patient enough to look thoroughly through their bazillion items, but I didn’t see a single coffee related item (besides the super-​pathetic «coffee shop» on the second floor). I was also disappointed with their John Irving selection, especially since Irving is from New England. They only had about 6 – 8 Irving books in only about 3 – 4 titles. I passed on what they had.
I’m not into antiques, so I don’t know if the Big Chicken Barn has valuable antiques/​collectibles or just a bunch of junk. You should go and check for yourself.

Six years later and my review still stands. Except this time I was out of college and had a bit more leeway to hurt my wallet… oops ;)

This place is one of the great «crap, it’s raining, what should we do» activities if you’re near Mount Desert Island. It’s a HUGE barn (three floors I believe, and incredibly long). Just lots of antiques, books, magazines, etc. If you like getting used books cheap, or need some old trinket to finish a room in your house, or just like reminiscing in old decorations and fads, you’ll have some fun here. Maybe you’ll find an old magazine from the year you were born, or a couple books by your favorite author that you haven’t read yet.
To be honest, my parents enjoy this place a lot more than I do, but even I find time flying by pretty quickly.
Probably not a good «treasure hunter’s» place, as it’s quite popular, but a fun side-​trip if you’re in the area and need something to do while getting out of the rain or recuperating from too many long hikes. (As you may have guessed, whenever we make it out to the Chicken Barn it’s as part of a Mount Desert Island /​Acadia hiking/​camping trip.)