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Maine Travel GuideBook a Room and Make Reservations at a Place to Stay |
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Travelwithall Maine destination, getaway, and travel guide is where you can book a room, make hotel reservations at a place to stay, and find information and tips on travel to Maine. This hotel guide will help our readers find the perfect lodging accommodations in Maine, where you can shop and compare rates. Whether you are traveling with your family on a leisure holiday vacation or visiting for corporate business, our Maine hotels guide will help you find a hotel room that suits your specific needs. This is where you can find our free searchable list of available luxury five star Maine resorts, comfortable four star Maine hotels, clean three star Maine lodges, convenient two star Maine inns, and budget one star Maine motels.
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As big as the other five New England states combined, Maine barely has the population of tiny Rhode Island. In theory, therefore, there's plenty of room for its massive summer influx of visitors; in reality, the majority of these make for the southern stretches of the extravagantly corrugated coast . You only really begin to appreciate the size and space of the state further north, or inland, where vast tracts of mountainous forest are dotted with lakes, and barely pierced by roads - more like the Alaskan interior than the RV-cluttered roads of the Vermont and New Hampshire mountains, and ideal territory for hiking and canoeing (and moose spotting).
Although Maine is in many ways inhospitable - the Algonquin called it ''Land of the Frozen Ground'' - it has been in contact with Europe ever since the arrival of the Vikings, around 1000 AD. For the navigator Verrazano, in 1524, the ''crudity and evil manners'' of the Indians made this the ''Land of Bad People,'' but before long European fishermen were setting up camps each summer to dry their catch. Francis Bacon in turn said that the English were ''worse than the very Savages, impudently lying with their Women, teaching their men to drink drunke, and ? to fall together by the eares.''
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North America's first agricultural colonies were in Maine: de Champlain's French Protestants near Mount Desert Island in 1604, and an English group that survived one winter at the mouth of the Kennebec three years later. In the face of the unwillingness of subsequent English settlers to let them farm in peace, the local Indians formed a long-term alliance with the French, and until as late as 1700 regularly drove out streams of impoverished English refugees. By 1764, however, the official census could claim that even Maine's black popu lation was more numerous than its Native Americans.
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Originally part of Massachusetts, Maine became a separate entity only in 1820, when the Missouri Compromise made Maine a free, and Missouri a slave, state. In the nineteenth century, its people had a reputation for conservatism and resistance to immigration, manifested in anti-Irish riots. The state's economy has always been heavily based on the sea, although many of those who fish also farm, and long expeditions are now rare. Recently they have been selling their catch direct to Russian factory ships anchored just offshore. Lobster fishing in particular has defied gloomy predictions and has boomed again as evidenced by the many thriving lobster pounds.
The vast majority of visitors to Maine drive. The most enjoyable route to follow is US-1, which runs within a few miles of the coast all the way to Canada, with innumerable turnoffs to hidden seaside villages. If you're in a hurry, I-95, initially the Maine Turnpike, offers speedy access to Portland and beyond. In the interior, the roads are quiet and the views spectacular; many belong to the lumber companies, who keep careful track of who you are and where you're going. At any time of year bad weather can render these roads suddenly impassable; be sure to check before setting off. Public transportation, on the other hand, falls a long way short of meeting travelers' needs. The six-times-daily Greyhound service from Boston to Portland, three of which continue to Bangor, links the main towns of the southern coast, as does Concord Trailways, but that's about all. Except in high summer, you can't get a bus any nearer to Acadia National Park or Bar Harbor than Bangor or Belfast, and nothing at all runs north. Sadly, in a state whose industry and tourism were once built on its railroads, there is no longer any Amtrak service. A Canadian train runs across the middle of the state to reach New Brunswick, traveling from McAdam to Brownville Junction.
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Maine offers a number of outdoor adventures, including hiking, backpacking, boating, fishing, bicycling, and more. The ability to walk considerable distances without becoming overtired (an ability generally acquired through practice) also enhances the enjoyment of such other Maine activities as bird watching, nature walks, field trips, and sightseeing.
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This article was derived fully or in part from the Maine article from Travelnow.™ Fullfillment services by Hotels.com.™
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