Augusta, Maine
—  City  —
Kennebec River flowing through downtown Augusta
Flag of Augusta, Maine Flag Official seal of Augusta, Maine Seal
Location in Kennebec County, Maine
Coordinates: 44°18′38″N 69°46′48″W / 44.31056°N 69.78°W / 44.31056; -69.78
Country	US
State	Maine
County	Kennebec
Settled	1754
Incorporated (town)	February 20, 1797
Incorporated (city)	August 20, 1849
Government
• Mayor	William R. Stokes
Area
• Total	58.3 sq mi (150.9 km2)
• Land	55.4 sq mi (143.4 km2)
• Water	2.9 sq mi (7.5 km2)  4.98%
Elevation	68 ft (20 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	19,136
• Density	345.4/sq mi (133.4/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (UTC−5)
• Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC−4)
Area code(s)	207
FIPS code	23-02100
GNIS feature ID	0581636
Website	www.augustamaine.gov

Augusta is the capital of the US state of Maine, county seat of Kennebec County, and center of population for Maine.^[1] The city's population was 19,136 at the 2010 census, making it the third-smallest state capital after Montpelier, Vermont and Pierre, South Dakota. Located on the Kennebec River at the head of tide, it is home to the University of Maine at Augusta.

History[link]

The area was first explored by members of the ill-fated Popham Colony in September 1607. It was first inhabited by English settlers from the Plymouth Colony in 1629 as a trading post on the Kennebec River. The settlement was known by its Indian name—Cushnoc (or Coussinoc or Koussinoc), meaning "head of tide." Fur trading was at first profitable, but with Indian uprisings and declining revenues, the Plymouth Colony sold the Kennebec Patent in 1661. Cushnoc would remain empty for the next 75 years.^[2]

A hotbed of Abenaki hostility toward British settlements was located further up the Kennebec at Norridgewock. In 1722, the tribe and its allies attacked Fort Richmond (now Richmond) and destroyed Brunswick. In response, Norridgewock was sacked in 1724 during Dummer's War, when English forces gained tentative control of the Kennebec. In 1754, a blockhouse named Fort Western (now the oldest wooden fort in America), was built at Cushnoc on the eastern bank. It was intended as a supply depot for Fort Halifax upriver, as well as to protect its own region.^[3] In 1775, Benedict Arnold and his 1,100 troops would use Fort Western as a staging area before continuing their journey up the Kennebec to the Battle of Quebec.

Cushnoc was incorporated as part of Hallowell in 1771. Known as "the Fort," it was set off and incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court in February 1797 as Harrington. In August, however, the name changed to Augusta after Augusta Dearborn, daughter of Henry Dearborn. In 1799, it became county seat for newly created Kennebec County.^[3] Maine became a state in 1820 and Augusta was designated its capital in 1827. The Maine State Legislature continued meeting in Portland, however, until completion in 1832 of the new Maine State House designed by Charles Bulfinch. Augusta was chartered as a city in 1849.^[4] After being named the state capital and the introduction of new industry, the city flourished. In 1840 and 1850, the city ranked among the 100 largest urban populations. The next decade, however, the city was quickly bypassed by rapidly growing metropolises in the Midwest.^[5]

Excellent soil provided for agriculture, and water power from streams provided for industry. In 1837, a dam was built across the Kennebec where the falls drop 15 feet at the head of tide. By 1838, 10 sawmills were contracted. With the arrival of the Kennebec & Portland Railroad in 1851, Augusta became an even more productive mill town. In 1883, the property of A. & W. Sprague Company was purchased by the Edwards Manufacturing Company, which erected extensive brick mills for manufacturing cotton textiles. In the late 19th century, a paper and pulp plant was constructed.^[5] Other Augusta firms produced lumber, sash, doors, window shutters, broom handles, stone cutters' tools, shoes, headstones, ice and furniture. The city developed as a publishing and shipping center. Today, government and post-secondary education are important businesses.^[6]

In the 19th century, Augusta got a regular steamboat service and the railroad. The city installed gas lights in 1859. A telephone service was available in 1880 and a local hospital in 1898. In the early 20th century, Augusta built two movie houses and a film production studio.

Hotel North from a 1906 postcard

For much of Augusta’s history, the central business district was on and near Water Street on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The street, laid out in the late 1700s, was also the location of many of the government buildings. As the city grew and spread out the local government buildings moved further away from the business district. Many fires damaged this concentrated area, including one significant fire in 1865 that destroyed nearly 100 buildings. In 1890, the first trolley line began operation down Water Street, connecting Augusta with Gardiner and Hallowell to the south. In 1932, the motor buses replaced the trolley line. With the completion of the Maine Turnpike and Interstate 95 in 1955, local commercial developments began to move away from Water Street and closer to the Interstate.

