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Fun facts and details about the lighthouses in Maine

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There are 65 lighthouses all along Maine's coast, inlets, and islands. Originally, the lighthouses were erected to signal the mouth of a harbor - a much-needed beacon for storm-tossed sailors. Today these lighthouses have become icons of coastal Maine, with visitors from all over the world traveling to see them. Many are open to the public for touring during Maine's annual Open Lighthouse Day in September.

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Maine Lighthouses - Maine Tourism Association

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There are 65 lighthouses all along Maine's coast, inlets, and islands. Originally, the lighthouses were erected to signal the mouth of a harbor - a much-needed beacon for storm-tossed sailors. Today these lighthouses have become icons of coastal Maine, with visitors from all over the world traveling to see them.

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Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries

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Home - Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries - University of Maine Cooperative Extension

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Research-based knowledge for Maine producers, with infomation on wild blueberry catered to Maine growers, the public and endusers. Looking to grow wild blueberry from seed? Transition to freshpack? Make connections in your market?

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Maine is known for it's rocky coastline, mountains, forest, Moose, seafood, blueberries lighthouses along the coast, mud season and WINTER!

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Box filled with natural materials that are found in Maine's forest!

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Natural resources best known from Maine

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Originally part of one of the original 13 colonies (Massachusetts), Maine has a long and rich history of involvement in the creation, growth, and evolution of the United States. Since its ratification of statehood in 1820, Maine has undergone several economic and social transformations as the state works to keep up with economic changes at the national level. Maine's chief source of economic development is its natural resources, which it holds in abundance.

Fishing

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Maine's fisheries represent one of the earliest and most continuous economic uses of its natural resources. Reductions in fish populations, and increases in the mining and ship building industries, led to Maine's commercial fisheries declining in importance to the state's overall economy. A recent emphasis on tourism and sport fishing has revitalized interest in Maine's fisheries and elevated Maine to world renowned status as a source of some of the best sport fishing in the world. Lobster fishing remains a highly profitable part of Maine's fisheries, with Maine's lobsters considered some of the finest available. Maine consistently holds the highest lobster harvest numbers of all the states.

Lumber

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Maine is covered in eighty percent forest, and for much of its early history was a major producer of lumber products. With a serious decline in the number of white pines in the state, and reduced demand for the lumber that was once used for ship building, Maine has become a major producer of wood pulp and wood pulp products. These products are not reliant upon traditional lumbering practices and allow Maine to continue large scale production of wood products through renewable practices.

Minerals

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Main is geologically rich, with the majority of its mineral wealth still untapped by development. Maine is a leading exporter of high quality granite, and produces gravel, zinc, and peat as well. Granite quarrying in Maine began in the 1830s, and today Maine produces some of the best quality granite, including decorative quality granite that is prized by builders. Maine also produces gemstones including amethyst, topaz, and tourmaline, and holds large untapped reserves of valuable metals such as copper. Tourmaline is the state mineral, and the quality of tourmaline mined from Maine is considered to rival that imported from Brazil or the Himalayas.

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Originally part of one of the original 13 colonies (Massachusetts), Maine has a long and rich history of involvement in the creation, growth, and evolution of the United States. Since its ratification of statehood in 1820, Maine has undergone several economic and social transformations as the state works to keep up ...

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A place for teacher and kids to explore Maine agriculture!

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Maine for Kids | US States Learning Video

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Settled by Europeans in the 17th century and officially declared a state in 1820, Maine is known for its chilly winters, and for the chilling horror stories of Stephen King. Blanketed in forests, and bordered on one side by thousands of miles of coastline, the state is full of wonders both natural and human-made. Here are 25 facts you should know about Maine.

1. No one knows exactly how Maine got its name; its etymology is something of a mystery. Some believe it was shorthand for the "mainland," used by sailors differentiating it from islands off the state's coast. Others believe it was named for the French province of Maine.

3.

