Potatoes, submarines, and lobsters make a pretty uncommon combination, but the state of Maine has been recognized and famed for all three. The coast of so-called ‘hundred-harbor’ Maine contains beautiful lighthouses, quiet picturesque fishing villages, sandy beaches, and just off the coast you can find thousands of small islands. Maine’s coast is really among the most noteworthy in the world.
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Maine is also renowned for its impressive fishing industry, its many top-of-the-line port facilities, and its shipbuilding industry. Although Maine is not primarily known as a farming state, is has farms that are famed for the phenomenal white potatoes that are grown there. What Maine lacks in natural resources, but this has been massively overcome by its people’s ingenuity, character, courage, and persistence.
Quick Facts about Maine
– Maine has the highest tides in the world.
– Maine launched the first English-style ship in the U.S. (the Virginia in 1607).
– The world’s first atomic submarine (the Swordfish) was built in Maine.
– The state is the leader in canoe manufacturing.
– Maine holds the sailing record for clippers.
– Here the first U.S. sawmill was produced.
– Maine produces 25 percent of all feldspar in America.
– Maine leads the U.S. in lobster catch.
– The state produced the first steel sailing vessel in the world.
Maine brief history
Pierre du Guast, a French explorer, landed in 1604 at northern Maine’s Dochet Island where he founded a settlement that he called St. Croix.
In 1607 some 120 settlers were working in the great forests of Maine in the Kennebec River area, and the timber was shipped for the first time by the Virginia, the first ship that was launched in these parts of the world. In 1614 Captain John Smith was sailed through the area, and in the year 1622, explorers founded Monhegan, Maine’s first European settlement to be continually inhabited.
On September 18th, 1675, the settlement of Saco (just south of present-day Portland) was attacked and what followed was a continuing period of troubles and war with the Indians. Peace only returned to Maine by 1760 when a treaty with the Indians was made at the time of the French and Indian War.
To provide material for his ship’s masts, the British King had claimed practically all of the region’s best trees, but when in 1775 a British ship tried to get away with the trees, Machiasport residents stoop up, led by Jeremiah O’Brien, a Massachusetts Navy Captain. They seized the ship and killed its commander. This actually was the first sea battle of the American Revolution, and it occurred just 5 days before the June 17th Battle of Bunker Hill during the Siege of Boston.
The Revolution brought much destruction to Maine’s coastal towns, but the British were prevented from taking out the much-needed trees to build masts for the ships of the King’s navy. During the War of 1812, Maine again suffered heavily, and Bangor was taken over. Though Britain seized a considerable part of Maine, the state’s boundaries stayed much the same after the war.
In fact, Canada’s border was decided in favor of Maine’ in 1815 as an old map, drawn by French explorer Samuel de Champlain, was used as basis, leaving much of modern-day eastern Maine in American possession. In 1820, on March 15th, Maine was admitted as the 23rd state in the Union.
Maine has never seen much of slavery, and in the year 1857, Hannibal Hamlin became Maine governor while promoting an anti-slavery protocol. The Civil War that ended in 1865 had taken its toll, and one-fifth of Maine residents had been serving in the military force, taking almost 9,000 lives, and in 1866, the town of Portland became heavily damaged by a destructive fire.
Some 35,000 Maine residents took part in World War I, and Charles Nola, a Passamaquody Indian, was awarded tribute for great heroism. Maine’s shipbuilding industry was playing a crucial role during World War II and more than 95,000 Maine residents served in the U.S. forces. In the year 1948, a Maine woman, Margaret Chase Smith, was the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
… Have you ever seen a place that looks like it was created just to enjoy? Well, the entire state of Maine looks it was built that way…