Maine Trivia & Tidbits - Page 12

Looking for Maine trivia? Try our list Maine little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Shipyards near Portland built 236 Liberty Ships (mass-produced cargo carriers) during World War II—about 10 percent of more than 2,000 Liberty Ships launched during the war.

first appeared: 12/15/2002

George Gray founded Old Town Canoe Co. in his hardware store in Old Town (pop. 8,130) in 1900. Today, the company sells 25,000 canoes a year, one of every four sold in America.

first appeared: 12/8/2002

The W.S. Wells & Son canning company in Wilton (pop. 2,290) cans dandelion greens, produced under the company’s Belle of Maine label.

first appeared: 12/1/2002

Norsemen aside, one of the earliest Europeans to visit Maine was Gasper Corte Real. Exploring for Portugal in search of a Northwest Passage across America, Corte Real sailed Maine coastal waters in 1500.

first appeared: 11/24/2002

During World War II, Maine National Guard and Army anti-aircraft units were deployed around Portland’s naval facilities and Casco Bay to protect the local shipbuilding industry.

first appeared: 11/17/2002

Seven years before the Boston Tea Party (1773), residents of Portland seized and burned newly arrived tax stamps from England to protest taxation without representation.

first appeared: 11/10/2002

During the Civil War, some 73,000 Maine men served with the Union. Ten percent of them lost their lives during the conflict.

first appeared: 11/3/2002

Calling itself the Worm Capital of the World, Wiscasset is the center of Maine’s thriving worm industry. Bloodworms and sandworms harvested in the area are used as bait all over the country and bring between 10 to 14 cents apiece.

first appeared: 10/27/2002

Fort Popham on the Kennebec River was begun during the Civil War to protect Bath’s shipbuilding industry from Confederate attack by sea, but the war ended before the fort was finished.

first appeared: 10/20/2002

The state has towns with such names as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, and Peru, as well as Madrid, Moscow, Athens, and Paris.

first appeared: 10/13/2002

Prison officials at the visitors gift shop for the Maine State Prison in Thomaston (pop. 2,714) report that shoplifting is a problem in the store.

first appeared: 10/6/2002

The Maine Geological Survey estimates that if Maine’s irregular coastline were stretched out straight, it would run about 3,480 miles.

first appeared: 9/29/2002

North Pole explorer Adm. Robert Peary (1856-1920) summered on Eagle Island in Casco Bay from 1904 until his death. The island now is a state historical park, and his home there is open to visitors.

first appeared: 9/22/2002

Until 1820, when a separatist movement ended in Maine becoming the 23rd state, Maine was a part of Massachusetts with its laws made in Boston.

first appeared: 9/15/2002

Maine is the only state with just one syllable.

first appeared: 9/8/2002

New England’s largest stand of European linden trees is located in Portland. Nearly 400 were planted in 1921 around Back Cove as a tribute to Maine soldiers who fought in World War I.

first appeared: 9/1/2002

Maine’s foremost Civil War hero, Gen. Joshua Chamberlain, followed up his military experience as four-term governor of the state and president of Bowdoin College.

first appeared: 8/25/2002

The Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport (pop. 1,376), with more than 250 vehicles, has one of the largest collections of electric streetcars in the world.

first appeared: 8/18/2002

The state ranks second (after Louisiana) in its number of French-speaking residents, with about 80,000 people in Maine using French on a daily basis.

first appeared: 8/11/2002

The Maine Maritime Academy in Castine (pop. 1,343) claims the most training vessels of any U.S. maritime college, including a research vessel, a tug, and a historic schooner.

first appeared: 8/4/2002

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