You can view Maine from the swell of a wave, from the top of a pine-covered slope, from the deck of a whale-watching ship, or from a rocking chair on the porch of your resort. Whatever your vantage point, it’s going to be rugged, spectacular, windswept and beautiful all at the same time. Much of Maine was home to the Penobscot tribe and not explored by Europeans until Giovanni de Verrazano named it L’Acadia and Champlain arrived in 1604. Portland is only slightly younger than Boston, having been settled in 1632. In the 1850s, Frederick Church, Thomas Cole and other members of the Hudson River School painted the state’s beautiful mountains and landscapes. The “flatlanders,” as the locals call anyone from south of New Hampshire began arriving around the Civil War. Much later, the Rockefellers, Morgans, Fords, Astors and Vaderbilts began summering and building massive summer homes. Today, the state is home to “May-nuhs” seafarers, tradesmen, fisherman, lumberman, and shipbuilders who treasure their way of life in quaint villages and on charming farms. For more than three centuries, they’ve been connected by scenic roads that trace through deep green forests and along the rocky shores that bind and sea. It’s here that you’ll discover the best of the “Down East” lifestyle, quaint classic New England villages, lighthouses, breathtaking coastal scenery, broad beaches of pure white sand and as they say “enchanting rustic elegance.” In the picture postcard Norman Rockwell village Rangeley Lakes, surrounded by 111 lakes, there’s not as much as a stop light to slow you down. Camden is your quintessential coastal Maine town, right near Booth Bay, where fisherman still haul their lobster traps, seagulls circle overhead and salty sea air drifts off the ocean. As you travel through Maine, don’t be surprised if you spot a real live moose meandering down a country road – and realize just how big they are!