I’ve lived in Maine for 40 years, native as native can be, and four decades in I’m still learning things about this state.
Silly, wondrous, intriguing things — things I could allude to in great detail, right this very second, but then that would give away all the answers.
It’s the Sun Journal B Section’s fourth annual Who Knew??? Summer Road Trip Quiz.
Really, the question is how well do you know this beautiful, quirky, snowman-celebratin’, fast-elevator-ridin’, whoopie-pie-lovin’ land?
Quiz, learn and take a road trip!
What you need to know about the Maine Road Trip answers:
1. Which of these is a real Maine roadside attraction with all the whimsy and kitsch the name implies?
1) Potato City
2) Wild Blueberry Land
3) BananaRama DingDong Diner
2) Wild Blueberry Land up in Columbia Falls, the heart of blueberry country. (Give yourself half a point if you knew Potato City is the theme park featured on the Nickelodeon cartoon “Peppa Pig.”)
Now go: To Wild Blueberry Land on Route 1, northeast of Mount Desert Island! The attraction is owned by Dell and Marie Emerson — he’s 81 and still farming, she’s a retired longtime teacher and award-winning chef. They built it 15 years ago as a way to sell their wares and bring attention to their farm down the road.
The star of Wild Blueberry Land: a 26-foot-high, 50-feet-around blueberry dome. Inside it: all manner of blueberry merch and fresh-baked treats and a photo-op throne to pose on as king or queen of Wild Blueberry Land.
“It always smells phenomenal, it’s permeated into the building,” said Marie. “In fact, at night, I kept getting blackbirds on top of the roof. They’re picking at the building, they want to come in.”
It opens in late June.
2. Where will you find the fastest elevator in Maine?
1) One City Center, Portland. Hold onto your briefcase.
2) State House, Augusta. All the faster to legislate with.
3) Penobscot Narrows Observatory, Prospect. Get to that beautiful view, stat!
3) Penobscot Narrows Observatory connecting Verona Island and Prospect! According to the Friends of Fort Knox website, the observatory’s one-minute elevator ride is on “the fastest elevator in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont,” which lets you out 420 feet up. Take that, Granite and Green Mountain states.
Now go: To Fort Knox and the Penobscot Narrows Observatory at the head of Penobscot Bay in Waldo County. Both are open from May 1 to Oct. 31. Tour the historic fort and view the river from the tallest bridge observatory in the world.
3. Where will you find what’s thought to be the only granite cribstone bridge in the world?
1) Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary, Lewiston, over a particularly marshy spot
2) Connecting Orr’s Island and Bailey Island
3) Connecting Maine and New Hampshire
2) Connecting Orr’s Island and Bailey Island in Harpswell. The bridge, designed as piles of granite that let the tide pass through, stretches over a section of water called Will’s Gut, according to Bowdoin College grad Toby Crawford, who made a historical research project of the bridge. (Bowdoin has his work on its website.)
Now go: To Harpswell! Admire the bridge — just drive slowly, it’s fairly narrow — and keep following the Harpswell Islands Road all the way to the Land’s End gift shop and a sweet little beach with rocks to climb and tide pools to check out.
4. What’s the claim to fame of the Mayall Mills State Historic Site?
1) Birthplace of Mayall Mills, first governor of Maine, early ancestor of the renown Farmington family (Peter, Janet, Dora, Paul, etc.).
2) First water-powered woolen mill in North America.
3) Site of inventor Chester Greenwood’s once-prosperous ear muff factory.
2) The first water-powered woolen mill in North America. Founded by Samuel Mayall in 1791, it produced 30,000 yards of woolen cloth a year at its peak, according to Maine.gov.
Now go: To Gray to check it out, where the mill is so locally celebrated that it’s highlighted on the town seal!
“You can see the ruins from the road, there’s signs there and everything,” said Peter Smith, regional manager the Bureau of Parks and Lands’ Western Public Lands Office. “It’s pretty cool.”
5. Where can you find a 40-foot-tall display featuring Mr. Magee and his little dog Dee from Maine author Chris Van Dusen’s “Down to the Sea With Mr. Magee”?
1) Jonesport-Beals Chamber of Commerce, in honor of Van Dusen’s 80th birthday in 2012.
2) Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine in Portland, replacing a simple outdoor pirate ship in 2015.
3) Isle au Haut, erected as a tourist attraction in 2009 — the same year phone service arrived to the island.
2) The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine! A fenced-in area behind the museum features several whimsical scenes out of the children’s book (spouting fountains, a giant dog house, a boat).
