They envision the world’s tallest flagpole in this Maine town. Instead of uniting, it’s dividing

ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 30, 2023

The Worcester family has a bold vision for Maine’s Down East region where the vast wilderness and ocean meet in one of the last places on the East Coast unspoiled by development: a flagpole jutting upward from the woodlands toward spacious skies – the tallest one ever, reaching higher than the Empire State Building. And atop it a massive American flag bigger than a football field. Plus a village with museums, a 4,000-seat auditorium, restaurants, and monument walls with the name of every deceased veteran dating to the Revolution. To promoters, the $1 billion project, funded in part by donations, would unite people of all political stripes. So far, the project – called the Flagpole of Freedom Park – has done precisely the opposite. Does the quiet area want the visitors it would bring? Would the massive undertaking scar the landscape? How do you balance development and environmentalism?