Maine   
Pine Tree State
Motto: Dingo {I Direct}

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Famous for Fishing

{State Bird, Chickadee} {State Flower, White Pine cone and Tassel} {State Tree, Eastern White Pine}

The state's economy has always been heavily based on the sea, although many of those who fish also farm, and long expeditions are now rare. Recently they have been selling their catch direct to Russian factory ships anchored just offshore. Lobster fishing in particular has defied gloomy predictions and has boomed again as evidenced by the many thriving lobster pounds.

Maine's climate is famously harsh. In winter, most of Maine is under ice; summer is short and usually heralded in early June by an infestation of tiny black flies. Fall colors begin to spread from the north in late September - when, unlike elsewhere in New England, off-season prices apply - but temperatures drop sharply, becoming quite frosty by mid October.

The state's economy has always been heavily based on the sea, although many of those who fish also farm, and long expeditions are now rare. Recently they have been selling their catch direct to Russian factory ships anchored just offshore. Lobster fishing in particular has defied gloomy predictions and has boomed again as evidenced by the many thriving lobster pounds.

Considering that the state has a coastline of three thousand miles, finding access to the sea in Maine can be a frustrating business. The oceanfront is monopolized by an endless succession of private homes and vacation residences - most famously that of former president Bush at Kennebunkport. In fact, only two percent of the shore is publicly owned - and not all of that is beach. Rather than long walks on coastal footpaths, travelers can expect attractive if rather commercial harbor villages, linked mostly by roads set well back from the water and packed with diners, motels and factory outlets.

The liveliest destinations are Portland and Bar Harbor (at the edge of Acadia National Park ); there's a wide choice of smaller seaside towns, such as Belfast and Wiscasset , if you're looking for a more peaceful base. Beaches are more common (and the sea warmer) further south, for example at Ogunquit .

The best way to see the coast itself must be by boat : ferries and excursions operate from even the smallest harbors, with major routes including the ferries to Canada from Portland and Bar Harbor, and the shorter trips to Monhegan and Vinalhaven islands from Boothbay Harbor and Rockland respectively.

The vast expanses of the Maine interior , stretching up into the cold far north, consist mostly of evergreen forests of pine, spruce and fir, interspersed with the white birches and maples responsible for the spectacular fall colors. Only in the remote north is much of it genuine wilderness, however; elsewhere, what you see is more likely to be woodlands cultivated by the timber companies.

Distances here are large. Once you get away from the two largest cities nearer the sea - Augusta , the state capital, and Bangor - it's roughly two hundred miles by road to the northern border at Fort Kent , while to drive between the two most likely inland bases, Greenville and Rangeley (where exiled psychologist Wilhelm Reich lived and is buried), takes three hours or more. Driving (there's no public transportation) through this mountainous scenery can be a great pleasure, but you do need to know where you're going. There are few places to stay, and beyond Bangor many roads are tolled access routes belonging to the lumber companies: gravel-surfaced, vulnerable to bad weather, and in any case often not heading anywhere in particular.

This landscape has evolved in a very unusual way. Many waterfront communities grew up without roads to serve them, in the days when the timber harvest was floated downriver to the sea; other more recent settlements have only ever been accessible by seaplane. Now that mighty trucks carry the tree-trunks instead, roads are finally being pushed through, amid complaints that they are ruining the feel of the place.

