Original subtitles

(whooshing)

(soft piano music)

(wind whistling)

(reverent orchestral music)

(soft marimba music)

- Our journey begins at West Quoddy Head Light,

the most easterly structure in the United States.

One of the most popular sites in Maine

is the thousands of hectares of wild blueberry fields,

which grow naturally in scrubland around pine forests.

Bar Harbor was discovered

in the mid-19th century by artists.

And within 10 years, rich industrialists began building

summer homes along the coast.

Crossing the Penobscot River

is the Narrows Bridge and Observatory,

the first bridge observation tower in the US,

as well as the tallest in the world.

Further up the river is the city of Bangor,

which was established in the mid-1800s

with the lumber and shipbuilding industries.

Our final location is Mount Katahdin,

the tallest in the state

and the center of Baxter State Park, a vast wilderness area.

(soft acoustic guitar music)

The sea looms large in the state of Maine

with over 8,000 kilometers of coastline,

much of which is jagged sea cliffs.

Here in the northeastern corner of the state,

it is sparsely populated, with a few small fishing villages

along with holiday homes dotted along the coast

for those who want to get away from it all.

Along this coastline are 57 active lighthouses

guiding and protecting ships from its rocky shores.

The most easterly is West Quoddy Head Light;

in fact, the easternmost structure in the United States.

It stands opposite the Canadian island of Grand Manan

and guards the entrance to the Quoddy Narrows

and the small harbors around Johnson Bay.

Dangerous rocks only seen at low tide lie in wait

to wreck ships on the wrong course for the Quoddy Narrows.

So, in 1808, President Thomas Jefferson

ordered construction of the first lighthouse,

which was built of wood.

This was replaced in 1858

with the red-and-white tower we see today.

The candy-stripe design on this 15-meter high building

is the only one in the United States.

The original land was illuminated

with sperm whale oil, lard oil, and finally kerosene,

and electricity in 1932.

It was fully automated in 1988.

West Quoddy Head Light has operated continuously

for 24 hours a day for well over a century-and-a-half.

At Lubec, the Quoddy Narrows separate the United States

from Canada and Campobello Island.

In 1962, they were joined

by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge,

with customs and border services at either end.

The bridge is aptly named after President Roosevelt,

as he spent childhood holidays on Campobello Island

in the summer residence his parents bought

in the early-1900s.

He enlarged the house in 1915

as his own family grew in size.

In the 1920s, Roosevelt contracted

what was thought to be polio and he came here less often.

The design of the house is in the arts-and-crafts style,

with elements of early American colonial architecture.

It was designed to be comfortable

with beautiful views and have picturesque charm.

In 1964, the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park

was opened with Prime Minister Lester Pearson from Canada

and the American president, Lyndon Johnson, in attendance.

The 1,100-hectare park and house

are jointly owned and managed by the two countries

to honor the memory of Roosevelt

and the legacy of friendship between Canada and America.

Across the bay and back in the United States

is the smallest city in Maine, Eastport.

It stands on Moose Island

and has a population of only 1,500 people.

This is in stark contrast to the mid-19th century,

when Eastport was the second largest trading port

after New York City, with a population of around 4,000.

This was due to its deep-water port

and the fact that it was ice-free during the winter

as a result of the fast tidal race

and powerful currents that prevented ice forming.

It was primarily the sardine fishing trade,

along with a thriving canning industry,

which saw the city prosper.

But it was not to last.

And as the fishing industry declined,

so too did the population.

In fact, the city was declared bankrupt in 1937.

Today, Eastport attracts a growing number of tourists,

many of whom come to see the wildlife

that thrives on the fish

that are churned up by the turbulent tides,

which rise and fall around eight meters.

This makes it an ideal feeding place for sea eagles,

as well as harbor seals, who catch salmon, sea bass,

and herring in these tidal races between the islands.

Back on the coast,

we find one of the many small fishing harbors.

