Maine Hotels at Hotelswithall
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All About Maine
As big as the other five New England states combined, Maine barely has the population of tiny Rhode Island. In theory, therefore, there's plenty of room for its massive summer influx of visitors; in reality, the majority of these make for the southern stretches of the extravagantly corrugated coast . You only really begin to appreciate the size and space of the state further north, or inland, where vast tracts of mountainous forest are dotted with lakes, and barely pierced by roads - more like the Alaskan interior than the RV-cluttered roads of the Vermont and New Hampshire mountains, and ideal territory for hiking and canoeing (and moose spotting).
Although Maine is in many ways inhospitable - the Algonquin called it ''Land of the Frozen Ground'' - it has been in contact with Europe ever since the arrival of the Vikings, around 1000 AD. For the navigator Verrazano, in 1524, the ''crudity and evil manners'' of the Indians made this the ''Land of Bad People,'' but before long European fishermen were setting up camps each summer to dry their catch. Francis Bacon in turn said that the English were ''worse than the very Savages, impudently lying with their Women, teaching their men to drink drunke, and ? to fall together by the eares.''
North America's first agricultural colonies were in Maine: de Champlain's French Protestants near Mount Desert Island in 1604, and an English group that survived one winter at the mouth of the Kennebec three years later. In the face of the unwillingness of subsequent English settlers to let them farm in peace, the local Indians formed a long-term alliance with the French, and until as late as 1700 regularly drove out streams of impoverished English refugees. By 1764, however, the official census could claim that even Maine's black popu lation was more numerous than its Native Americans.
Originally part of Massachusetts, Maine became a separate entity only in 1820, when the Missouri Compromise made Maine a free, and Missouri a slave, state. In the nineteenth century, its people had a reputation for conservatism and resistance to immigration, manifested in anti-Irish riots. The state's economy has always been heavily based on the sea, although many of those who fish also farm, and long expeditions are now rare. Recently they have been selling their catch direct to Russian factory ships anchored just offshore. Lobster fishing in particular has defied gloomy predictions and has boomed again as evidenced by the many thriving lobster pounds.
The vast majority of visitors to Maine drive. The most enjoyable route to follow is US-1, which runs within a few miles of the coast all the way to Canada, with innumerable turnoffs to hidden seaside villages. If you're in a hurry, I-95, initially the Maine Turnpike, offers speedy access to Portland and beyond. In the interior, the roads are quiet and the views spectacular; many belong to the lumber companies, who keep careful track of who you are and where you're going. At any time of year bad weather can render these roads suddenly impassable; be sure to check before setting off. Public transportation, on the other hand, falls a long way short of meeting travelers' needs. The six-times-daily Greyhound service from Boston to Portland, three of which continue to Bangor, links the main towns of the southern coast, as does Concord Trailways, but that's about all. Except in high summer, you can't get a bus any nearer to Acadia National Park or Bar Harbor than Bangor or Belfast, and nothing at all runs north. Sadly, in a state whose industry and tourism were once built on its railroads, there is no longer any Amtrak service. A Canadian train runs across the middle of the state to reach New Brunswick, traveling from McAdam to Brownville Junction.
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Maine Hotels News
Portland, Maine, Hotel Planned for Attractive Harbor Location.
Byline: Mark Shanahan Jul. 9--The developers of the Portland Harbor Hotel are betting on three factors for success: Location, location, location. Brochures for the new hotel, which finally opens this week, are filled with references to the waterfront, the city's financial district and, of course,
Publication: Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)
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LANDMARK MAINE HOTEL TO BE DEMOLISHED
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine - This is the story of an almost century-old grand New England inn with ties to a recent US president that doesn't have a happy ending. The Shawmut Inn, which had been scheduled to reopen this summer, instead will be reduced to a pile of rubble in just a few weeks. Timothy
Publication: The Boston Globe
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New Bangor, Maine, hotel owner courts Korean clientele.
By Julia Hall, Bangor Daily News, Maine Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Jul. 17--BANGOR, Maine -- The new owner of a hotel in West Market Square is looking to the East for more business. The Far East. The South Korean-born lawyer who purchased the Charles Inn last month already is advertising
Publication: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
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Refugees find employment opportunity at Freeport, Maine, hotel.
Byline: Tux Turkel Jun. 9--FREEPORT -- With Maine's peak tourist season looming, Victoria Kurtz needed more housekeepers at the 77-room Hampton Inn here. So she bought ads in local newspapers and job-listing Web sites. She posted notices at area high schools. No one responded. "I didn't have a
Publication: Portland Press Herald (Portland, ME)
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Bar Harbor, Maine, hotel developer rebuts land-use violations.
By Liz Chapman, Bangor Daily News, Maine Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Oct. 1--BAR HARBOR, Maine -- An attorney for hotel developer Thomas Walsh has asked the appeals board to dismiss all of the alleged land-use violations related to the Walsh House. A public hearing on Walsh's appeal is set
Publication: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
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Plans advance slowly for Thomaston, Maine, hotel.
By Leanne Robicheau, Bangor Daily News, Maine Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 10--THOMASTON, Maine -- Plans for a proposed Route 1 hotel and restaurant at the site of local landmark Dave's Restaurant are moving in the slow lane. "Until this place is sold, we'll stay open," Dave's co-owner
Publication: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
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Missing Bar Harbor, Maine, hotel permit recovered.
By Liz Chapman, Bangor Daily News, Maine Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 2--BAR HARBOR, Maine -- Representatives of hotelier Thomas Walsh have located a missing building permit and other documents they say could prove Walsh is not in violation of the town's land use ordinance. The 1985
Publication: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
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Md. Man Charged In Fatal Shooting At Maine Hotel
A 24-year-old Columbia man was charged with murder after he shot and killed a co-worker at a posh Maine hotel where the two were working for the summer, Maine State Police said. Police said Joseph Glasco fatally shot Paul Landre, 18,about 12:45 a.m. yesterday after Landre asked him to turn down the
Publication: The Washington Post
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Barbara Finn, 89 Former Maine hotel manager
Barbara (Bosworth) Ingraham Finn, a former manager of the Cammock House in Prouts Neck, Maine, died Friday at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, from complications following surgery. She was 89. Born in Portland, she was a senior cruise hostess on many ships owned by both the French Line and
Publication: The Boston Globe
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Maine Hotels, Restaurants Still Recovering from Business Lost Last Fall.
By Edward D. Murphy, Portland Press Herald, Maine Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 23--Maine hotels and restaurants that court conventions and meetings are still trying to recover from business lost last fall, but there are signs the business is starting to bounce back. Conventions booked
Publication: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
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