Since the 1980s, there has been an attempt by city officials to revitalize the downtown area. Surviving mill and factory buildings have been redeveloped into housing. The dam on the Kennebec was removed in 1999 and the area around the dam has been turned into a city park. The city hall and other local government departments were relocated to the eastern bank of the river in the 1980s.

Augusta today

Since the mid-eighteenth century, there has been a military presence in Augusta. Fort Western has not had troops garrisoned there since the 1790s, but in 1828, the U.S. Government built an arsenal to protect their interests from Britain. During the Civil War, Augusta was a rendezvous point for soldiers traveling to the front. Many of the soldiers camped on the green in front of the Capitol building. In 1862, Camp E.D. Keyes was established in the northwestern portion of the city. During World War I, Camp Keyes was used as a mobilization and training camp for soldiers. The camp eventually became a headquarters for the Maine National Guard. In 1929, the state legislature approved the placement of the Augusta State Airport next to the camp. As the airport grew, the use of the camp as a training facility was no longer possible. Today, it is still used for administrative and logistical purposed for the National Guard.

Geography[link]

Augusta is located at 44°19′25″N 69°45′55″W / 44.32361°N 69.76528°W / 44.32361; -69.76528,^[7] making it the easternmost state capital in the US. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 58.3 square miles (151 km²), of which, 55.4 square miles (143.5 km²) of it is land and 2.9 square miles (7.5 km²) of it (4.98%) is water. Augusta is drained by Bond's Brook, Woromontogus Stream and the Kennebec River.

Augusta borders the towns of Manchester to its west, Sidney and Vassalboro to its north, Windsor to its east, Chelsea to its south, and the city of Hallowell to its southwest.

Demographics[link]

As of the census^[11] of 2000, there were 18,560 people, 8,565 households, and 4,607 families residing in the city. The population density was 335.1 people per square mile (129.4/km²). There were 9,480 housing units at an average density of 171.2 per square mile (66.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.21% White, 0.50% Black or African American, 0.48% Native American, 1.35% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.16% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. 0.86% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 8,565 households out of which 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.1% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.2% were non-families. 38.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.77.

In the city, the population was spread out with 20.5% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 17.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,921, and the median income for a family was $42,230. Males had a median income of $31,209 versus $22,548 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,145. About 11.4% of families and 15.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.2% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.

Government[link]

Augusta is governed by a mayor-council system. The mayor is elected at-large to a three year term. The city council consists of eight members: four are elected from each of the city's four wards, and the other four are elected at-large. Councilors serve three-year terms and can only serve in that position for three consecutive terms.^[12]

The city maintains a police department remarkable for having not had an officer killed in the line of duty for over a century. ^[13]

Education[link]

There are five public schools, one private school, one college (the University of Maine at Augusta), and two public libraries in Augusta.^[14] Farrington, Gilbert, Hussey, and Lincoln are the four public elementary schools that are spread throughout the city. Cony High School is the public high school that serves students in grades 7–12 from Augusta and the surrounding towns. St. Michaels is the private Catholic school that children from Augusta and surround towns may attend for tuition.

Media[link]

• Kennebec Journal, daily newspaper for capital area

Sites of interest[link]

• Blaine House
• Fort Western
• Lithgow Public Library
• Maine State House
• Maine State Museum^[15]
• Viles Arboretum

Notable people[link]

View of downtown

• Ambrose Abbott, state Congressman
• Martha Ballard, midwife
• James G. Blaine, secretary of state and presidential nominee
• Horatio Bridge, navy officer
• Beverly Daggett, President of the Maine Senate
• Melville Fuller, Illinois politician
• George Huntington Hartford owned the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, the country's largest food retailer at the time of his death.^[16]
• John F. Hill, Maine governor
• Robert Deniston Hume, Oregon politician and businessman
• Eastman Johnson, artist
• George W. Ladd, U.S. Congressman
• Dorianne Laux, poet
• Henry A. McMasters, recipient of the Medal of Honor^[17]
• Rachel Nichols, actress
• Frederick G. Payne, 60th Governor of Maine
• David Peoples, athlete and golfer
• John F. Potter, congressman, judge
• Luther Severance, publisher, U.S. Congressman and Senator
• Olympia Snowe, U.S. Senator
• John L. Stevens, United States minister to Kingdom of Hawaii, accused of attempting to overthrow Hawaiian Queen, 1893
• Manch Wheeler, quarterback with the Buffalo Bills
• Reuel Williams, U.S. Senator
• Willard G. Wyman, general