This one is Cutler on Little River

with a population of around 500 people.

Out in the harbor entrance is Little River Island

and another picturesque lighthouse.

Maine is often referred to as the lighthouse state

and they are an important part of its history,

as well as being some of the most photographed buildings

in America.

Here at Little River Light, which is preserved

through the American Lighthouse Foundation,

visitors can spend the night in the keeper's house,

which was built in 1888.

(soft harp music)

They can also climb the 11-meter tower

in the footsteps of past keepers

and take in the glorious views

and perhaps see eagles fly by.

The tower and house were both restored in 2001

through the foundation and the lamp re-lit

after 26 years of darkness.

Across the bay from Cutler is the Cutler Naval Station

and the United States Navy's VLF transmitter.

VLF stands for 'very low frequency'

and the station, built in 1960,

provides one-way communication to submarines

in the Navy's Atlantic Fleet,

both on the surface and submerged.

It is one of the most powerful radio transmitters

in the world.

As with all VLF stations,

the transmitter has a very small bandwidth

and so cannot transmit speech

but only coded text messages at a low data rate.

For critical operational reasons,

the antenna system has to operate 24 hours a day,

all year round, so much needed maintenance

and upgrades have to be carefully planned.

Close to the naval station is Cross Island

and just off the north coast is a salmon fish farm.

This is one of several along the Maine coast.

The idea of fish farming began back in the 1960s

with Norway leading the way.

The process is organized in two stages

and sometimes referred to as from-egg-to-plate.

First, the salmon are hatched from eggs

and raised on land in freshwater tanks.

When they are 12 to 18 months old,

the juvenile salmon, called smolts,

are transferred to floating sea cages or net pens

anchored in sheltered inlets, such as here in Machias Bay.

A large sea cage can contain up to 90,000 fish.

In the cages, they are fed pelleted feed

for another 12 to 24 months before being harvested.

Modern harvesting methods are shifting towards

transferring live salmon in what are known as wet-well ships

to the processing plant.

This results in a superior product quality for the market,

along with more humane processing.

This is one of the great sights of Northeast Maine:

the wildflowering blueberry fields.

(upbeat orchestral music)

Maine has 18,000 hectares of wild blueberries,

which grow naturally in fields

and scrubland around pine forests.

The plants have adapted over centuries

to the area's naturally acid, low-fertility soils

and challenging winters.

In the spring, thousands of people come here

to marvel and photograph this colorful display.

Wild blueberries hold a special place

in Maine's agricultural history,

one that goes back centuries to early Native Americans.

They were the first to use the tiny blue berries,

both fresh and dried, for their flavor,

nutrition, and healing qualities.

But it was not until the 1840s that wild blueberries

were first harvested commercially.

After the harvest, the plants are pruned to the ground

by mowing or burning.

The Native Americans burned the wild blueberry fields

because it was easy and the fire did the work.

It kills insects and it helps control fungus

and other pests that can lie dormant in the field.

Today, efficient propane burners do the job,

which is quite a sight from the air.

Blueberries are what are known as a low-input crop,

requiring minimal management.

The berries are grown on a two-year cycle.

Each year, half of a grower's land is left fallow

and the other half is prepared

for a wild blueberry harvest in August.

Known as a superfruit, blueberries have been proven

to boost brain health and improve memory.

Studies have shown that the antioxidants

present in the fruit regulate essential brain functions.

The coastline of Maine has many inlets and bays

studded with wooded islands and a great place to sail.

This is the schooner Margaret Todd,

which takes visitors on a nostalgic sailing trip

around the islands.

She is 46 meters long and was built in Florida in 1996

to loosely resemble a late-19th century schooner,

which would've plied these waters

transporting cargo along the Eastern Seaboard.

She carries nine sails on four masts

and all the sails have names from centuries past.

The large ones are called, from the bow to stern,

the foresail, the mainsail,

the mizzensail, and the spanker sail.

