Notable Maine People

“What happens to me when I cross the Piscataqua and plunge rapidly into Maine at the cost of seventy-five cents in tolls? I cannot describe it. I do not ordinarily spy a partridge in a pear tree, or three French hens, but I do have the sensation of having received a gift from a true love.”            - E.B. White

When you want to get to know Maine on a personal level, spend time visiting with some of its notable citizens, the inventors and entrepreneurs, writers and poets, actors and artists, athletes and politicians who have called this special place home.

Visit poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's childhood home in Portland; mosey around the Blue Hill peninsula, where E.B. White made his home, or the St. George peninsula, the inspiration for Sara Orne Jewett's Country of the Pointed Firs. Keep an eye out for both Pulitzer-winning author Richard Russo and songwriter Don McLean in Camden. Reserve a seat on Bangor's Stephen King tour.

Discover the inspiration for Andrew Wyeth's works at the Olson House in Cushing; view Rockwell Kent's studio on Monhegan Island or Winslow Homer's studio on Prout's Neck. Explore the Louise Nevelson Gallery at The Farnsworth Museum, in the sculptor's hometown of Rockland. Immerse yourself in the opera memorabilia of Lillian Nordica, Farmington's native diva. 

Dip into American history at the Joshua L. Chamberlain House in Brunswick or the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan. Wander around Waterville, home of Senator and peace negotiator George Mitchell; perhaps pop into Lebanese Cuisine, for a taste of his Lebanese heritage. Celebrate the creator of the earmuff at Chester Greenwood Day in Farmington or learn about the ingenious Stanley brothers at the Stanley Museum in Kingfield. Ponder what might have inspired Howland's Percy Labaron Spencer to invent the microwave oven or Vienna-born Milton Bradley to play with games. Shop the empire that L.L. Bean began with a simple hunting shoe.

Explore tide pools in the coastal Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge.

Admire the statues honoring director John Ford in Portland, Olympic gold-medalist Joan Benoit in Cape Elizabeth, or peace ambassador Samantha Smith, outside the Maine State Museum in Augusta. Pedal along with Dr. McDreamy in Lewiston's annual Patrick Dempsey Challenge. Perhaps share the slopes with two-time Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott at Sugarloaf.