Maine's Colossal County - Aroostook

As a boy, I lived for eight years

     in Maine’s northernmost county

          – Aroostook.

I joined hundreds of other children

     who were released from school

          for several weeks each year

               to help with the potato harvest.

Aroostook is larger in area

     than the states of Connecticut

          and Rhode Island combined.

It’s the USA’s largest county

     east of the Mississippi River.

Residents of Maine

     sometimes just call it “The County”.

Politicians of Aroostook County

     have proposed spinning off the county as its own state

          since the 1990s.

As recently as 2005 the question has been brought up

     before the state assembly.

Ninety percent of Maine’s area is forested,

     and Aroostook County makes up a good percentage of that.
Historically, lumbering has been big business,
     and will continue to be.

There’s a lot of uninhabited land in Maine’s forested interior.

The Northwest Aroostook unorganized territory

     has an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km²)

          and a population of 27,

               or one person for every 100 square miles (260 km²).

Twenty-two percent of Aroostook County residents

     speak French at home,

          according to the 2000 United States Census.

There are two Indian reservations in Aroostook County:

(1) Aroostook Band of Mi’kmaq Indians Reservation in Presque Isle.

(2) Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians Reservation in Houlton.

Learn more about Aroostook County HERE.