Passport/Visa Requirements: All U.S. citizens must have a passport when traveling by air to or from Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America and Mexico. Citizens of Canada, Mexico and the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda also must have a passport or other designated secure document to enter the U.S.
Beginning 1 June 2009, passports are required for land crossings at the Canadian and Mexican borders with the U.S. and for cruise passengers returning to the U.S. from Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada or Bermuda. Reconfirm travel-document requirements with your carrier prior to departure
Population: 4,845.
Languages: English.
Predominant Religions: Christian (Protestant and Roman Catholic), though other major religions are represented.
Time Zone: 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (-5 GMT). Daylight Saving Time is observed from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.
Voltage Requirements: 110 volts.
Telephone Codes: 207, area code;
Additional Reading
Maine is rich in writers who have found their subject matter in the coastal towns and on the islands. Two novels from the 1940s portray the hard-working life of coastal and island residents:
The Weir: A Novel of the Maine Coast by Ruth Moore and
High Tide at Noon by Elisabeth Ogilvie, who later wrote a number of additional novels about the fictional Bennett family. Sarah Orne Jewett's
Country of the Pointed Firs is a contemporary account of life in a small coastal town late in the 19th century.
For the perspective of a local writer, try Sanford Phippen, who grew up in nearby Hancock. Baron Wormser, the state's second poet laureate, has written about rural life off the grid. Much of Stephen King's work is set in his home state, and suspense novelist Tess Gerritsen has set several medical thrillers there.
For photographs of the coast, see Terrell Lester's Maine: The Seasons, with more than 100 images of the land and water plus seasonal essays by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors (and Maine residents) Richard Ford and Richard Russo.
For an idea of the grandeur of Bar Harbor before the devastating fire of 1947 erased most traces of that grand age, there are a few books worth perusing. Earl Brechlin's Bygone Bar Harbor features old photographs of many of the once great homes and hotels, as well as the railroads and steamships that took visitors to the area. Loretta M. Turner's Early Bar Harbor (part of the Scenes of America series) provides historical background of the town; it's illustrated with old photos.
