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as of August 11th, 2008 (the day i first entered the state of Maine) i have now been to every state on the east coast. at lonnnnnnng last :) but --- ONLY every state on the east coast ...
my friend rachel (check out her amazingness at rachelfaller.blogspot.com) and i recently took a trip to Maine together for a few days. our first stop was the visitor center where we found this flier:
so obviously we HAD to go:
Upon further exploration, one finds out that The Desert of Maine is not actually a "desert" as much as it as a large mass of land that was completely over-farmed and, thusly, eroded to the sand that was beneath the soil. The folks at The Desert of Maine website give this synopsis:
"William Tuttle Farm: 1797. In 1797 the Tuttle family moved to the 300 acre farm that once covered the Desert of Maine where they successfully raised crops of potatoes and hay for several years. Failure to rotate crops thereafter, combined with massive land - clearing and overgrazing resulted in severe soil eroison that exposed this hidden Desert. As the spreading sand grew uncontrollable, the Tuttles surrendered, leaving the Desert to it's destiny."
"William Tuttle Farm: 1797. In 1797 the Tuttle family moved to the 300 acre farm that once covered the Desert of Maine where they successfully raised crops of potatoes and hay for several years. Failure to rotate crops thereafter, combined with massive land - clearing and overgrazing resulted in severe soil eroison that exposed this hidden Desert. As the spreading sand grew uncontrollable, the Tuttles surrendered, leaving the Desert to it's destiny."
3 comments:
damn i can't believe i wasn't in Maine on your first visit to my fair state. Repeat trip is needed, with fresh lobbies, an overnight-on-an-island kayak trip, and hiking. Summer 09?
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