Maine is a state in the New England region of the United States. To the south and east is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the northeast is New Brunswick, a province of Canada. The Canadian province of Quebec is to the northwest. Maine is both the largest and the northernmost state in the New England region, bordered on the west by New Hampshire.
Auburn Augusta Bailey Island Bangor Bar Harbor Belfast Bethel Biddeford Bingham Boothbay Harbor Brewer Brooksville Brunswick Bucksport Camden Carrabassett Valley Chebeague Island Edgecomb Ellsworth Freeport Greenville Houlton Kennebunk Kennebunkport Kittery Lewiston Lincolnville Manchester Millinocket Newry Northeast Harbor Ogunquit Old Orchard Beach Orono Portland Rockport Saco Sanford Scarborough Sebasco Estates South Paris South Portland Southport Thomaston Topsham Waterville Wells West Forks Westbrook Wilton York York Beach
Maine is the only state that borders just one other state. Maine is the easternmost state in the contiguous 48 states. Its easternmost city is Eastport, and its easternmost town is Lubec. Its largest lake is Moosehead Lake, and its highest mountain is Mt. Katahdin, which is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. A new International Appalachian Trail starts at Mt. Katahdin and runs to Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Maine also has several unique geographical features. Machias Seal Island, off its easternmost point, is claimed by both the U.S. and Canada and is one of the five North American land areas whose sovereignty is still in dispute. Also in this easternmost area is the Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the world.
Maine is the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi River, owing in part to its huge relative size—its land mass exceeds that of all other New England states combined. It is appropriately called the Pine Tree State, as 90% of its land is forest. In the forested areas of the interior there is much uninhabited land, some of which does not even have formal political organization into local units. For example, the Northwest Aroostook, Maine "territory" in the far north is listed as having an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km2) and a population of 27, or one person for every 100 square miles (255 km2).
Maine is equally well known for its dramatic ocean scenery. West Quoddy Head is the easternmost piece of land in the contiguous 48 United States. Along the famous rock-bound coast of Maine are lighthouses, sandy beaches, quiet fishing villages and thousands of offshore islands, including the Isles of Shoals, which straddle the New Hampshire border. Jagged rocks and cliffs and thousands of bays and inlets add to the rugged beauty of Maine's coast. Just inland, by contrast, is the view of sparkling lakes, rushing rivers, green forests and towering mountains. This visual contrast of forested slopes sweeping down to the sea has been aptly summed up by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay of Rockland and Camden, Maine in "Renascence":
"All I could see from where I stood was three long mountains and a wood I turned and looked the other way and saw three islands and a bay"
More prosaic geologists describe this type of landscape as a drowned coast, where a rising sea level has invaded former land features, creating bays out of valleys and islands out of mountain tops. There has been a partially offsetting rise in land also, due to the melting of heavy glacier ice, which caused a rebounding effect of underlying rock; however, this land rise was not strong enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea level and its invasion of some former land features.
The state experiences a continental climate, much more so in the southern part of the state, with Fahrenheit temperatures generally dipping into the 20s and 10s in the winter (-10 Celsius) and 80s and 90s in the summer (+30 Celsius). Wind chill often reduces the winter temperature to lows beyond -20.
Areas under the protection and management of the National Park Service include:
* Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor * Appalachian National Scenic Trail * Maine Acadian Culture in St. John Valley * Roosevelt Campobello International Park near Lubec * Saint Croix Island International Historic Site at Calais
The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking peoples including the Wabanaki, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscots. The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party that included Samuel de Champlain, the noted explorer. The French named the area that includes Maine as Acadia. English colonists sponsored by the Plymouth Company settled in 1607. The coastal areas of western Maine first became the Province of Maine in a 1622 land patent. Eastern Maine north of the Kennebec River was more sparsely settled and was known in the 17th century as the Territory of Sagadahock.
The province within its current boundaries became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. Maine was much fought over by the French and English during the 17th and early 18th centuries. After the defeat of the French in the 1740s, the territory from the Penobscot River east fell under the nominal authority of the Province of Nova Scotia, and together with present day New Brunswick formed the Nova Scotia county of Sunbury, with its court of general sessions at Campobello. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
The treaty concluding revolution was ambiguous about Maine's boundary with British North America. The territory of Maine was confirmed as part of Massachusetts when the United States was formed, although the final border with British territory was not established until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. (Indeed, in 1839 Governor Fairfield declared war on England over a boundary dispute between New Brunswick and northern Maine. Known as the Aroostook War, this is the only time a state has declared war on a foreign power. The dispute was settled, however, before any blood was shed.)
Because it was physically separated from the rest of Massachusetts and was growing in population at a rapid rate, Maine became the 23rd state on March 15, 1820 through the Missouri Compromise. This compromise allowed admitting both Maine and Missouri (in 1821) into the union while keeping a balance between slave and free states. Maine's original capital was Portland until 1832, when it was moved to Augusta.
Interstate highway I-95 runs through Maine, as well as its easterly branch I-295. In addition, US Route 1 starts in Maine, and runs to Florida. The state of Maine has two major airports with scheduled commercial jet service (The Portland International Jetport and Bangor International Airport.) US Airways also services a number of smaller regional airports with 19 to 34 seat commuter prop aircraft. The Portland International Jetport is by far the busiest airport in the state, with scheduled jet service to points as far south as Atlanta, and as far west as Chicago.
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The low-cost carrier JetBlue recently began service to Portland with four flights daily to New York JFK. Maine is also serviced by rail by Amtrak's Downeaster, as well as seasonal regional rail service.
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