Desert of Maine: October 9th, 2008

For my 5th cite visit, I went to the Desert of Maine. Thinking I could go and walk around the desert FOR FREE I went there thinking I would have an awesome experience. Instead I had to pay 10 DOLLARS but I still had an awesome experience.

Myself and Ashley were the only ones there besides the workers. With the end of the season for the desert coming just around the corner, I could understand why they made me pay 10 DOLLARS. It was a nice day outside, fairly warm and the sand was dry. At first, we walked into the gift shop, looked around and then proceeded out the back to walk into the desert. When inside the desert, you are allowed to freely walk around and explore. We first checked out the barn and looked at all the neat artifacts.Next we went into the desert. I hadn't been there since I was a kid and being older I could appreciate it much more. I had never seen anything like this before in my life.

The sand looked like actually desert sand but there were bright green trees around the perimeter of the desert. There was also running water along the sides of the sand and I also found a mushroom growing in the middle of the desert. Besides walking the trails, there wasn't much else to do in the desert. In order to keep you entertained, the workers put up neat signs around the desert that had cool facts about the place. So Ashley and I walked around looking at all the signs, but after walking around for about 45 minutes we called it quits and left. However before we left, I had to get a picture of the camel and its little baby. Historical Significance

The Desert of Maine, is the only desert found in Maine and is formed naturally. The desert of Maine is 40 acres of glaciers sand, located in the middle of the woods in Freeport, Maine. Before the desert became a desert, it was a farm land. The farm land was owned by the Tuttle family. Mr. Tuttle, a wealthy man from Boston, moved to Freeport to start a farm and try is hand at farm work. They purchased the land in 1797. After years of not rotating the crops and overgrazing by animals, the land started to turn up glacier sand. Eventually the sand would overcome 40 acres of the Tuttle's land and in 1919, they abandoned the land. In the same year, Henry Goldrup purchased the land for 300 dollars and in 1925 made it into a tourist attraction.

The workers that work there are always learning reasons why the sand appeared on the land. What the workers have come to find out, through universities and archaeologists, that the land actually sits on a lake bed. They believe that the land was sucked up by the lake, forming the sand that is there now. The sand rose so high that in some places of the desert, the sand rises more than 100 feet. If you walk to the edges of the desert you can see just how high the sand is. However, even though there is plenty of sand, vegetation is starting to take back the land. Grass and trees are starting to grow on the sand, hinting that the land might turn fruitful once more. If you look closely at the sand, you can see that the sand isn't really real desert sand but glacier sand that freezes in mid-winter.

Over the years the Desert of Maine has been subject to many scholars. Archaeologists have come from all over to study the land in the desert and many tourists come to see this phenomenon. The Desert of Maine is significant to Maine because Maine is the only state in New England that has a so called "desert." It adds to the economy of Maine by leading tourists to Maine, plus it adds to the history of Maine. For once this isn't an example of preservation because the land was specifically bought for the purpose of leading tourists to this cite. However, the money that is made goes towards the preservation of the 300 year old barn sitting next to the gift shop. So I guess that this is an example of preservation in a small way. (Maine is all about preservation) Hopefully the Desert of Maine sticks around Maine for many years to come but it looks like mother nature might want her beloved land back.

Resources: The Desert of Maine workers, Wikipedia