Nicknames: Pine Tree State

Capitol: Augusta

Motto: Dirigo, I lead

Song: State Song of Maine words and music by: Roger V. Snow

Flower: Whitepine cone and tassel Pinus strobus, linnaeus

Tree: Eastern White pine Pinus strobus

Bird: Chickadee

Gained Statehood: March 15, 1820

Name Origin: reference to the area being a mainland, unlike surrounding islands

With its many scenic seacoast spots, beaches, lakes, mountains, and resorts, Maine is a popular vacationland. Maine has more than 2500 lakes and 5,000 streams to keep hunters, fishermen, skiers and campers happy.

There is evidence that Maine's earliest inhabitants were descendants of Ice Age hunters, yet the Micmacs and Abanakis were credited with the earliest settlement of Maine. The Micmacs were a warlike people, while the more numerous Abnakis were a peaceful people, who enjoyed farming and fishing as a way of life. Only two tribes remain today the Passamaquoddies and the Penobscots. John Cabot and his son Sebastian are believed to be the first visitors to the Maine coast in 1498. The first european colony was established by the Plymouth Company at Popham in 1607. The Popham colony didn't survive the Maine winters, Jamestown has the distinction of being known as America's first permanent settlement. In the late-1700s, a number of battles were fought in Maine during the Revolutionary War. Maine opposed the colonial taxes of the British Government. The first naval action of the Revolutionary War occurred in 1775 when colonials captured the British sloop Margaretta off Machias on the Maine coast. In that same year, the British burned Falmouth (now Portland). Previously governed by Massachusetts, Maine became the 23rd state as part of the Missouri Compromise in 1820. Maine joined the Union as a free state, with Missouri entering a year later as a slave state, thereby preserving the numerical balance between free and slave states in the nation.
Today Maine produces 98% of the nation's low-bush blueberries. Maine also farms apples, potatoes, dairy products, vegetables, poultry and eggs. Maine is one of the world's largest pulp-paper producers. Maine turns out wood products from boats to toothpicks. Maine also leads the world in the production of the familiar flat tins of sardines, producing more than 75 million of them annually. In 2005, Maine lobstermen landed nearly 63 million pounds of lobster. Maine also depends on tourism, small manufacturing enterprises defense-related activities and installations for much of its economic base.

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