Maine Parks

Maine is best known as the Pine Tree State, the only one of the 50 American states having 90% of forests in its land. Many of those forests are state parks offered to locals and visitors as campground reservations. A typical tour to the most impressive state parks and peaks start at Bangor, the gateway to the Maine Highlands region.

Bangor is the home of the Mount Hope Cemetery, the second oldest garden cemetery in the United States and listed on the National Register of Historic Places ensuring its preservation. Although it is a cemetery, its history, flora and fauna makes it such a fascinating place that Stephen King used it as a back-drop location for the filming of his movie, Pet Cemetery.

The cemetery surroundings may lead you to another unusual experience in the middle of the Mount Hope park, where the Cole Land Transportation Museum, has an exhibition of just about every type of transportation known in Maine in different eras, from vintage baby carriages to powerful locomotives.

Still moving in the Highlands region, you may take the scenic drive through the great Maine woods, just up Route 15 to Dover-Foxcroft. Reaching this point, take Route 6 east to Milo, and follow Route 11 to Brownville Junction. Arriving at this point, you will find the evidence of the Katahdin Iron Works, in some remaining charcoal kiln and blast furnace dating back to 1843.

Over Route 11 to Millinocket, there are several sporting camps and lodges with a number of services and facilities to explore the Baxter State Park, an area offering a great fishing experience and white water rafting. From this point, follow a loop through the southwest corner, you can enjoy moose-sighting opportunities and impressive foliage views of Maine's tallest peak, the mile-high Mount Katahdin.

Baxter State Park exists thanks to Maine's former Governor Percival P. Baxter, who in a failed attempt to convince the state to buy the 201,018 acres of this area, bought this wilderness park in a magnificent display of philanthropy. This generous donation forced the park to follow a limited admission policy, making it necessary to contact the Park Reservation Clerk in Millinocket, before you can enjoy a day there.

Back to Route 11 and heading up to Patten, you can find the Lumberman's Museum, featuring artifacts and relics from a time past. Here is celebrated Maine's deep-rooted lumbering tradition, or picking up Route 157 until you find Route 2 south and traveling through Lincoln and West Enfield you can connect to Route 6 in Lincoln.

From that point you can head east directly to Lee, home of the Lee Historical Society Museum featuring diverse artifacts. Heading back down to Lincoln on Route 6 and picking up Route 2 South down, Old Town awaits surrounded by the scenic natural forest.
Route 2 from Old Town through Orono leads you to the University of Maine and its amazing anthropological collection displayed at the Hudson Museum, located on the campus. Maine Highlands adventure close the circuit by continuing your tour heading down to Route 2 to find the way back to Bangor.

Baxter State Park is the largest park in Maine and it is located just north of Millinocket. However, if you simply want to enjoy nature without going to a whole day park adventure, Maine has 32 other parks ranging in size from just a few acres to several square miles to enjoy an entire day of the scenic beauty of Maine.

All these parks can be found the same in the mountains, their skirts or along the many lake shores and Maine's coast, which include a unique visit to the only state's park on an island, which is only accessible by private boat.

Among these, one of the most popular parks is the Acadia National Park located on Mount Desert Island. This is the state's sole national park best known for its pine-covered forests in a 35,000 acre surface, and graced with a particular natural scenic beauty, including within its boundaries are 27 miles of carriage trails and 120 miles of hiking trails.

Acadia National Park also has a rugged coastline and is the home of the Cadillac Mountain, which is the highest point on the United States Eastern Seaboard. Take the tour at the Hull's Cove Visitor's Center, and enjoy watching a video explaining the wonders of the park, before boarding a trolley for a guided tour.

Maine's most popular mid-coast park for day time fun is located beside Route 32 in Jefferson. The beautiful Damariscotta Lake State Park offers picnicking and swimming facilities and is just a short drive from the state's capital city, Augusta. This is by itself a relaxing location with a large freshwater lake and a sandy beach, with convenient picnic tables and grills. During the summer months it is possible to reserve the group shelter by contacting the park staff.

The list of remarkable state parks include the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in Bangor, the Camden Hills State Park in Camden, the Aroostook State Park Presque, located in Isle, and the Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal. Some parks have plenty of wilderness areas, such as the Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park in Freeport, or the Peaks-Kenny State Park in Dover-Foxcroft.

Maine's islands and coastline have a number of parks, including the Warren Island State Park in Lincolnville, the Lily Bay State Park Greenville, the Holbrook Island Sanctuary in Brooksville, or the Cobscook Bay State Park located in Dennysville. Lakes and mountains are natural sceneries of the Lake Saint George State Park in Liberty, the Mount Blue State Park in Weld or the Vaughan Woods Memorial State Park in South Berwick.

Of remarkable beauty is the Roosevelt Campobello International Park in Lubec, which is also a national park along with Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor. There are other great parks in Maine, such as Grafton Notch State Park in Newry, Rangeley Lake State Park in Rangeley, Sebago Lake State Park in Casco, or Shackford Head State Park in Eastport or the Quoddy Head State Park in Lubec.