Maine Trivia & Tidbits - Page 15

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

A native of Sangerville (pop. 1,270), the multimillionaire gold mine owner Harry Oaks (1874-1943) was knighted by King George in 1939 as a baronet—a distinction he earned for his philanthropic contributions to public institutions both abroad and in the United States.

first appeared: 10/21/2001

The country’s largest collection of Coast Guard and lighthouse artifacts is housed in the Shore Village Museum in Rockland (pop. 7,609).

first appeared: 10/14/2001

Chester Greenwood (1858-1937) of Farmington (pop. 4,098) is sometimes called the “inventor for the ordinary man.” His inventions include the wide-bottom kettle, the spring-steel rake, a shock absorber that’s an ancestor to today’s airplane landing gear, a new type of spark plug, a folding bed, and bearings to keep wheels on their axles.

first appeared: 10/7/2001

A native of Maine, inventor-scientist Percy Lebaron Spencer (1894-1970) received 150 patents during his career, one for a microwave oven.

first appeared: 9/30/2001

Leon Leonwood Bean designed his famous L.L. Bean boot in the basement of his brother’s shop in Freeport (pop. 1,813) after returning home from a hunting trip with wet feet. His first marketing flyer was sent to a list of people who had hunting licenses. That first effort brought him 100 orders.

first appeared: 9/23/2001

The whirlpool called Old Sow, offshore from the town of Eastport (pop. 1,640), occurs about two hours before high tide. It is one of the world’s largest tidal whirlpools.

first appeared: 9/16/2001

In 1839, Maine became the first and only state in this country to declare war on a foreign power. The dispute was with England over the boundary between New Brunswick and northern Maine, but it was settled before any blood was shed.

first appeared: 9/9/2001

Gov. Percival Baxter (1876-1969) personally began buying land in northern Maine in 1931 for the purpose of establishing a game reserve. Over 30 years he purchased more than 90,000 acres, which were donated to establish Baxter State Park, now expanded to 202,064 acres.

first appeared: 9/2/2001

James Longley, elected governor of Maine in 1974, was the country’s first popularly elected independent governor unaffiliated with a major political party.

first appeared: 8/26/2001

Born Sean Aloysius O’Fearna in Cape Elizabeth (pop. 9,068), Western film director John Ford (1894-1973) was the youngest of 13 Irish immigrant children. Working with such stars as Henry Fonda and John Wayne, his 600 classic films include Stagecoach (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and The Searchers (1956).

first appeared: 8/19/2001

Hiram Maxim (1840-1916), born in Sangerville (pop. 1,270) as the eldest son of a farmer, built the first machine gun (the Maxim Gun) in 1884.

first appeared: 8/12/2001

The town of Great Pond (pop. 47) lies precisely halfway between the equator and the North Pole.

first appeared: 8/5/2001

Clara H. Nash, the first woman to be admitted to the bar in New England (1872), practiced law in both Machias (pop. 2,600) and Portland.

first appeared: 7/29/2001

“Moxie Headquarters,” in Lisbon Falls (pop. 9,000) is home to a soda shop where Moxie-related memorabilia is sold. Fans of the herbally flavored soft drink, created in 1884, have an annual Moxie get-together at the shop in mid-July.

first appeared: 7/22/2001

A native of Freeport (pop. 1,800), Joan Benoit Samuelson broke all previous records for the women’s marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, receiving the gold medal in the inaugural running of that event. She’s also won the Boston Marathon and the Chicago Marathon.

first appeared: 7/15/2001

One of the main visitor attractions in Bangor (pop. 33,200) is on Main Street—a 31-foot-high statue of Paul Bunyan, the mythical woodsman, weighing 1.5 tons.

first appeared: 7/8/2001

Bar Harbor (pop. 2,800) became a well-known resort when notables built beautiful seaside homes there—referred to by them as “cottages.” Summer residents included J.P Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, and John D. Rockefeller.

first appeared: 7/1/2001

In Scarborough (pop. 16,970), an ice cream and candy shop called LenLibby’s is the home of “Lenny,” a life-size chocolate moose formed completely from edible chocolate.

first appeared: 6/24/2001

Berthed at the Percy and Small Shipyard in Bath (pop. 10,500), The Sequin, built in 1884, is the oldest U.S.-registered wooden steam tug.

first appeared: 6/17/2001

Baxter State Park’s 200,000 acres includes 46 mountain peaks within its boundaries, the highest being Mount Katahdin, at 5,267 feet, the highest point in Maine.

first appeared: 6/10/2001

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