BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 24, 2026
It sounds absurd, but it’s shockingly common: Many people all across the country do not know that Maine is a part of the United States and not, in fact, a part of Canada. It’s also not a made up fantasyland, as some TikTokers have suggested. Although if we wanted to stop too many people from coming here, it might not be a bad strategy to promote the idea that Maine, like Middle-earth and Westeros, isn’t actually a real place. To be fair, thinking Maine is a part of Canada isn’t entirely out of left field. We’re way up in the upper right corner of the map. Maine shares not just a long border with both Quebec and New Brunswick, but also many cultural touchstones, in food, music, language and more.