Moxie

9781467116565

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Unless you're from New England, you may not know the expression He's got a lot of moxie! came from a bittersweet patent medicine turned soda.

The expression is taken to mean that one has nerve, vigor, and grit. The soda pop originally called Moxie Nerve Food was guaranteed to cure nervous exhaustion and a host of associated ailments. First bottled in 1885, today it is the official soft drink of the state of Maine and still enjoyed by many. This book chronicles Moxie's rich history and brilliant marketing breakthroughs as well as some corporate misfortunes and rebounds along the way.

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Whaling in Maine

9781467144520

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The history of American whaling is most frequently associated with Nantucket, New Bedford and Mystic. However, the state of Maine also played an integral part in the development and success of this important industry. The sons of Maine became whaling captains, whaling crews, inventors, investors and businessmen. Towns along the coast created community-wide whaling and sealing ventures, outfitted their own ships and crewed them with their own people. The state also supplied the growing industry with Maine-built ships, whale boats, oars and other maritime supplies. For more than two hundred years, the state forged a strong and lasting connection with the American whaling industry. Author and historian Charles Lagerbom reveals why Maine should rightly take its place alongside its more well-known New England whaling neighbors.

Around the Kennebec Valley

9781467108744

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Fans of Gay M. Grant's Along the Kennebec: The Herman Bryant Collection will enjoy these more than 200 newly released images taken by gifted South Gardiner photographer Herman Bryant (1858-1937). Now part of the collections of the Maine State Museum, Bryant's work documents late-19th- and early-20th-century life in the Kennebec River region during its industrial heyday. New information about Bryant and his family reveals fascinating stories about the people and places captured in his photographs. From Augusta downriver to Bath and the coastal islands, Bryant's lens captured the mills, factories, icehouses, and other ventures that once lined the river's banks. Vessels of all types that once made the river the artery of the region's life and economy can be seen along with images of the railroads that revolutionized travel. Bryant's poignant portraits, photographs of homes, and even images of beloved pets bring to life the industrious Maine people who built thriving communities.

Calais

9781467105231

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From the era of the indigenous Passamaquoddy people to the booming growth that led to its development as a 20th-century commercial hub, the history of Calais is distinctly American. Briefly settled by Europeans in 1604 when a French group that included Samuel de Champlain spent an ill-fated winter fraught with casualties, Calais's first permanent settlers arrived in 1779. As the lumber trade developed, the young city thrived in spite of its remote location. The first industrial railroad in the state was built in Calais in 1832 to fuel its development as the second-busiest port on the Eastern Seaboard, and soon, families like the Murchies and the Becketts were heavily involved in furthering local businesses. Lumber, shipbuilding, and granite quarrying each contributed to Calais's rise--as well as its gradual 20th-century decline as the respective industries collapsed. From a height of nearly 8,000 residents in 1900, Calais's population steadily dwindled to less than 3,000 today.

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Maine in World War I

9781467126632

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With the same patriotic fervor as Maine's response to a call for troops in the Civil War, more than 35,000 men and women across the state joined the armed forces in 1917–1918 to fight in aid of America's European allies against Germany, as well as to redress German destruction of American vessels in the North Atlantic. Mainers also provided vital support to the United States and the Allies through war-related industries, like shipbuilding, munitions, textiles, and agriculture, while purchasing more than $100 million in war bonds and donating bandages, books, and other comforts of home to the troops. The war may have been over there, but its effects were found throughout the state of Maine.

Distilled in Maine

9781626197756

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Early Maine ran on sweet and fiery New England rum. Later, rapid industrial advances and ever-present drinking opportunities made daily life unnecessarily hazardous. Overindulgence triggered a severe backlash, a fierce temperance movement and eighty-two years of prohibition in the Pine Tree State. While the coastal state never really dried out, the Maine Law sent both serious and social drinking under the table for the better part of a century. Liquor crafted in Maine has slowly and quietly remade itself into a respected drink, imbued with history and representing the best of the state's ingenuity and self-reliance. Contemporary distillers across the state are concocting truly local spirits while creative bartenders are mixing the new and old, bringing back the art of a fine drink. Join Portland food writer Kate McCarty on a spirited romp through the evolution of Maine's relationship with alcohol.

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Freeport through the Years

9781467127349

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Like other towns in coastal Maine, Freeport was settled in the 18th century by residents of the southern part of the state–Massachusetts, which it was a part of until 1820. The Harraseeket River provided mill power and transportation, enabling growth and separation from North Yarmouth in 1789. The arrival of the railroad in 1849 led to a late-century economic boom fueled by entrepreneur E.B. Mallet. Piggybacking on the established industrial infrastructure, L.L. Bean and other retailers prospered in the next century, forming the core of activity at the heart of Freeport Village today. South Freeport was sustained by shipbuilding that ebbed and flowed through the 20th century, and largely because of that industry, it remains a historic village to this day. Because of Freeport's rapid growth and a number of downtown fires, historic buildings have been lost, moved, or altered over time, though the historical society has advocated for preservation and maintains a broad collection of photographs that visually record these changes.

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The Maine Lobster Industry

9781626194106

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Since the first recorded lobster catch in 1605, the Maine lobster fishery has grown into a multibillion-dollar force. Cathy Billings of the University of Maine Lobster Institute embarks on a journey from trap to plate, introducing readers to lobstermen, boat builders, bait dealers, marine suppliers and the expansive industry that revolves around the fishery. Maine lobster families extend generations back with an eye to their legacies. Strides in sustainability have been a hallmark of the Maine fishery throughout the centuries, from the time lobstermen themselves introduced conservation measures in the mid-1800s. Today, Maine's lobster fishery is a model of a co-managed, sustainable fishery. The people who work Maine's lobster fishery have developed a coastal economy with an international influence and deep history.

Brewing in Maine

9781467115698

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Maine was once a national leader in the temperance movement to outlaw alcohol. In the last 30 years, however, the Pine Tree State has been equally influential in the craft beer movement. Since 1986, when David and Karen Geary opened New England's first microbrewery, more than 50 breweries have opened in Maine. The state not only ranks among the top 10 for breweries per capita, it also boasts two of the 50 largest craft breweries in the country. The personalities and visions of the brewers are as diverse as the beers they create. Some have opened their breweries in the hulking mill complexes of Lewiston and Biddeford or the former factories of Portland. Others have brewed at the scenic mountain resorts of Sugarloaf and Sunday River or on the quaint, historic wharves of Belfast and Kennebunk, and even on distant Monhegan Island. Farmstead breweries have sprung up from Skowhegan to Lyman, while the state's industrial parks are no less fertile.

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The Portland Company

9780738511405

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The Portland Company commenced operations in 1846 in Portland, Maine, under the leadership of John A. Poor. It was founded primarily to manufacture railroad locomotives for the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad. The company played a major role in the economy and development of the state of Maine and continued in business until 1982, producing a wide range of cast-metal and fabricated products.

The Portland Company manufactured a total of six hundred thirty steam locomotives, starting in 1848, along with hundreds of railroad cars, boilers, marine engines, ships, steam fire engines, elevators, and paper and textile mill equipment. Locomotives, ships, and cannons were built for the Civil War, and munitions were manufactured for both world wars. Later, the Portland Company produced snowplows, nuclear plant components, and common castings from manhole covers to streetlights. In the early 1900s, the company sold five makes of new automobiles and trucks. In this rich photographic history, the Portland Company and the city of Portland, with its great waterfront and industrial heritage, come to life.