References[link]

Further reading[link]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Augusta, Maine

• City of Augusta, Maine
• Lithgow Public Library
• University of Maine at Augusta
• City Data Profile
• Epodunk City Profile
• The Purington Massacre

Coordinates: 44°19′25″N 69°45′55″W / 44.323535°N 69.765261°W / 44.323535; -69.765261

v t e Municipalities and communities of Kennebec County, Maine, United States County seat: Augusta Cities Augusta Gardiner Hallowell Waterville Towns Albion Belgrade Benton Chelsea China Clinton Farmingdale Fayette Litchfield Manchester Monmouth Mount Vernon Oakland Pittston Randolph Readfield Rome Sidney Vassalboro Vienna Wayne West Gardiner Windsor Winslow Winthrop Unorganized territory Unity CDPs Clinton Farmingdale Oakland Winthrop Other villages Libby Hill South China

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State of Maine
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): "The Pine Tree State"
Motto(s): "Dirigo" (Latin for "I lead" or "I direct")
Official language(s)	None
Demonym	Mainer[1]
Capital	Augusta
Largest city	Portland
Largest metro area	Portland-South Portland-Biddeford
Area	Ranked 39th in the U.S.
- Total	35,385 sq mi (91,646 km2)
- Width	210 miles (338 km)
- Length	320 miles (515 km)
- % water	13.5
- Latitude	42° 58′ N to 47° 28′ N
- Longitude	66° 57′ W to 71° 5′ W
Population	Ranked 41st in the U.S.
- Total	1,328,188 (2011 est)[2]
- Density	43.0/sq mi  (16.6/km2) Ranked 38th in the U.S.
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount Katahdin[3][4][5] 5,270 ft (1606.4 m)
- Mean	600 ft  (180 m)
- Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[4] sea level
Before statehood	District of Maine
Admission to Union	March 15, 1820 (23rd)
Governor	Paul LePage (R)
President of the Senate	Kevin Raye (R)[6]
Legislature	Maine Legislature
- Upper house	Senate
- Lower house	House of Representatives
U.S. Senators	Olympia Snowe (R) Susan Collins (R)
U.S. House delegation	Chellie Pingree (D) Michael Michaud (D) (list)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations	ME US-ME
Website	www.maine.gov

Maine (ⁱ/ˈmeɪn/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost portion of New England. It is known for its scenery—its jagged, mostly rocky coastline, its low, rolling mountains, its heavily forested interior and picturesque waterways—as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobsters and clams.

For thousands of years, indigenous peoples were the only inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine. At the time of European encounter, several Algonquian-speaking peoples inhabited the area. The first European settlement in Maine was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement in Maine, the short-lived Popham Colony, was established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations, and conflict with the local peoples caused many to fail over the years. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements survived. Patriot and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts. On March 15, 1820, it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise. Maine is the 39th most extensive and the 41st most populous of the 50 United States.

Geography[link]

To the south and east is the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and northeast is New Brunswick, a province of Canada. The Canadian province of Quebec is to the northwest. Maine is both the northernmost state in New England and the largest, accounting for nearly half the region's entire land area. Maine has the distinction of being the only state to border just one other state (New Hampshire to the west). Maine is the easternmost state in the United States both in terms of its extreme points and its geographic center. The municipalities of Eastport and Lubec are, respectively, the easternmost city and town in the United States. Estcourt Station is Maine's northernmost point, as well as the northernmost point in New England. (For more information see extreme points of the United States).

Maine's Moosehead Lake is the largest lake wholly in New England, as Lake Champlain is located between Vermont and New York. A number of other Maine lakes, such as South Twin Lake, are described by Thoreau. Mount Katahdin is both the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, which extends southerly to Springer Mountain, Georgia, and the southern terminus of the new International Appalachian Trail which, when complete, will run to Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Maine has several unique geographical features. Machias Seal Island and North Rock, off its easternmost point, are claimed by both the U.S. and Canada and are within one of four areas between the two countries whose sovereignty is still in dispute, but it is the only one of the disputed areas containing land. Also in this easternmost area is the Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere.

