THE NEW ENGLAND STATES
THE NEW ENGLAND STATES
MAINE
Its motto: I Direct.
Its nicknames: Border State, Lumber State, Pine Tree State.
MAINE
Its motto: I Direct.
Its nicknames: Border State, Lumber State, Pine Tree State.
The land that greets the sunrise
The land that greets the sunrise
Is seems reasonable to say that Maine is located "up north," but ever
since early New England mariners sailed downwind in an easterly
direction from Boston to reach its coast, Maine has been dubbed Down
East. Earlier residents called the region Dawnland because they saw it as
near the rising sun. More realistic than poetic was Land of the Frozen
Ground. Its truth is echoed by present-day Mainers, who joke that their
state has two seasons: July and winter.
The Main coast meets the Atlantic Ocean with long peninsulas,
granite cliffs, and more than 2,000 off-shore islands. Seven chains of
lakes, more than 2,500 in all, spill across the centerpiece of the state's
vast woodlands. In the northeast, vast fields of potato plants carpet the
earth with white blossoms. Maine is the third-largest producer of potatoes
in the U.S. Potatoes mean so much to the economy in Aroostook County
that children are excused from school to help with the harvest.
Nearly 90 percent of Maine is still blanketed with forest - maple, oak,
spruce, fir, and especially white pine, the state's official tree. When
explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Penobscot Bay in 1609 with a broken
mast, he found that a white pine, with its tall. straight trunk, made a
perfect replacement. In 1691 the British government decreed that all
white pines more than 24 inches in diameter growing within three miles
of the shore belonged to the British navy.
Maine is the nation's largest producer of lobster. Now a delicacy,
lobster was considered so ordinary in colonial times that some indentured
servants had clauses in their contracts stipulating that they could be
served the shellfish at no more than five meals a week.
Maine entered the Union in 1820 as the 23rd state.
(”The USA Diversity of 50 States”)
Is seems reasonable to say that Maine is located "up north," but ever
since early New England mariners sailed downwind in an easterly
direction from Boston to reach its coast, Maine has been dubbed Down
East. Earlier residents called the region Dawnland because they saw it as
near the rising sun. More realistic than poetic was Land of the Frozen
Ground. Its truth is echoed by present-day Mainers, who joke that their
state has two seasons: July and winter.
The Main coast meets the Atlantic Ocean with long peninsulas,
granite cliffs, and more than 2,000 off-shore islands. Seven chains of
lakes, more than 2,500 in all, spill across the centerpiece of the state's
vast woodlands. In the northeast, vast fields of potato plants carpet the
earth with white blossoms. Maine is the third-largest producer of potatoes
in the U.S. Potatoes mean so much to the economy in Aroostook County
that children are excused from school to help with the harvest.
Nearly 90 percent of Maine is still blanketed with forest - maple, oak,
spruce, fir, and especially white pine, the state's official tree. When
explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Penobscot Bay in 1609 with a broken
mast, he found that a white pine, with its tall. straight trunk, made a
perfect replacement. In 1691 the British government decreed that all
white pines more than 24 inches in diameter growing within three miles
of the shore belonged to the British navy.
Maine is the nation's largest producer of lobster. Now a delicacy,
lobster was considered so ordinary in colonial times that some indentured
servants had clauses in their contracts stipulating that they could be
served the shellfish at no more than five meals a week.
Maine entered the Union in 1820 as the 23rd state.
(”The USA Diversity of 50 States”)