Interesting Facts and Trivia about Maine

Maine is located in the New England region of the United States. Next to the Atlantic Ocean, Maine has great lobster and clams for which it is well known for. Nearly 90 percent of the nation's lobster supply is caught off the coast of Maine.

Maine is the largest producer of blueberries in the country. It produces 99% of the blueberries in the United States. [reference]

Maine's state berry is of course wild blueberry. Maine's state dessert is blueberry pie, made with wild Maine blueberries of course. Bet you didn't know that states have "state desserts".

Other state symbols include...

• State Flower: White Pine Cone & Tassel
• State Animal: Moose
• State Fish: Land-lock salmon
• State Tree: White Pine
• State Bird: Chickadee
• State insect: European honey bee

Maine is the only state with one syllable. Maine is the only state that shares a border with exactly one state. It shares a large part of its border with Canada and is very close to the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest. (Hawaii and Alaska are the two states that share no borders with any other states)

Based on the state's geographical center, Maine is the easternmost state. Eastport, Maine is the easternmost city in the United States. What an apropos name.

Maine's state song is the "State of Maine Song" -- another apropos name. Maine's state cat is Maine Coon Cat. How does Maine come up with these?

Anyways... because of its "eastness" (not a real word, but should be), the eastern parts of Maine is the parts of the United States that get the morning sun first.

Actually, some will argue that Lubec, Maine is more east. And this is true. Lubec is the easternmost town. But because Lubec is a municipality, Eastport still is the easternmost "incorporated city".

As far as city goes, Eastport is pretty small with 1,331 people (as of 2010 Census).

Portland, on the other hand, is very populous and popular. In fact, Portland is the largest city in Maine with a population of 66,194 (as of 2010 Census). And its population has been increasing at a rate of 3 percent since the census of 2000. Hence, it is the easternmost city of the United States containing more than 50,000 residents.

Portland is nicknamed "The Forest City". Near the entrance to Portland Harbor is Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth. This lighthouse is said to be one of the most photographed lighthouse in North America [reference] and is the second oldest lighthouse in the country.

So tourists come to see that as well as visit Portland's historic Old Port district along Portland Harbor and the Arts District. Besides Portland, linked here you can find other top places to visit in Maine.

Portland was originally selected as the state capital. But in 1832, Augusta became Maine's capital.

Article written in 2012 and facts may only be relevant at the time of writing. Other references used is 50States.com and Wikipedia.