MAINE - FUN FACTS

Nickname: The Pine Tree State is the nickname most commonly attached to Maine. It is also occasionally referred to as the Vacation State, the Potato State and the Blueberry State.

Geography: 22 cities, 424 towns, 16 Counties, 51 plantations, 33,215 square miles, 6000 Lakes and Ponds, 3,500 miles of coastline, 17 million acres of Forest, 416 unorganized townships, 32,000 miles of Rivers and Streams

Temperatures: Winter temperatures averaging 20F, Summer temperatures averaging 70F

Seafood Stuff: Harvested over 57 million pounds of lobster in 2000. Harvested over 128 million pounds of finfish in 2000. Harvested approximately 7 million pounds of shellfish in 2000.

A First:: America's first chartered city: York (in York County), 1641

The Park. : Acadia National Park (second most visited national park in the United States), near Bar Harbor in Hancock County. Baxter State Park - Mt. Katahdin (5,268 ft. above sea level) approximately 1 mile high, is the start of the Appalachian Trail and is Aroostook County.

Crops: Potatoes rank 6th in production nationally in 2000 with 62,000 acres in production. Largest Blueberry crop in the nation in 2000; 60,000 acres in production producing 74.5 million pounds

Capital: Augusta

Name: The prevailing theory with how Maine got its name has to do with a practical nautical term, “the main” or “Main Land”, “Meyne” or “Mainland”, which served to distinguish the bulk of the state from the numerous islands. This is still commonly used today.

BIG!!!:One county (Aroostook) is so big (6,453 square miles) that it actually covers an area greater than the combined size of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Vacation Fun: Maine has more than 25 ski areas, including nationally-known Sugarloaf USA which has a 9,000 ft. gondola line. It also has 436,064 acres of state and national parks, including the 92-mile Allagash Wilderness Waterway in northern Maine.

BIG WATER: Moosehead Lake is the largest lake east of the Mississippi in one state. It is in Piscataquis and Somerset counties.