Last updated: September 6, 2024
Place
Downeast Maine National Heritage Area
photo by Jerry Monkman
Quick Facts
Location:
Washington and Hancock Counties, Maine
Significance:
The Downeast Maine National Heritage Area embodies a nationally important story of America’s northern Atlantic coastal frontier, and relationships between the United States and Canada and between Maine and the Wabanaki people.
Designation:
National Heritage Area
MANAGED BY:
Congress designated the Downeast Maine National Heritage Area in 2023. The Downeast Maine NHA supports programs and partnerships that connect people with the stories, experiences, natural environment, and culture shaped by many millennia of life spent at the interface of a vast network of inland forests and waterways and the rugged Atlantic Ocean.
The term “Downeast” originated in the 1700s, referring to the direction ships sailed from New York and Boston —downwind and to the east – carrying resources to and from what we now call Downeast Maine. This name aptly reflects how natural resource-based economies, like shipbuilding, fishing, wild blueberry farming, quarrying granite, harvesting timber, nature-based arts, recreation, and tourism have shaped and continue to shape the “Downeast way of life”.
Passamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum
St. Croix International Historic Site
The Tides Institute and Museum of Art
Roosevelt Campobello International Park
West Quoddy Head Light Station and Quoddy Head State Park
The Burnham Tavern
Wild Blueberry Heritage Center
Schoodic National Scenic Byway
Woodlawn Museum and Gardens
The Wilson Museum
Islesford Historical Museum
Acadia National Park
Maine Granite Industry Museum
Abbe Museum
Downeast Fisheries Trail
Jeremiah O’Brien
John Black
Louis Agazzi
George B. Dorr
Beatrix Farrand
Clara Barnes Martin
Frank “Big Thunder” Loring
Tomah Joseph
Lucy Nicolar Poolaw
Helen and Scott Nearing
Ralph Stanley
Dell Emerson
The term “Downeast” originated in the 1700s, referring to the direction ships sailed from New York and Boston —downwind and to the east – carrying resources to and from what we now call Downeast Maine. This name aptly reflects how natural resource-based economies, like shipbuilding, fishing, wild blueberry farming, quarrying granite, harvesting timber, nature-based arts, recreation, and tourism have shaped and continue to shape the “Downeast way of life”.
Historic Sites and Points of Interest:
St. Croix International WaterwayPassamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum
St. Croix International Historic Site
The Tides Institute and Museum of Art
Roosevelt Campobello International Park
West Quoddy Head Light Station and Quoddy Head State Park
The Burnham Tavern
Wild Blueberry Heritage Center
Schoodic National Scenic Byway
Woodlawn Museum and Gardens
The Wilson Museum
Islesford Historical Museum
Acadia National Park
Maine Granite Industry Museum
Abbe Museum
Downeast Fisheries Trail
Notable People:
Chief AsticouJeremiah O’Brien
John Black
Louis Agazzi
George B. Dorr
Beatrix Farrand
Clara Barnes Martin
Frank “Big Thunder” Loring
Tomah Joseph
Lucy Nicolar Poolaw
Helen and Scott Nearing
Ralph Stanley
Dell Emerson