Maine is the least densely populated U.S. state east of the Mississippi River. It is called the Pine Tree State; nearly 90% of its land is forested.^[7] In the forested areas of the interior lie much uninhabited land, some of which does not have formal political organization into local units (a rarity in New England). The Northwest Aroostook, Maine unorganized territory in the northern part of the state, for example, has an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km²) and a population of 27, or one person for every 100 square miles (260 km²).

Maine is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. The land near the southern and central Atlantic coast is covered by the mixed oaks of the Northeastern coastal forests. The remainder of the state, including the North Woods, is covered by the New England-Acadian forests.^[8]

Maine has almost 230 miles (400 km) of coastline (and 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of tidal coastline).^[9][10] West Quoddy Head is the easternmost piece of land in the contiguous 48 United States. Along the famous rock-bound coast of Maine are lighthouses, beaches, fishing villages, and thousands of offshore islands, including the Isles of Shoals, which straddle the New Hampshire border. There are jagged rocks and cliffs and many bays and inlets. Inland are lakes, rivers, forests, and mountains. This visual contrast of forested slopes sweeping down to the sea has been summed up by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay of Rockland and Camden, Maine in "Renascence":

The coast in Maine near Acadia park.

"All I could see from where I stood

was three long mountains and a wood

I turned and looked the other way

and saw three islands in a bay"

Geologists describe this type of landscape as a "drowned coast," where a rising sea level has invaded former land features, creating bays out of valleys and islands out of mountain tops.^[11] A rise in the elevation of the land due to the melting of heavy glacier ice caused a slight rebounding effect of underlying rock; this land rise, however, was not enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea level and its invasion of former land features.

Much of Maine's geography was created by heavy glacial activity at the end of the last ice age. Prominent glacial features include Somes Sound and Bubble Rock. Carved by glaciers, Somes Sound is considered to be the only fjord on the eastern seaboard and reaches depths of 175 feet (50 m). The extreme depth and steep drop-off allow large ships to navigate almost the entire length of the sound. These features also have made it attractive for boat builders, such as the prestigious Hinckley Yachts. Bubble Rock is what is known as a "glacial erratic" and is a large boulder perched on the edge of Bubble Mountain in Acadia National Park. By analyzing the type of granite, geologists were able to discover that glaciers carried Bubble Rock to its present location from the town of Lucerne — 30 miles (48 km) away.

Boothbay Harbor

Acadia National Park is the only national park in New England.

Areas under the protection and management of the National Park Service include:^[12]

• Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor
• Appalachian National Scenic Trail
• Maine Acadian Culture in St. John Valley
• Roosevelt Campobello International Park near Lubec
• Saint Croix Island International Historic Site at Calais

Climate[link]

Maine experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb), with warm (although generally not hot), humid summers. Winters are cold and snowy throughout the state, and are especially severe in the northern parts of Maine. Coastal areas are moderated somewhat by the Atlantic Ocean. Daytime highs are generally in the 75–80 °F (24–27 °C) range throughout the state in July, with overnight lows in the high 50s°F (around 15 °C). January temperatures range from highs near 32 °F (0 °C) on the southern coast to overnight lows averaging below 0 °F (−18 °C) in the far north.^[13] The state's record high temperature is 105 °F (41 °C), set in July 1911, at North Bridgton.^[14] Maine has fewer days of thunderstorms than any other state east of the Rockies, with most of the state averaging less than 20 days of thunderstorms a year. Tornadoes are rare in Maine, with the state averaging fewer than two per year, mostly occurring in the southern part of the state.^[15]

In January 2009, a new record low temperature for the state was set at Big Black River of −50 °F (−46 °C), tying the New England record.^[13]

History[link]

Maine State House, designed by Charles Bulfinch, built 1829–1832

The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking Wabanaki peoples including the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Penobscot. The first European settlement in what is now called Maine was in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, including Samuel de Champlain, the noted explorer. The French named the entire area, including the portion that later became the State of Maine, Acadia. The first English settlement in Maine was established by the Plymouth Company at Popham in 1607, the same year as the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. The Popham colonists returned to England after 14 months. ^[16]

Two Jesuit missions were established by the French; one on Penobscot Bay in 1609, and the other on Mount Desert Island in 1613. The same year, Castine was established by Claude de La Tour. In 1625, Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour erected Fort Pentagouet to protect Castine. The coastal areas of western Maine first became the Province of Maine in a 1622 land patent. Eastern Maine north of the Kennebec River was more sparsely settled and was known in the 17th century as the Territory of Sagadahock. A second settlement was attempted at a place called York, in 1623 by English explorer and naval Captain Christopher Levett, granted 6,000 acres (24 km²) by King Charles I of England.^[17] That settlement also failed.

