Harpswell Sound is a body of water that flows from Casco Bay at Little Mark Island ten miles to the Ewing Narrows Bridge, then two miles on to Long Reach and finally merges with the New Meadows River. Casco Bay has been reported as a significant warming water body. This may be contributing to…
While still below the highs of the 1950s and early 1960s, Atlantic herring landings by commercial fishermen have been relatively consistent since the early 1990s in a range of 75 to 95 million pounds. More Videos! facebook Since 2002 the total value of the landings has increased substantially. In the same period herring was returning…
Maine home ownership in 2010 was 73.8%, compared with 66.9% for the U.S. as a whole. It had dropped from 75.3% in 2006, just before the recession in the housing market. In 2000, the U.S. rate was 76.5 and Maine’s was 67.4. From 1984 throught 2010, Maine’s peak rate of home ownership was 77.4% in…
According to a 2017 study of all 50 states by US News, here is how Maine ranks on seven criteria and on an overall assessment of the combined measures. It ranks high on Crime (low rates) and Opportunity (see below). While in the middle regarding Education, and fair in Health Care,the state is below par…
is an independent nonprofit genetic research center located in Bar Harbor. Employing over 1,200 people in Maine in 2011, it conducts research on cancer and other diseases. Its research staff of more than 200 includes Ph.D.’s, medical doctors, and doctors of veterinary medicine. The world’s largest mammalian genetic research facility, the Laboratory also serves as…
June 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1715 The new owner of the Pejepscot purchase petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for approval and support to create three new towns: Brunswick, Topsham,…
National Register of Historic Places – Listings Katahdin Iron Works [Northwest of Brownville Junction at Silver Lake] Katahdin Iron Works Township, T6 R9 NWP, is an unorganized township northwest of Brownville and just east of Gulf Hagas and The Hermitage. Red iron oxide from Ore Mountain is believed to have been the source of paint…
The first Katahdin, a wooden hulled steam vessel, began plying the waters of Moosehead Lake in 1896. While towing a raft of logs near Sand Bar Island, her steam engines caught fire on May 13, 1913. Work on a replacement began almost immediately. Hull # 63 was built for the Coburn Steamboat Company by Bath…
This bridge, built in 1931 by the American Bridge Company was slated for replacement in 2013, and was described in the Federal Infrastructure Projects web site as noted below. The project replaced an 80 year-old movable span truss bridge at the end of its service life with a high level, fixed bridge over the Kennebec…
The labor force is defined as the total of people employed and those who are unemployed and seeking employment. While growing in the long term, Maine’s total labor force actually contracts from time to time as people stop seeking employment. The recent rate of increase may be slowing as the population ages and in-migration of…
The rugged coast and unpredictable waters of Maine have created an environment demanding protection for seafarers. Lighthouses have been built along Maine’s coast since the country began. In fact, there are more lighthouses here than in any other state Maine’s size. There are some 71 lighthouses between Boon Island off York, and West Quoddy Head in Lubec.
one of about seventy lighthouses on the Maine coasts, was established in 1836, a year after the U.S. Government purchased ten acres of land on Fort Point in Stockton Springs. Joseph Berry of Georgetown built the tower and station for $2,500. This structure was a cone-shaped tower build from granite blocks. The octagon shaped lantern…
After almost forty years of basically flat lobster landings at about 20,000,000 pounds, the catch has trended upward since 1990. While the value has increased consistently in current dollars, its rate of increased accelerated with higher catch figures. Landings vary by location: counties, towns, and specific ports. YEAR POUNDS POUNDS (millions) VALUE PRICE/LB 1950 18,352,600…
Lobster landings occur all along Maine’s long coastline. Stonington in Hancock County is by far the port receiving the largest amount and value of this commercial fishery. Lobster’s $435 million plus ex-vessel value accounted for 77% of the total value of commercial fish landings in 2011. Historical landings have increased substantially in recent years. The…
Historically Lobsters, now a major factor in Maine’s commercial fisheries, were once so plentiful that Native Americans used them to fertilize fields and to bait fish hooks. According to Colin Woodward, in 1608 with the Popham Colony failing, Lobsters were everywhere. On their way to the Kennebec, Raleigh Gilbert’s men caught fifty lobsters “of great…
The cutting and moving of logs destined for lumber or paper was a tough, manual effort until the second half of the 20th century. Here is an eyewitness assessment by Louise Dickenson Rich of logging camp life in the 1940’s near Middle Dam in western Maine. I also had to learn to differentiate between a…
Beginning in 1952, Loring Air Force Base, and, in 1953, its 42nd Bombardment Wing of B-52 bombers, created an economic supplement to potato processing in Limestone. It was renamed in 1955 for Maine’s Korean War Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Charles J. Loring, Jr. Loring Air Force Base extended for 9,000 acres and its combined…
From earliest European presence, the Maine woods have been a source for masts, boat building, housing, and other structures. Later, the paper industry and recreational hunting, hiking, and camping, broadened its importance. Still later, people saw its role in absorbing greenhouse gasses, providing wildlife habitat wildlife, and protecting water resources.
Mahogany Quahog (also known as “mahogany clams” or “hardshell clams”) harvests by commercial fishermen, in recent times, peaked in 1986. A drop in the mid-1990s recovered for about ten years, then dipped to about $2.5 million in recent years. Since the early 1990s, the price per pound has averaged about $.40, ranging from $.30 to…
Maine has a significant portion of the maple sugaring and maple syrup industry with 14% percent of the U.S. production in 2014. Vermont produced 40%, and New York, 18%. Big Six Township, in northern Somerset County, is said to account for roughly 23% of Maine’s maple sugar production and 4% of the U.S. total production.…