Aug. 7, 1823: Maine’s first recorded meteorite falls between 4 and 5 p.m. in Nobleboro, startling a nearby flock of sheep when it hits the ground. Mr. A. Dinsmore, who looks for the rock after hearing what he later says sounded like musket fire, digs down about 6 inches and recovers 5 or 6 pounds […]
Bicentennial
Stories about Maine’s 202 Bicentennial from the Sun Journal.
Posted inBicentennial
On this date in Maine history: Aug. 6
Aug. 6, 1899: At least 20 people drown and more than 50 are injured at Hancock Point when a movable slip leading to a steamship collapses, dropping about 200 boarding passengers 15 feet into the ocean. The people in the water are hemmed in on three sides by dock pilings and on the fourth by […]
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Posted inBicentennial, Maine, News
On this date in Maine history: Aug. 5
Aug. 5, 1789: Congress passes the Coasting Act, which requires that ships trading along the Atlantic coast enter and clear at a custom house both coming and going in every state except the ones contiguous to the ship’s state of departure. This provides a disincentive for Maine to separate from Massachusetts, because Massachusetts is contiguous […]
Posted inBicentennial, Maine, News
On this date in Maine history: Aug. 3
Aug. 3, 1924: A fire caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette butt consumes the Hillcrest, a summer hotel on Chebeague Island, and nearby buildings, killing three guests and injuring others. The fire also burns up a neighboring dance hall and two residences, one of which was being used as a hotel annex, as well as […]
Posted inBicentennial, Maine
On this date in Maine history: August 2
Aug. 2, 1909: Edwin A. Grozier, publisher of the Boston Post newspaper, sends a gold-headed ebony cane to the Board of Selectmen in each of 700 towns in New England, asking each board to present the cane to the oldest living male resident of that town. Upon that man’s death, the cane is to be […]
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On this date in Maine history: August 1
Aug. 1, 1931: The first commercial air passenger service at Stroudwater Airport – now Portland International Jetport – begins with a Boston-Maine Airways flight from Boston. Boston-Maine is one of two carriers to start serving Maine that day. Its flights leave Boston and land in succession in Portland, Rockland and Bangor. The company operates two […]
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On this date in Maine history: Aug. 4
Aug. 4, 1914: The ocean liner SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie, headed from New York to Plymouth, England, diverts to Bar Harbor when the captain learns that World War I has begun. The ship arrives at 6 a.m. in a town that usually saw nothing but small coastal ships. The captain wanted to avoid having the German […]
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On this date in Maine history: July 31
July 31, 1779: William D. Williamson, Maine’s second governor and a scholar who laid much of the foundation for Maine historical research, is born in Canterbury, Connecticut. Williamson’s “The History of the State of Maine; from Discovery, A.D. 1602, to the Separation, A.D. 1820, Inclusive” is a standard reference work for modern researchers. A Brown […]
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On this date in Maine history: July 30
July 30, 1898: Authorities in Boston issue an arrest warrant for the Rev. Prescott Jernegan in connection with a factory in Lubec, Maine, that Jernegan’s investors were told was extracting gold from seawater. Jernegan, a Bowdoin College graduate and Baptist minister, and fellow Martha’s Vineyard native Charles Fisher convinced two gullible investors that the process […]
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On this date in Maine history: July 29
July 29, 1931: The monoplane Sirius lands on the island of North Haven. Charles Lindbergh, famous after having flown across the Atlantic four years earlier, steps out with his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh. They visit Anne Lindbergh’s parents – New Jersey’s U.S. Sen Dwight Morrow and poet and future Smith College administrator Anne Cutler Morrow […]