Maine has its own desert, which spans 40 acres outside the town of Freeport. Though its silt hills are now a popular tourist attraction, the desert originally developed as a result of over-farming in the area.

4.

Acadia National Park's Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the East Coast. Named for explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac-for whom the car company is also named-Cadillac Mountain is 1530 feet tall, and, from October through March, is the first place to experience the sunrise in the United States.

5. Burt's Bees was founded by former photojournalist Burt Schavitz in Maine in the 1980s. Schavitz moved to Maine from New York after deciding television had made photojournalism superfluous. He became a beekeeper, began selling honey, and ultimately co-founded Burt's Bees with Roxanne Quimby in 1984.

6. Since 2005, Maine's annual lobster yield has weighed in at more than 60 million pounds, with nearly 124 million pounds caught in 2014. (That's almost 90 percent of the United States' lobster supply.)

7.

The people of Maine take lobsters so seriously, the University of Maine even has its own Lobster Institute, dedicated to learning more about the animals. Founded in 1987, its primary purpose is to support the state's lobster industry, and to help lobstermen around the world develop sustainable practices.

8. Until 2003, Strong, Maine, was known as the "Toothpick Capital of the World." At one point, 95 percent of all wooden toothpicks produced in the U.S. were made in Strong. But as toothpicks declined in popularity towards the end of the 20th century, the toothpick industry began to falter. In 2003, The Forster Manufacturing Company, the last of Strong's toothpick mills, shut down.

9. Most of horror writer Stephen King's books are set in Maine. A native Mainer, King has set novels like Pet Sematary, It, and Salem's Lot in small Maine towns. He wrote his first novel, Carrie, while working as a teacher in Bangor, Maine.

10. Portland, Oregon is named after Portland, Maine. The Oregon city was founded by two New Englanders, one from Massachusetts, and the other from Maine. After a coin flip, Francis Pettygrove of Maine got to choose the city's name. He picked Portland to honor his hometown.

12. The official state animal of Maine is the moose. The state is home to approximately 76,000 moose, the highest moose population in the lower 48 states. Not surprisingly, moose-watching is a popular tourist activity.

14. Maine used to be part of Massachusetts. The former Massachusetts province spent decades after the American Revolution campaigning for independence, and finally gained official statehood in 1820.

16.

Maine has a ton of quirky museums, including the telephone museum in Ellsworth, the Maine Coast Sardine History Museum in Jonesport, the Umbrella Cover Museum in Portland, and perhaps most famously, the International Cryptozoology Museum (also in Portland), dedicated to the study of "hidden" or "unknown" animals like Yetis, Bigfoot, and Lake Monsters.

17. L.L. Bean was founded in Freeport, Maine in 1912 by hunter and fisherman Leon Leonwood Bean. Its flagship store in Freeport not only has an aquarium, but is also adorned with a giant size 410 Bean boot.

18.

With a little more than 66,000 residents, Portland has the highest population of any city in Maine. That's nearly twice the size of Lewiston, which is the state's second largest city with just 36,000 or so residents.

20. Founded in 1794, Bowdoin College is the oldest college in Maine. Its famous alumni include renowned poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.

21. At just 15 years old, Farmington native Chester Greenwood came up with the idea for earmuffs in the 1870s as a way to stay warm when he went ice skating. To this day, Farmington, Maine, celebrates the revolutionary invention every year with the Chester Greenwood Day Parade, which features an array of earmuff-themed floats.

23. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in Brunswick, Maine, during the 1850s. The house where she worked on the novel is now a museum.

25. Maine's motto is "Dirigo," meaning "I direct." The motto appears on the state's coat of arms and its flag, and was adopted in 1820.

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Settled by Europeans in the 17th century and officially declared a state in 1820, Maine is known for its chilly winters, and for the chilling horror stories of Stephen King. Blanketed in forests, and bordered on one side by thousands of miles of coastline, the state is full of wonders both natural and human-made.