If you have the time, this is great territory in which to hike - the Appalachian Trail starts its 2000-mile course down to Georgia at the top of Mount Katahdin - or raft on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway . Especially around Baxter State Park , the forests are home to deer, beaver, a few bears, some recently introduced caribou - and plenty of moose . These endearingly gawky creatures (they look like badly drawn horses, and are virtually blind), tend to be seen at early morning or dusk; in spring they come to lick the winter's salt off the roads, while in summer you may spot them feeding in shallow water. They do, however, cause major havoc on the roads, particularly at night, and each year significant numbers of drivers (and moose) are killed in collisions

The largest city in Maine, PORTLAND was founded in 1632 in a superb position on the Casco Bay Peninsula, and quickly prospered, building ships and exporting the great inland pines for use as masts. A long line of wooden wharves stretched along the seafront, with the merchants' houses on the hillside above. From the earliest days it was a cosmopolitan city, with a large free black population who traditionally worked as longshoremen; great bitterness arose when Irish immigrants began to muscle in on the scene in the 1830s. When the railroads came, the Canada Trunk Line had its terminus right on Portland's quayside, bringing the produce of Canada and the Great Plains one hundred miles closer to Europe than it would have been at any other major US port. Some of the wharves are now taken up by new condo developments, though Custom House Wharf remains much as it must have looked when Anthony Trollope passed through in 1861 and said, "I doubt whether I ever saw a town with more evident signs of prosperity." Most of what he saw of the town was destroyed by an accidental fire in 1866 (Indians in 1675, and the British in 1775, had previously burned Portland deliberately).

Grand Trunk Station was torn down in 1966, and downtown Portland appeared to be in terminal decline until a group of committed residents undertook the energetic redevelopment of the area now known as Old Port Exchange . Their success has revitalized the city, keeping it at the heart of Maine life - but you shouldn't expect a hive of energy. Portland is simply a pleasant, sophisticated, and in places very attractive town, not a major urban center.

The City
Thanks to the various fires, not all that much of old Portland survives, though various grand mansions can be seen along Congress and Danforth streets. The Wadsworth-Longfellow House/Maine Historical Society at 485-489 Congress St

The town of BAR HARBOR began life as an exclusive resort, summer home to the Vanderbilts and the Astors; the great fire of October 1947 that destroyed their opulent "cottages" ended all that. It's now firmly geared towards tourists, though it's by no means downmarket. There's not all that much to do in town, even in high summer. However, the ambience is sufficient enough that it takes a while to realize that once you've strolled around the village green, and walked past the headland of the Bar Harbor Inn for views of the ocean and Frenchman Bay, you've seen most of what the town has to offer.

In high season up to 21 different sea trips set off each day, ranging from deep-sea fishing to cocktail cruises. Among the most popular are the Friendship V and Acadian   whale-watching expeditions, departing from Harbor Place, next to the Town Pier (June-Oct at least twice daily; tel 207/288-2386, ), and the two-hour cruises on the impressive two-masted schooners   Young America and Margaret Todd from the Bar Harbor Inn (daily June-Oct; America 10.30am, 2pm & 6.15pm; $22; Margaret Todd noon & 3.30pm; $27.50; tel 207/288-4585 or 207/288-2373, ).

One of the town sights in its heyday was the "Indian village," a summer encampment where Native Americans came to sell goods to tourists; it was cleared away in the 1930s to make room for a new ballpark. Now the only signs of the island's first inhabitants are the artifacts at the Robert Abbe Museum , which were found at Fernald Point near Southwest Harbor and attributed to a nomadic people who made birch-bark canoes. What became of them is summed up by a classic understatement on a map contrasting the tribal areas of 1600 with the modern reservations: "The native population did not view territorial boundaries as we do today." The museum is a couple of miles south of Bar Harbor - not a particularly pleasant walk - at Sieur de Monts Spring, just off the Park Loop Road (daily: July & Aug 9am-5pm; mid-May to June, Sept & Oct 10am-4pm; $2). A new branch of the Abbe is located downtown at 26 Mount Desert St (June to mid-Oct Sun-Wed 10am-5pm, Thurs-Sat 10am-9pm; mid-Oct to May Thurs-Sun 10am-5pm; $4.50) A free shuttle service travels to both locations in July and August.

Bar Harbor's main tourist information office is at the ferry terminal (tel 207/288-5103); in summer there's another in the basement of the Municipal Building on Cottage Street that offers many free and comprehensive maps of the area.