Did You Know? Grammar school dropout Chester Greenwood of Farmington invented earmuffs at age 15 (1873). The L.L. Bean flagship store, open 24/7, has no locks on the doors. A Freeport business, Sea Bags, has kept more than 500 tons of sails out of landfills in 15 years. The original
Did You Know? Maine’s 32,000 miles of rivers and streams together are longer than the Amazon, Mississippi, Nile and Yangtze combined. The state boasts 330 bird species. Maine produces more blueberries than any U.S. state including 99% of all wild ones. Maine is the most sparsely populated state east of
Did You Know? Maine rarely replants after cutting trees because its forests reseed themselves. Each American uses the equivalent of a 100-foot tree per year. Maine’s lobster harvest averages nearly 40 million pounds yearly. The vast majority (95.6%) of Maine’s timberland is privately owned; government owns 4.4%. Maine’s apple varieties
Did You Know ... ? Machias was the site of the first naval battle of the American Revolution (June 1775). Andrew Wyeth was staying in Rockland when he painted “Christina’s World." Cabot Cove, setting for TV’s “Murder She Wrote,” is fictional; film sites were in California. The Penobscot Narrows Bridge
Did You Know ... ? The Grand Hotel’s 660-foot porch is the world’s largest. When the Grand Hotel opened in 1887, room rates were $3 to $5 per night. In summer, there are more than 500 horses on Mackinac Island. Admission to a Mark Twain lecture on Mackinac Island in
Did You Know? Nottoway was saved from destruction in the Civil War by a Union officer who had been a guest there. The same family has occupied the Butler Greenwood Plantation home since its construction in the 1790s. Senegalese slaves at Laura Plantation are believed to have first told a
Did You Know? Gatsby’s home in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" was inspired by Oheka Castle on Long Island. Charles Lindbergh launched the world’s first solo transatlantic flight from Roosevelt Field on Long Island (1927). The “horse head” scene in “The Godfather” (1972) was shot at the Falaise mansion
Did You Know? Lake Tahoe is North America’s largest alpine lake, with a surface area of 193 square miles. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation controls the top 6.1 feet of Lake Tahoe as a reservoir. Below 600 feet and during winter, the Lake Tahoe’s water remains a constant 39 F.
Did You Know? Winds and pounding surf have created the world’s largest freshwater dune system on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore. Michigan is America’s top producer of blueberries and tart cherries. A ghost town called Singapore sits under the dunes near Saugatuck. On about 10,000 acres, Michigan produces just under 21
Did You Know? Riders travel 176 feet per second (120 mph) on the Top Thrill Dragster, the fastest coaster in Cedar Point Amusement Park. It is thought the phrase “Holy Toledo!” was inspired by the cluster of churches on Toledo’s Collingwood Boulevard. Inventor Thomas Edison was born a few miles
