ST. GEORGE (AP) – Millions come to relax in the state that bills itself as “Vacationland.” That includes many celebrities and VIPs seeking a healthy serving of anonymity along with their lobster and clams.

Chief Justice John Roberts’ medical problems put his vacation getaway in the spotlight. But many movers and shakers from former President George H.W. Bush to Martha Stewart come to Maine to get away and to escape the summer heat.

They usually get to avoid public attention and enjoy themselves in relative anonymity – unless something unusual happens.

Roberts’ vacation was interrupted by a seizure and a fall on a boat ramp near his Hupper Island home.

Emergency workers took him to the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in nearby Rockport, where a throng of news reporters recorded his departure on Wednesday.

Before that, the chief justice was just a regular guy whose family received no special treatment in this coastal town of 2,800 residents.

“The reason people come to Maine is they get treated the same as everyone else,” Town Manager John Falla said. “That’s what draws them.”

Maine has long been a popular vacation spot in the summer. As far back as the 1800s, the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts and other titans of industry came to Bar Harbor. By 1936, the slogan Vacationland began appearing on license plates.

It remains a vacation haven, ranking first among states for the percentage of vacation homes, according to the U.S. Census.

For the most part, celebrities and dignitaries can come and go as they please. Actress Glenn Close can ski at Sugarloaf USA without causing a big stir. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn largely escape notice while spending time near Rangeley Lake.

Michele Pfeiffer and her husband, David Kelley, escape to Belgrade Lakes. Martha Stewart comes and goes from Mount Desert Island’s Seal Harbor.

Actor John Travolta rarely creates a stir on Islesboro, where he has a home, except for the times he’s been known to buzz the island in one of his planes.

Another Islesboro visitor, Kirstie Alley, at one time announced the starting lineups at junior high school basketball games.

Then there are the folks like Walter Cronkite who pop into seaside towns while motoring or sailing up and down the Maine coast.

Several media types vacation in Maine, as well. National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg was vacationing nearby and appeared outside the Penobscot Bay Medical Center, where Roberts was taken after suffering a seizure.

Steve Kingston, owner of the Clam Shack in Kennebunkport, recalls celebrities like Vanessa Williams and Oprah Winfrey coming to town, in addition to the regular flow of political figures associated with the Bushes.

There are some autograph-seekers, but there are no mobs of people hounding them. “There’s something to be said for that,” said Kingston, who provides seafood to the Bushes when they’re entertaining at Walker’s Point.

For the most part, residents give celebrities and industrial leaders the privacy and respect they seek out in Maine, said Billy Warren, owner of the Dark Harbor Shop ice cream store in Islesboro.

“They’re regular Joes. They’re part of the community,” Warren said Tuesday. “They don’t get special treatment.”

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