Way DownEast

This part of Washington County is the first place in the nation to be lit by dawn's early light and is the site of the first European settlement in the New World north of Florida. The friendly, hardworking people here still wrest their living primarily from the fields, forests, and sea. Except for fishing, farming and some lumbering, the area's economy is dominated by small businesses. Baileyville, with its humming paper mill is the largest economic engine in the region.

Way Down East has not yet become a major tourist destination, making it an ideal place for visitors who seek to get away from the crowds. Bird watching, moose spotting, hiking, and camping are popular in the area's nature preserves, State parks, and the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. Peace, quiet, and spectacular scenery are everywhere. Washington County covers some 1.5 million acres but is home to only about 34,000 people - less than the population of Bangor.

Lubec and Eastport, which sit astride the border with Canada, have bustling marine industries and many aquaculture operations growing salmon for markets to the south. Lubec is home to an adult music camp, Summer Keys, and boasts the only garden in Washington County on the Maine Garden and Landscape Trail.

From Lubec, the bridge crosses into Canada to Campobello Island and the international park that preserves Franklin Roosevelt's beloved summer home. In Lubec and Campobello, visitors can see four lighthouses, including West Quoddy Head, one of Maine's most photographed, and East Quoddy Head, the most photographed lighthouse in New Brunswick. Mulholland lighthouse and the Lubec Channel light can be seen from both sides of the border.

Eastport's waterfront has been designated a National Historic Waterfront District. Following the War of 1812, Eastport was not returned to the United States until 1818 making it the last bit of real estate to have been held by Great Britain. Each July the city swells during the annual Old Home Week and Independence Day celebrations. Eastport's Salmon Festival livens the city in early September. The city boasts several museums, offers whale watching tours in the summer, and is home to Maine's oldest retail business and America's last stone-ground mustard mill. Nearby Sipayik is home to the Passamaquoddy Tribe who celebrate "Indian Days" each August.

Further up Route 1 in the town of Perry, an unassuming stone marker at the roadside marks the 45th parallel - exactly half-way between the North Pole and the Equator. This is about the same latitude as the south of France; Romania; Hokkaido, Japan, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

A few miles more brings you to Red Beach, Calais, where you can view the St. Croix Island International Historic Site. It was near here that Sieur de Mons, Samuel de Champlain, and a party of some six dozen French explorers landed in 1604. 2004 will mark the 400th anniversary of the settlement on St. Croix Island.

Calais also is home to the Whitlock Mill Lighthouse. This light is the northern-most on the eastern seaboard of the United States. The new DownEast Heritage Center, a multi-million dollar interpretive cultural and historical center, opened in April 2004 in Calais. The greatest tidal changes (up to 28 feet between low and high tides in the continental U.S. can be viewed from the city's waterfront, and Calais is the northern terminus of the 2,600-mile East Coast Greenway bicycle trail.

Running across the middle of the region is Route 9, also known as "The Airline". This road begins near the Canadian border in Calais, and runs due west to Brewer. It sports a famous feature known as "The Whaleback", a glacial esker (long, winding, narrow sand hill) which proved to be the ideal roadbed for early builders looking for ways across swampy, wet ground.

In the region's northern reaches, smallmouth bass, lake trout and landlocked salmon of renowned Grand Lake area await the patient angler. In the village of Grand Lake Stream, tidy in its preserved Victorian splendor, angling is the most is the most frequently spoken language. The town boasts a museum and more Registered Maine Guides per capita than anywhere else in Maine. At the northern tip of the DownEast & Acadia region, Danforth is the northern-most town in America's easternmost county. On clear days, visitors here can see Maine's tallest mountain, Mt. Katahdin, about 50 miles away, as well as enjoy the "million dollar view" of the Chiputneticook Lakes.