| |
Note: Alaska and Hawaii are shown out of
position for reference only and are not to scale.
Blank
Maine State Outline Map
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 also has the distinction of
being the only state to border just one other state
(New Hampshire to the
west). The municipalities of
Eastport and
Lubec are, respectively,
the easternmost city and town in the 48 contiguous
states. Maine's Moosehead
Lake is the largest lake in New England (Lake
Champlain being partially in
New York). Mount Katahdin is both the northern
terminus of the
Appalachian Trail, which extends 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 also
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 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 most sparsely populated state east of the
Mississippi River. It is
called the Pine Tree
State; ninety percent of its land is forested. In the
forested areas of the interior there is much uninhabited
land, some of which does not have formal political
organization into local units. For example, the
Northwest Aroostook,
Maine unorganized
territory in the northern part of the state has an area
of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km²) and a population of 27, or
one person for every 100 square miles (255 km²).
Maine is
equally well known for its dramatic ocean scenery, with
almost 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of shoreline.
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, sandy beaches, quiet fishing villages and
thousands of offshore islands, including the
Isles of Shoals, which
straddle the New Hampshire border. Jagged rocks and cliffs
and thousands of bays and inlets add to the rugged beauty of
Maine's coast. Just inland, by contrast, are sparkling
lakes, rushing rivers, green forests and towering mountains.
This visual contrast, forested slopes sweeping down to the
sea, has been aptly summed up by American poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay
of Rockland and Camden, Maine
in "Renascence":
-
"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 and a bay"
More
prosaic 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. A rise in the elevation of the land, due to the
melting of heavy glacier ice, caused a slight rebounding
effect of underlying rock; however, this land rise was not
strong enough to eliminate all the effect of the rising sea
level and its invasion of former land features.
Millions of
people have enjoyed this coastal scenery at Maine's
Acadia National Park,
the only national park in New England.
Areas under
the protection and management of the
National Park Service
include:
Climate
Maine
experiences a humid
continental climate, 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 below 0 °F (-18 °C) in the
far north.
Maine, on
occasion, is affected by hurricanes
and tropical storms although by the time they reach the
state, many have become
extratropical and few hurricanes have made landfall in
Maine. 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
less than 2 a year, mostly occurring in the southern part of
the state.
Interactive Maine State Map
Explore the state of Maine with the dynamic map below. You can
zoom, pan and even get a satellite map view.
Move your cursor over the markers on the map to
learn more about Maine.
State
Index |
Information
|
Fast Facts
|
Geography
|
Government
|
Economy |
History
|
|