Central Maine was formerly inhabited by people of the Androscoggin tribe, also known as Arosaguntacook. The Androscoggin were a tribe in the Abenaki nation. They were driven out of the area in 1690 during King Philip's War. They were relocated at St. Francis, Canada, which was destroyed by Rogers' Rangers in 1759, and is now Odanak. The other Abenaki tribes suffered several severe defeats, particularly during Dummer's War, with the capture of Norridgewock in 1724 and the defeat of the Pequawket in 1725, which greatly reduced their numbers. They finally withdrew to Canada, where they were settled at Bécancour and Sillery, and later at St. Francis, along with other refugee tribes from the south.^[18]

The province within its current boundaries became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1652. Maine was much fought over by the French, English and allied natives during the 17th and early 18th centuries, who conducted raids against each other, taking captives for ransom or, in some cases, adoption by Native American tribes. For instance, the Abenaki took captives taken during raids of Massachusetts in Queen Anne's War of the early 1700s to Kahnewake, a Catholic Mohawk village near Montreal, where some were adopted and others ransomed.^[19][20]

After the English defeated the French in Acadia in the 1740s, the territory from the Penobscot River east fell under the nominal authority of the Province of Nova Scotia, and together with present-day New Brunswick formed the Nova Scotia county of Sunbury, with its court of general sessions at Campobello. American and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and British forces occupied eastern Maine in both conflicts.^[21] The treaty concluding revolution was ambiguous about Maine's boundary with British North America. The territory of Maine was confirmed as part of Massachusetts when the United States was formed, although the final border with British territory was not established until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842.

Maine was physically separate from the rest of Massachusetts. Long-standing disagreements over land speculation and settlements led to Maine residents and their allies in Massachusetts proper forcing an 1807 vote in the Massachusetts Assembly on permitting Maine to secede; the vote failed. Secessionist sentiment in Maine was stoked during the War of 1812 when Massachusetts pro-British merchants opposed the war and refused to defend Maine from British invaders. In 1819, Massachusetts agreed to permit secession if voters in Maine approved. Due to these considerations and rapid population growth, in 1820 Maine voted to secede from Massachusetts. The secession and formation of the state of Maine as the 23rd state occurred on March 15, 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise, which geographically limited the spread of slavery and enabled the admission to statehood of Missouri the following year, while keeping a balance between slave and free states.^[22][23][24]

Maine's original capital was Portland, the largest city in Maine, until it was moved to Augusta in 1832 to make it more central within the state.

The 20th Maine, under the command of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, defended Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. Its soldiers prevented the Union Army from being flanked by the Confederate Army.

Four U.S. Navy ships have been named USS Maine in honor of the state.

Etymology[link]

There is no definitive explanation for the origin of the name 'Maine'. The state legislature in 2001 adopted a resolution establishing Franco-American Day, which stated that the state was named after the former French province of Maine.^[25] Other theories mention earlier places with similar names, or claim it is a nautical reference to the mainland.^[26] The first known record of the name appears in an Aug. 10, 1622 land charter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason, English Royal Navy veterans, who were granted a large tract in present-day Maine that Mason and Gorges "intend to name The Province of Maine." Mason had served in Royal Navy in the Orkney Islands where the chief island was called Mainland, a more likely name derivation for these English sailors than the French province.^[27] A year later, in 1623, the English naval captain Christopher Levett, exploring the New England coast, wrote: "The first place I set my foote upon in New England was the Isle of Shoulds, being Ilands [sic] in the sea, above two Leagues from the Mayne."^[28] Whatever the origin, the name was fixed in 1665 when the King's Commissioners ordered that the "Province of Maine" be entered from then on in official records.^[29]

Demographics[link]

Maine Population Density Map.

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Maine was 1,328,188 on July 1, 2011, a -0.01% decrease since the 2010 United States Census.^[2]

As of 2008, Maine had an estimated population of 1,321,504, which is an increase of 6,520, or 0.5%, from the prior year and an increase of 46,582, or 3.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 6,413 people (that is 71,276 births minus 64,863 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 41,808 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 5,004 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 36,804 people. The population density of the state is 41.3 people per square mile, making it the least densely populated state in New England, the American northeast, the eastern seaboard, of all of the states with an Atlantic coastline and of all of the states east of the Mississippi River.

