Maine

Maine is a state of the United States. It is probably named after the French province of Maine. Another possibility for the name "Maine" is that the people living on islands along the coast of Maine used to speak of going to the mainland as "going over to the Main." Its U.S. postal abbreviation is ME. Four U.S. Navy ships were named USS Maine in honor of the state. The state is generally chilly, though warm summers can bring an average of 15 days above 80 degrees F for the month of July.

Famous Mainers

A citizen of Maine is known as a "Mainer," though the term "Down Easter" may be applied to residents of the norththeast coast of the state.

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• Leon Leonwood (L.L.) Bean, clothing maker and retailer
• James G. Blaine, politician
• Hannibal Hamlin, politician (Abraham Lincoln's first Vice President)
• Stephen King, writer
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, writer
• Edna St. Vincent Millay, writer
• Edmund Muskie, politician
• Judd Nelson, actor (member of the Brat Pack)
• Shirley Povich, Washington Post sports columnist
• Edward Arlington Robinson, writer
• Joan Benoit Samuelson, athlete
• Samantha Smith, "America's Youngest Ambassador"
• Joshua Chamberlain, governor, civil war General
• Henry Knox, first U.S. Secretary of War
• Andrew Wyeth, artist