In April 2023, I was blessed to take a deep dive into the history, geography, geology and culture of the far northeast corner of America,  the Canadian Maritimes and the St. Lawrence River and Seaway. Con su permisio, as they say in Spanish, I would like to share with you some of what I learned in these blog posts over the next couple of months. Hope you benefit and enjoy!

Miscellaneous Factoids About Maine

* Maine “beaches” are more like shown above (in Acadia National Park) and not long flat sandy beaches like we have here in the Northwest. Maine beaches are lovely granite, white and pink granite. 

*Folks born, raised and live in Maine refer to themselves as Maine-iacs. 

* Maine had more soldiers in the Civil War than any other state.

* Cities have subways; islands have ferries.

* Maine has 3470 miles of coastline, the longest in the lower 48 states.

*Maine because a state due to the Missouri Compromise; Maine did not wish to separate from Massachusetts but Congress needed a free state to balance the slave state of Missouri. 

* Dandelions seem to be the unofficial state flower of Maine and the Maritimes; a “no mow or spray zone” protects these yellow flowers and leaves them for the honey bees. 

* The Bar Harbor-Acadia National Park area during the 1870-1905 era for the summer “cottages” of the wealthy….. mansions of 100 rooms or more. 

* Bar Harbor was first named Eden by an Englishman who named it after himself; changed to Bar Harbor when mariners realized there was a sand bar between the two islands visible only at low tide. 

* Only 15% of Maple Syrup comes from Maine/New England; 85% comes from the Canadian Maritimes….. hence the Sugar Maple leaf on Canada’s flag.