At the bow are the jib topsail and the inner and outer jibs.

The Margaret Todd sails out of Bar Harbor,

which has also become a favorite port of call

for large cruise liners.

They call in here on voyages up the coast of New England,

as the bay is deep enough to accommodate these large ships.

Bar Harbor and its surroundings

were discovered in the mid-19th century

by the Hudson River School of painters.

And as a result, visitors began to come here.

The first hotel was built in 1855.

And within 10 years, rich industrialists

began to build large summer cottages along the coast.

By 1880, there were 30 hotels

and Bar Harbor rivaled Newport in Rhode Island

for popularity.

But in 1947, sparks ignited a cranberry field,

causing a wildfire that lasted for 10 days

and destroyed much of Bar Harbor,

including 67 palatial mansions and over 170 homes.

It took some time for the town to recover.

Today, it is as popular as ever,

and hundreds of passengers from cruise ships

come to enjoy this New England town, as well as take a coach

up to the top of Cadillac Mountain

and its spectacular views.

On exceptionally clear days,

it's possible to see Mount Katahdin,

Maine's highest mountain, to the north

and the Canadian province of Nova Scotia to the east,

both well over a hundred kilometers away.

While there are any number of bridges

and observation towers scattered around the world,

it's fairly rare to find

a combination of the two in one structure.

This is the 650-meter-long

Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory.

It has the distinction of being

the first bridge observation tower in the United States,

as well as the tallest in the world.

A lift takes visitors up 128 meters to the observation room,

where there is a dramatic 360-degree view of the bridge,

as well as the river and bay.

The bridge was opened in 2006

alongside the earlier one, built in 1931.

It is one of only three cable-stayed bridges

in the United States.

Distinctive to this design are the cables,

which run directly from the tower to the deck,

normally forming a fan-like pattern.

This is in contrast to the modern suspension bridge,

where the cables supporting the deck

are suspended vertically from the main cable

anchored at both ends of the bridge

and running between the towers.

Each steel strand is carried inside the main cable

in a two-and-a-half-centimeter steel tube.

Each strand acts independently,

which allows for its removal, inspection, and replacement.

There is also a great view from the bridge

of the historic Fort Knox.

(soft orchestral music)

This is one of the best-preserved fortifications

on the New England coastline.

Built between 1844 and 1869,

it was the first fort in Maine built entirely of granite.

Most previous forts used wood, earth, and stone.

As a virtually-intact example

of a mid-19th-century granite coastal fortification,

it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

Fort Knox was built as the result

of anti-British feeling in Maine

after it suffered two naval defeats,

the first in 1779 during the War of Independence,

and in 1814 in the War of 1812.

Both took place in Penobscot Bay and River.

Fort Knox was never to see battle,

though it was manned during the American Civil War

with recruits in training

before they were assigned to active duty.

By 1900, the fort had become a storehouse for naval mines.

And in 1923, the federal government

put Fort Knox up for sale as excess property

and it was bought by the state of Maine.

The fort is one of the best preserved

and most accessible in the United States.

Virtually all of it is open to the public,

including period weapons.

30 kilometers up the Penobscot River is the city of Bangor,

the third-largest in the state.

The area around the present-day city

was occupied by the Penobscot people

for at least 11,000 years and they still occupy tribal land

on the nearby Indian Island Reservation.

Modern Bangor was established in the mid-1800s

in reaction to the growth

in the lumber and shipbuilding industries.

As the town lies on the river,

logs could be floated downstream from the Maine North Woods

and processed at the city's water-powered sawmills,

then shipped from Bangor's port to the Atlantic Ocean

and from there to any port in the world.

Evidence of this is still visible

in the lumber barons elaborate Greek Revival

and Victorian mansions

and the 10-meter-high statue of Paul Bunyan,

a mythical giant lumberjack whose exploits revolve around

the tall tales of his superhuman labors.

