🦞Maine

The Pine Tree State

Maine is the northeasternmost state, sharing more border with Canada than with any U.S. state, and it is the only state whose name is a single syllable. Its 3,478 miles of tidal coastline — more than California's — are lined with fishing villages and lobster docks. The state's vast North Woods remain one of the largest undeveloped forests in the eastern United States.

From Massachusetts to Statehood

What is now Maine was long the northern district of Massachusetts. The region's separation from Massachusetts and admission as a state was complicated by the slavery question — Missouri was simultaneously seeking admission as a slave state, and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 paired Maine's admission as a free state with Missouri's as a slave state to preserve the sectional balance. Maine became the 23rd state on March 15, 1820.

Coast and Lobster

Maine produces about 80% of the lobster caught in the United States — over 100 million pounds a year. Lobstering is pursued mostly by small family operations working from harbors along the coast and Down East. The state is also known for its Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, the first national park established east of the Mississippi River (1916), and for its long history of shipbuilding at yards like Bath Iron Works, which still produces U.S. Navy destroyers.

Timber and Paper

Maine's vast interior forests — about 90% of the state is still wooded — fueled a paper and lumber industry that dominated the economy for 150 years. The Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin rivers drove mills; log drives floated timber to the Atlantic. Much of the industry has declined since the 1990s, but the forest remains, now managed for sustainable harvest and outdoor recreation.

Literary Maine

Maine has inspired generations of American writers. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grew up in Portland; Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote most of Uncle Tom's Cabin in Brunswick, where her husband taught at Bowdoin College. E.B. White wrote Charlotte's Web at his farm in North Brooklin. Stephen King has lived and written in Bangor for most of his career, and many of his novels are set in fictional Maine towns.

Maine Facts

• Maine is the only state that borders only one other U.S. state (New Hampshire).
• The state's easternmost point, Quoddy Head, is the first place in the contiguous United States to see the sunrise each morning.
• Blueberries are the state berry — Maine produces about 90% of America's wild blueberries.
• The average depth of the Gulf of Maine off the coast is only 490 feet — making it some of the most productive fishing grounds on Earth.
• Maine was the first state to implement an instant-runoff voting system in federal elections (2018).

🗺️ Nearby States

Continue exploring neighboring states:

→ Browse all 50 states