Now go: Get your kids’ play on! The museum at 142 Free St. in Portland is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the first Friday of every month features the aptly named First Friday event: It stays open from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and admission is just $2 a person instead of the regular $10.
6. The U.S. Congress declared Sept. 25, 2015, National Lobster Day.
1) True
2) False
1) True! U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King introduced the resolution creating National Lobster Day last summer. Among the supporting facts in their resolution:
“Whereas Lobster Newburg was featured on the menu at the inaugural dinner celebration for President John F. Kennedy . . .”
It was a one-time honor, but King spokesman Scott Ogden said plans are afoot to introduce another resolution designating Sept. 25, 2016, as National Lobster Day again.
Now go: Oh, decisions, decisions! There is, of course, the 69th annual Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland in August. And it’s hard to beat the salty, woodsy smell of the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound as you drive onto Mount Desert Island. But for the best place to grab a bite of lobster, just steer east, avoiding potholes, and you can do almost no wrong.
7. The Maine Whoopie Pie Festival features:
1) Hundreds of flavors of whoopie pies. Deep fried whoopie, anyone?
2) A giant costumed whoopie pie mascot named Sweetie Pie.
3) An “Earn Your Whoopie Pie” walk/3K that starts the day.
Trick question! The answer is 1, 2 and 3! At the festival, you’ll find a large, smiling costumed whoopie named Sweetie Pie (named in a contest by festival-goers), an “Earn Your Whoopie Pie” walk/run put on by the local YMCA and many many flavors of whoopie pies (samples for 25 cents each).
Now go: To Dover-Foxcroft on June 25 for the eighth annual Maine Whoopie Pie Festival! Organizer Patrick Myers said the festival — born from “the love for whoopie pies, honestly” — drew 8,000-plus people last year. Expect games, music, rides, artists and a few dozen bakers bringing every shape and flavor whoopie under the sun.
“It’s amazing to me, after doing it a number of years and having thousands of people come, that there are who-knows-how-many-more that still need to come?” said Myers.
8. Where in Maine did the first successful transatlantic hot air balloon flight take off from?
1) Pigeon Island, chosen for its name. (Pigeons are considered good luck by hot air balloonists.)
2) Port Clyde, chosen for its heritage. (One of the three pilots’ families had lived in Port Clyde for five generations.)
3) Presque Isle, chosen for its proximity to Canada. (That country had the better weather pattern, but pilots were determined to launch from U.S. soil)
3) Presque Isle. According to a historian interviewed by Maine Public Broadcasting Network last year about the famous 1978 flight, the pilots wanted to leave from the U.S., but the weather looked better the closer to Canada you got.
Now go: When was the last time you made it up to Aroostook County anyway?!?During the summer, the Presque Isle Historical Society offers three-hour-long, $5 narrated tours around town aboard Molly the Trolley pointing out locations like the balloon site. From its description: “Drive out onto a nuclear missile launch pad, hear entertaining local history stories and more.”
Honestly, they had me at Molly the Trolley.
9. What memento does the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce still display from the 2008 Guinness World Record-setting largest snowman: Olympia SnowWoman?
1) A 5-gallon bucket of water collected from the melting remains, kept behind glass.
2) The 7.5-foot-tall pendant worn around her neck.
3) 80-pound faux-pearl earrings, designed after a pair worn by namesake former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.
2) A 7.5-foot-tall pendant. Designed by Jim Mann, its specs are impressive: The pendant’s frame is made out of 20 pounds of steel with 20 pounds of mica used to create a mosaic over a 60-pound plywood base, according to the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce. And FYI: Once towering 122 feet and 1 inch tall, Olympia remains the reigning world record holder.
Now go: To Bethel! The pendant is on display when the chamber is open, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (And sometimes on Sunday.) The town’s largest event, MollyOckett Day, is on July 16 this year with a parade, frog-jumping contest, music and more.
10. Which Maine town or city has the most homes with five or more bedrooms, according to the U.S. Census Bureau?
1) Kennebunkport
2) Castine
3) Lewiston
2) Castine. The Census Bureau estimates that in Castine’s CDP (census-designated place, which is essentially the most populated area in town), 98 of its 457 homes have five or more bedrooms.
Now go: Well, no question, to Castine! You might want to combine this with your Penobscot Narrows Observatory trek since Castine is just a few miles away, down the east side of Penobscot Bay. Why not start at the Castine Historical Society? It’s open seven days a week with free admission (check for times before your visit), where you’ll learn things like how Castine got its name. (*Spoiler alert* It was named after the Frenchman Baron Jean Vincent de St. Castin, who, incidentally, sounds like he probably had lots of bedrooms.)
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