In American folklore, he and his ox, named Babe,

are said to be responsible

for the creation of several American landscapes,

landmarks, and natural wonders.

Did he actually exist?

Probably not.

But he is a big man in Maine legend.

A famous Bangor resident is Stephen King,

the author best known

for his horror-themed stories and novels.

He is one of the most successful living writers

and has been honored with numerous awards,

including a National Medal of Arts

from the United States National Endowment for the Arts

for his contributions to literature.

His books have sold more than 350 million copies,

many of which have been adapted into feature films,

miniseries, and comic books.

His success has meant he and his family

are said to donate several million dollars per year

to libraries, local fire departments

in need of updated lifesaving equipment, schools,

and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts.

He has lived in Bangor since 1977

and has a close association with the University of Maine,

15 kilometers upstream from the city.

Lying between the Penobscot and Stillwater Rivers,

the university was established in 1865

as a college of agriculture, as well as the mechanic arts,

under the provisions of the Morrill Act,

which was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.

For the first time, it made education available

for all social classes.

Under this act, eligible states

received large tracts of federal land to sell

and then were able to use the funds

to establish new land-grant colleges.

The Morrill Act became a major educational resource

for the United States and is still in force today.

It makes learning available to all people

who are in search of higher education.

In 1868, Maine College became the University of Maine

and today has roughly 11,000 students

and is the state's largest university.

In the early-1800s, the Penobscot River

was teeming with migratory fish,

including shad, alewives, blueback herring,

and, perhaps best known, wild Atlantic salmon.

This provided a thriving industry until the 1830s,

when a series of dams were built for power,

preventing these fish from reaching their breeding grounds.

The fish population all but collapsed.

(somber orchestral music)

But in 2004, after years of negotiation,

the Penobscot River Restoration Trust

finally reached an agreement with all the interested parties

on how to restore the fish to the river.

In 2012, two hydroelectric dams were demolished,

including the Great Works Dam in Old Town,

and the following year the Veazie Dam was removed.

Those that remained had improved fish passages built

and an increase in power output

to compensate for the lost dams.

Today, fish are returning in great numbers

and the project has been hailed

as one of America's most innovative restoration projects.

As we head north, the landscape gives way

to vast areas of forest.

It's worth noting that just under 90%

of the total land in Maine

contributes to the lumber industry.

From the earliest European presence,

the trees of Maine have been a source of ship masts

and boat-building materials,

as well as wood for housing and other structures.

By the 19th century,

the pulp and paper industry was rapidly growing.

Maine is known as the Pine Tree State.

Logging life in these early days was pretty tough.

Work went from dawn to dusk,

which then meant retiring to a logging camp at night,

which was essentially a basic military-style barracks.

Nowadays, modern machinery will do the work

of scores of workers, but it's made the industry profitable.

Moving into the 20th century,

the recreational uses of these huge forests

opened them up for hunting, hiking, and camping,

which all became increasingly popular pastimes.

And today, more and more people

understand the important role that these vast forests play

in absorbing greenhouse gases,

as well as providing habitats for wildlife.

We are now entering the 809-square-kilometer

Baxter State Park, our final location.

And at the center is Mount Katahdin,

the highest mountain in the state at 1,605 meters.

It was named by the Penobscot Indians

and means 'the greatest mountain'.

The mountain and park was a gift to the people of Maine

from Governor Percival Baxter

over a 30-year period starting in 1931.

Access and use are strictly regulated

in accordance with Governor Baxter's express desire

to keep the park forever wild.

He wrote at the time of his gift,

"Man is born to die, his work short-lived.

"Buildings crumble, monuments decay, wealth fanishes.

"But Katahdin, in all its glory, shall forever remain

"the mountain of the people of Maine.

"Throughout the ages, it will stand as an inspiration

"to the men and women of the state,"

a perfect place to end this journey.

(reverent orchestral music)