Maine Fact Sheet
from the Maine Office of Tourism
State Capital: Augusta
State Nickname: Pine Tree State
State Motto: Dirigo (“I lead”)
State Bird: Chickadee
State Floral Emblem: White pine cone and tassel
State Fossil: Pertica quadrifaria
State Cat: Maine Coon Cat
State Fish: Landlocked Salmon
State Insect: Honeybee
State Tree: White Pine
State Animal: Moose
State Gemstone: Tourmaline
Maine…
· is recognized as one of the most healthful states in the nation with summer temperatures averaging 70° F and winter temperatures averaging 20° F.
· has 5,500 miles of coastline, and about 2,000 islands off the coast.
· is about 320 miles long and 210 miles wide, with a total area of 33,215 square miles or about as big as all of the other five New England States combined.
· consists of 16 counties with 22 cities, 435 towns, 33 plantations, 424 unorganized townships and 1.2 million residents.
· has 542,629 acres of state and national parks, including the 92-mile Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Acadia National Park and Baxter State Park (location of Mt. Katahdin and the northern end of the Appalachian Trail.)
· has one mountain which is approximately one mile high-Mt. Katahdin (5,271 ft. above sea level).
· has the largest wild blueberry crop in the nation, raising 99 percent of all wild blueberries in the United States and is the single largest producer of any blueberries (wild or cultivated) in the US.
· ranks seventh in acreage and tenth in production of potatoes nationally.
· is nationally famed for its shellfish. Almost 90 percent of all American lobster are trapped in Maine.
· is the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi.
· is the only state in the continental U.S. to be bordered by only one other state (New Hampshire).
· includes Aroostook County which is so big (6,453 square miles) that it actually covers an area greater than the combined size of Connecticut and Rhode Island.
· contains 32,000 miles of rivers and streams equal to more than the combined length of the Mississippi, Amazon, Yangtze and Nile rivers.
· claims America’s first chartered city: York, 1641.
· entered the Union on March 15, 1820 as the 23rd state. Thomas Jefferson wrote portions of Maine’s Constitution.
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