The mean population center of Maine is located in Kennebec County, just east of Augusta.^[31] The Greater Portland metropolitan area is the most densely populated with nearly 20% of Maine's population.^[32] As explained in detail under "Geography", there are large tracts of uninhabited land in some remote parts of the interior.

In 2009, Maine was one of three states to have lost population.^[33]

Race, ancestry, and language[link]

At the 2010 Census, 94.4% of the population was non-Hispanic White, 1.1% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% Asian, 0.1% from some other race and 1.4% of two or more races. 1.3% of Maine's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race).^[34]

The largest ancestries in the state are:

• 30.6% English
• 25.0% French Canadian and Acadian
• 18.3% Irish
• 8.3% German
• 5.8% Italian
• 4.8% Scottish
• 2.6% Scotch-Irish
• 2.3% Polish

^[35] Most Americans in Maine are of English descent, but have family that has been in the country for so long, in many cases since the early 17th century, that they choose to identify simply as "American".^{[36][37][38][39][40][41][42]}

Maine is second only to New Hampshire in the percentage of French Americans among U.S. states. It also has the largest percentage of non-Hispanic whites of any state, with 94.4% of the state's residents being white according to the 2010 Census. The state has the highest percentage of current French speakers, whose ancestors came from Quebec between 1840 and 1930, and New Brunswick prior to 1842. In northern Maine, (particularly Aroostook County), Acadians still speak French at home, since their relatives live in neighboring New Brunswick. The area was once known as the Republic of Madawaska, before the frontier was decided in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Over one-quarter of the population of Lewiston, Waterville, and Biddeford are Franco-American. Most of the residents of the midcoast and downeast sections are chiefly of British heritage. Smaller numbers of various other groups, including Irish, Italian and Polish, have settled throughout the state since the late 19th and early 20th century immigration waves.

The 2000 Census reported 92.25% of Maine residents age 5 and older speak English at home. Census figures show Maine has a greater proportion of people speaking French at home than any other state in the nation, a result of Maine's large French-Canadian community, who migrated from adjacent Quebec and New Brunswick. 5.28% of Maine households are French-speaking, compared with 4.68% in Louisiana.^[43]

Religion[link]

The religious affiliations of the people of Maine are shown below:

• Christian – 82%
  • Protestant – 45%
    • Baptist (mostly American Baptist) – 16%
    • Methodist (mostly United Methodist Church with 31,689 members)^[44] – 9%
    • Episcopal – 8%
    • United Church of Christ (29,122 members)^[44] / Congregational – 8%
    • Pentecostal – 6%
    • Lutheran – 3%
    • Other Protestant or general Protestant – 10%
  • Roman Catholic (283,024 members)^[44] – 37%
  • Other Christian – 1%
• Other religions – 1%
• Non-religious – 17%

In 2010, a study said Maine was the least religious state in the United States.^[45]

Economy[link]

Maine State Quarter.

Bath Iron Works naval shipbuilding.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Maine's total gross state product for 2010 was $52 billion.^[46] Its per capita personal income for 2007 was US$33,991, 34th in the nation. As of October 2010, Maine's unemployment rate is 7.4%.^[47]

Old port area of Portland

Maine's agricultural outputs include poultry, eggs, dairy products, cattle, wild blueberries (the state produces 25% of all blueberries in North America, making it the largest blueberry producer in the world),^{[citation needed]} apples, maple syrup and maple sugar. Aroostook County is known for its potato crops. Commercial fishing, once a mainstay of the state's economy, maintains a presence, particularly lobstering and groundfishing. Western Maine aquifers and springs are a major source of bottled water.

Maine's industrial outputs consist chiefly of paper, lumber and wood products, electronic equipment, leather products, food products, textiles, and bio-technology. Naval shipbuilding and construction remain key as well, with Bath Iron Works in Bath and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. Naval Air Station Brunswick is also in Maine, and formerly served as a large support base for the U.S. Navy. However, the BRAC campaign initiated Brunswick's closing, despite a government-funded effort to upgrade its facilities.

Maine is the number one exporter of blueberries. The largest toothpick manufacturing plant in the United States used to be located in Strong, Maine. The Strong Wood Products plant produced 20 million toothpicks a day. It closed in May, 2003.

Tourism and outdoor recreation play a major and increasingly important role in Maine's economy. The state is a popular destination for sport hunting (particularly deer, moose and bear), sport fishing, snowmobiling, skiing, boating, camping and hiking, among other activities.