30 Facts

1. Scientists believe that the first people to live in Maine were the “Red Paint” people as their burial grounds dates back to 2500-3000 B.C.
2. The Native American tribe known as the Abenaki settled and lived in Maine for centuries.
3. After Great Britain had defeated France in the French and Indian Wars, the two countries signed the Treaty of Paris in 1763—eliminating the French’s control of Maine and giving it all to Britain.
4. The Revolutionary War between Britain and the American colonists lasted from 1775-1783 as many battles were fought in Maine and over 1,000 Maine men were killed.
5. Founded in Portland, the Total Abstinence Society became the world’s first anti-drinking group in 1815.
6. In 1819, Maine voted to separate itself from Massachusetts, and Maine officially became the 23rd state in 1820.
7. Maine’s state seal was adopted in 1820, and shows a farmer and a seaman leaning against a shield portraying a pine tree and a moose, symbols of Maine’s important industries and wildlife.

8. Harriet Beecher Stowe moved to Brunswick and wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a controversial book about slavery that is believed to have fueled the Civil War between the Northern and Southern states.

9. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who was once a professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, is one of the most admired war generals in history as he led the Union troops to victory at the Battle of Gettysburg and the Appomattox Courthouse.

10. Leon Leonwood Bean invented the “Bean Boot”, a sturdy and innovative boot which became an American phenomenon, and eventually led to the establishment of the popular retail store we know today as L.L. Bean.
11. Stephen King, a horror novelist, and one of the most popular and talented authors in America, was born in Portland in 1947.

12. Maine is home to many superb authors and poets including Robert Tristram Coffin, Sarah Orne Jewett, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
13. Margaret Chase Smith was a pioneer for female politicians as she was the first woman to be elected to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and she even ran for her party’s presidential nomination.

14. Maine has fewer people per square mile than any other state east of the Mississippi River, and more than half of Maine’s population is concentrated near the coast.
15. Over 98 percent of the Maine’s population is white.
16. Portland, even though it is the largest city in Maine with over 60,000 citizens (twice the size of the second-largest city) and is the most popular and developed, is not the capital—August is the capital with a population of just under 20,000.
17. Over half of the state consists of unorganized territory—places where the population is too small to be named and officially recognized (islands, townships, etc.).

18. Rural Aroostook County is the largest out of Maine’s 16 counties.
19. Baxter State Park consists of over 200,000 acres and is home to Mount Katahdin and some of Maine’s biggest lakes—Moosehead, Chesuncook, and Millinocket.

20. About 90 percent of Maine is covered with trees, some of the most popular being Spruce, Birch, Maple, Pine, and Balsam Fir.
21. Animals native to Maine include the beaver, black bear, bobcat, harbor seal, lynx, marten, mink, moose, porcupine, raccoon, red fox, and white-tailed deer.

22. Maine’s state animal is the moose which stands over six feet tall, and can weigh up to over 1,000 pounds.
23. Maine’s current governor is John Baldacci, and Maine has two U.S. Senators, two U.S. Representatives, and constitutes four U.S. electoral votes.

24. Farming brings about $1.2 billion to Maine, and Maine produces approximately 98 percent of the country’s low-bush blueberries.
25. In 2001, 48 million pounds of lobster were harvested by Maine lobstermen.
26. Monhegan fishermen are the only ones who trap lobsters from January through June.
27. The lumbering and wood-processing industry is the top grossing in Maine’s economy while tourism is Maine’s second largest industry.
28. Portland Head Light, Maine’s oldest lighthouse, is just one of 68 lighthouses ever constructed in Maine, and there are over 50 lighthouses that are still in use today.
29. A 31-foot statue of Paul Bunyan stands in Bangor where it is believed he was born.

30. Charles Theodore Edison, son of Thomas Edison, formed the Monhegan Associates, Inc., in 1954 which urged people to preserve the natural beauty and wildlife of Monhegan Island.

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