Merton Lane (1910-2004) was a fixture in the lore of Maine’s gallery of interesting characters, typifying the State’s culture. In 1905 he became the first fire tower lookout warden in the State located atop Squaw Mountain [now Big Moose Mountain] in Greenville. It was a special breed of men who manned the lookout towers,…
is in Hancock County on Mount Desert Island, about which explorer Samuel de Champlain created the first reliable European record in 1604. Through the gateway town…
In the early 1600’s a dam was built in Nequasset, now a portion of Woolwich. It was the early primary power source for the town, the site of grist, saw, and fulling mills. The original wooden fishway provided a rich harvest of alewives, which was apportioned among the residents according to their…
The Waterway was established in 1966 to preserve, protect, and enhance the natural beauty, character, and habitat of this unique area. It is a 92-mile-long ribbon of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams winding through the heart of northern Maine’s vast commercial forests. For more than a century “The Allagash” has been praised and enjoyed as a…
Amphibians, part of Maine’s wildlife population, are cold-blooded vertebrate (having a backbone) animals usually living on land but breeding in water, where their offspring change into adults. Salamanders An example of a Maine amphibian is the Spotted Salamander. It breeds in vernal pools (pools that have water in the spring but dry up later in…
Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary in Lewiston was founded by the Stanton Bird Club in 1921. At 310 acres it is one of New England’s largest bird sanctuaries. According to its own description, Old foundations, stonewalls, wolf pines, and large spreading maples suggest that farming was a primary use for many years. At the turn of the…
rises in the northwestern corner of the state, enters New Hampshire at Errol, then crosses back in the Oxford County town of Gilead. It then heads north at Bethel to Hanover then Rumford and Mexico before turning south to Livermore Falls and the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, soon to join the Kennebec River in…
Collisions with moose and deer are all too common in Maine. The state Department of Transportation posts signs where crossings have been reported and prepares maps describing the frequency and locations of collisions.
This Township in Somerset County has no village and probably no permanent residents. Spencer Road winds among several mountains from Hobbstown Township in the southeast to Skinner Township in the northwest. Greenlaw Mountain (2,991 feet) in its lower center and Number 5 Mountain in its northeast (3,168 feet) contribute to the mountainous landscape in…
Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge. The 5,000 acre preserve, created in 1998, was once a part of the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone. Deboullie Public Reserved Land, T15 R9 WELS. Its low rugged mountains and scenic remote trout ponds are all available for visitors using the 22,000…
was created from a portion of the former Loring Air Force Base, which extended for 9,000 acres in the town of Limestone, and other sections in Caswell and Connor Township. One of the many nature preserves in Maine, it was established in 1998 when 4,700 acres were transferred from the U.S. Air Force to the…
This sea bird with a colorful bill lives year round near the coast of Washington and eastern Hancock counties. The largest concentration of puffins is at Machias Seal Island, off shore from Cutler in Washington County. The island is claimed by Canada. At twelve inches tall, the birds seem tiny in the water among the…
The town of Aurora is home to two geologic features created by ancient glaciers. Silsby Plain This feature is an example of geologic deltas, which are formed where streams produced by melting ice enter a body of water. The Silsby Plain was a delta deposited into a narrow marine inlet when the sea was at…
Autumn is the season for Maine to show off its varied natural features from the coast to the north woods. Blazing colors from Nature’s palette rival those of the master artist. Captions show the image ID and original size in megapixels: e.g., ID 02100206 1.6 MP. Click to enlarge the images. Morse Mountain Conservation Area…
[BAY-lee iland] The island is in the town of Harpswell on Casco Bay. For over two centuries of European settlement, Bailey Island was unconnected from the mainland. Though proposed as early as 1872, a bridge…
The mountain is in mid-eastern Somerset County immediately west of Blanchard, host to the next northerly section of the Appalachian Trail. It should not be confused with Bald Mountain Township T4 R3 NBKP, in northwestern Somerset County north of Moose River. Access is by taking the unimproved Townline Road north off Route 16 in Moscow,…
The trail to West Peak on Baldpate Mountain begins at the parking lot in Grafton Notch State Park. Located in Grafton Township on Route 26 in Oxford County, this part of the Appalachian Trail resumes at a small kiosk. The hiker moves through the woods for a short distance, then crosses the road to pick…
The Maine Department of Economic Development had a hand in delivering two white tail deer from Maine to the Disney studios in 1938, in response to a request for model photographs for the animation artists in the forthcoming movie Bambi. In 1968, the Department recalled its role, with the help of Maurice “Jake” Day of…
East Shore of Bangs Island (2015) On Casco Bay in the town of Chebeague Island, narrow Bangs Island is just short of a mile long. It is owned by the Maine Department of Conservation and was managed by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in 2013. An aquaculture lease for suspended culture of blue…
One of about a dozen species of owls in Maine, the Barred Owl is relatively large at 20 inches. It moves about at night to feed on small animals such a rodents, frogs and birds. This owl has also been found to take fish from a lake. Though usually hidden in dark reaches of swampy…