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20 Facts
About Maine

Maine Trivia and Interesting Facts

Most know that Maine is responsible for the majority of the nation’s lobster supply, but did you know it also produces the most blueberries? Continue reading to learn more interesting facts about the Pine Tree State.

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Maine State Flag

Location

Maine Location

State Seal

Maine State Seal
1 Maine received the nickname "The Pine Tree State" because it has acres and acres of forestland. As of 2012, roughly 83 percent of Maine's area remained forested.
2 Maine is home to a 40-acre desert that was originally caused by over-farming, but has since become a tourist attraction.
3 No one is exactly sure how Maine received its name; however, many believe that it is short for "mainland" and that this term may have been used by sailors.
4 Maine has produced its fair share of literary icons. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin in Brunswick, ME. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne also both attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Maine is perhaps most notable for famous horror writer Stephen King, who has featured small Maine towns in some of his most popular novels and stories.
5 Maine was originally part of Massachusetts. It was several years after the American Revolution that Maine was finally given statehood in 1820.
6 Maine is known as "The Birthplace of Prohibition" since it was the first state to ban alcohol in 1851.
7 Eastport, ME is the easternmost city in the United States.
8 Maine is the only state in the country whose name is only one syllable, and it is also the only state to share its border with just one other state (New Hampshire).
9 Maine's state bird is the black-capped chickadee. Its state flower is the white pine cone.
10 Famous Maine natives include Edna St. Vincent Millay, Patrick Dempsey, Stephen King, Milton Bradley, Patty Griffin, and Dorothea Dix.
11 Maine's famous craggy coastline stretches for roughly 3,500 miles. The total jumps to 5,500 miles if the state’s islands are included.
12 Maine's history with sailing stretches back to the early 1600s. In fact, the first ship built by English colonists set sail from Maine, and the first naval battle of the Revolutionary War took place off of the state's coast.
13 Maine's state insect is the honeybee. In fact, Burt Shavitz, co-founder of Burt’s Bees, moved to Maine in 1984 to keep bees.
14 The country's smallest lighthouse, known as Pocahontas Light, sits on an island off the coast of Maine. It stands at only six feet tall.
15 York, ME became the United States' first chartered city in 1641.
16 Maine's lobster industry is enormous, producing roughly 90 percent of America's lobster supply. Lobster is celebrated each year at the Maine Lobster Festival, during which more than 20,000 lobsters are consumed by tourists and locals.
17 Since Maine winters are so cold, many cold-weather inventions come from the state, including the snowplow, snowmobile, and earmuffs.
18 Famous outdoor company L.L. Bean was founded in Maine, and its flagship store is located in Freeport.
19 Maine's motto is "Dirigo," which means "I lead" in Latin.
20 The lowest recorded temperature ever recorded in Maine was -50 degrees F on January 16, 2009.
Maine Portland Lighthouse
"There's a quality of life in Maine which is this singular and unique. I think it's absolutely a world unto itself."
- Jamie Wyeth