Maine Vision Plan: Cultural Resources Summary

Summary of Maine's Existing Historical and Cultural Resources The National Park Service recognizes only one international historic site: St.Croix Island, Maine. It serves as a monument to the beginning of the United States and Canada dating back to a 1604 French attempt at year-round colonization and the settlement they called La Cadie. St. Croix Island lies west of the international border between the United States and Canada, off of Red Beach in Calias, Maine (National Park Service). Maine's Historic Preservation Commission has had a distinct role in forming legislation that seeks to actively pursue long term management of Maine's cultural resources. A state mandate of 1988 requires each town to produce a comprehensive plan to "preserve the state's historic and archaeological resources (State of Maine)". The Bureau of Parks and Recreation manages eleven historic sites as part of the state park system, most of which are colonial forts. In addition, seventeen lighthouses are available for public exploration all along the coast. The extremely wealthy families of the early twentieth century came to Maine to enjoy the cool summer weather and the coastal scenery. As a result, eminent architects and landscape architects of the period were employed to create second homes for them. Significant works, both public and private, by landscape architects such as Fletcher Steele, Beatrix Ferrand, and Frederick Law Olmsted remain there today. It has been the mission of the Maine Olmsted Alliance to catalog all designed landscapes in Maine. Habitation of Maine predates the first European settlers. Native Trails, Inc. has mapped the historic network of waterways used by native Americans for transportation. This map is currently used as a recreational guide, but these routes are also historically significant. Furthermore, the trails provide the missing link between those cultural resources that currently stand isolated from each other. For example, the Katahdin Iron Works, a state maintained historic site stands rather isolated within the East Central Region. Yet it lies within very close proximity to the West Branch of the Pleasant River which could potentially make a connection route to Moosehead Lake to the northwest, or Peaks - Kenny State Park to the south.

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Proposals by Study Results