The Maine State Building is a reminder of Maine’s industrial and economic past but is also representative of one of the great milestones in our country’s history. Constructed for the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, the building was designed by Lewiston Maine native, Charles Sumner Frost to serve as the state’s entry to the fairgrounds. The design is categorized as Queen Anne’s style and is an amalgamation of several different architectural designs of the period. Constructed of granite from 11 different quarries throughout the state, slate from Monson and wood harvested and milled in the state, the building represented several of Maine’s most important natural resources. In…

The story of Poland Spring begins in the late eighteenth century when Jabez Ricker moved his family from Alfred Maine to Bakerstown, present day Poland. Jabez had owned land adjacent to the Shaker community in Alfred and when they pressed him to acquire his land, he relented and made the land swap. Shortly after the Ricker’s arrival in Bakerstown, some travelers knocked on the door looking for a place to stay. In 1794 the family began operating an inn on the property and by 1797 opened a brand new building – the Wentworth Ricker Inn. Thus the beginning of a tradition of operating an inn on the grounds that continues…