Welcome to the Maine Event

A look inside our easternmost state.

Photo by Michael Denning on Unsplash

Welcome to Fun Fact Friyay! This newsletter is all about keeping things brief and sending you off into the world smarter, wiser, and happier.

Today’s fact: Maine is the only U.S. state with one syllable.

In these emails, I often like to include some additional backstory into the facts to make the experience fuller for you. This one’s tougher to do because, well…just look at a list of U.S. states. Maine’s the only one with one syllable.

So, instead of a deeper dive into this fact, let’s look at five other fun Maine attributes.

• At 3,161 miles apart, Maine is the closest U.S. state to Africa.

• Maine has its own desert, complete with a colorful camel and mini golf.

• There are 65 lighthouses across the state.

• Maine is the only state to border only one other state (New Hampshire). However, Alaska and Hawaii border fewer states since they don’t touch any other states at all.

• At one point, Strong, a Maine town of barely 1,000 people, produced 95% of the country’s wooden toothpicks. Sadly, that industry dried up in 2003, and today, Strong produces precisely zero toothpicks each year.

Here’s one more bonus fun fact for the road. On this day (September 8) in 1892, Francis Bellamy’s “The Pledge of Allegiance” was first published. Homeroom teachers everywhere rejoiced — or maybe cursed under their breath because it’s hard to get kids to recite a bunch of lines in unison.

You don’t have to reside in Maine to refer your friends to this newsletter. In fact, no matter where you live, you’ll get cool things! Go ahead and tap the button below.