Desert of Maine

The Desert of Maine is a natural curiosity and privately owned tourist attraction whose main feature is a 40-acre (16 ha) expanse of barren glacial sand in the town of Freeport, Maine, United States. The area was de‑vegetated by poor farming practices in the 19th century.[1]

Desert of Maine
Freeport, Maine, United States
Coordinates43°51′27″N 70°09′22″W
Opening date1925 (1925)

History

The land that encompasses the Desert of Maine became a farm in 1821 when it was purchased by the Tuttle family. Like other Maine farmers of the era who were struggling to compete in an expanding agricultural market, the Tuttles' methods of farming gradually depleted the soil of essential nutrients. Subsequent overgrazing by large numbers of sheep produced widespread erosion of the topsoil, exposing a deposit of aeolian sand that was lying underneath.[2] Eventually the entire farm became barren, and the Tuttles abandoned the land in 1890. For years, it was known as "the sand farm" and was a popular local feature.[3] In 1925, Henry Goldrup purchased the land for US$300 (equivalent to about $5,000 in 2022) and developed it into a tourist attraction;[2] he named it the "Desert of Maine".[4]

Geology
Desert of Maine's camel statue

Toward the end of the last ice age, New England was completely covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which was up to 3,000 meters (almost 2 miles) thick in the region at its maximum extent.[5] The immense weight of the ice sheet at its maximum pushed the land of coastal Maine down below sea level,[6][7] as much as 175–245 meters below current elevations.[8][9]

Photograph of sandy terrain
The Desert of Maine in 2010

As the glaciers in Maine started to melt, approximately 15,000 years ago, the land began to rebound.[10] By about 13,500 years ago, the glaciers' retreat reached the Freeport area, where the land that would comprise the future Desert of Maine began to emerge from below the sea.[11][12][13]

At some point after the Desert area emerged, it became a sink for wind-blown sand, probably around 12,500 years ago. Pioneer plants would have begun to stabilize the open sand deposits fairly quickly, perhaps within just a few hundred years.[14] From those initial plants grew a forest, stabilizing the sand deposit until the Tuttles' farming practices uncovered it and allowed the wind to once again move the sand.

The Desert of Maine is not technically classified as a desert, as it receives an abundance of precipitation annually. The average annual snowfall is 72.1 inches, and the average annual precipitation is 50 inches, both far above the United States' averages, which are 28 inches and 38 inches respectively.[15] To be considered a desert, the area must not receive more than 10 inches of precipitation a year.[16]

Tourism
Minigolf course in January 2023

The Desert of Maine has been privately owned and maintained as a tourist attraction since 1925, with the most recent change in ownership in 2018 followed by a redevelopment campaign launched in 2020.[17] This included excavating a house, built in 1938, that had become buried in sand during the park's closure in World War II. The town of Freeport has supported the development of the site, authorizing a special zoning district to enable the construction of new facilities and to keep the site intact and maintained.[18][17] As of 2022, the site hosts a campground, rental cabins, a performing arts venue, and a miniature golf course. It also includes attractions that draw on the desert and its history, such as interpretive trails across the sand, historical buildings, and an original Ford Model T to commemorate the year of the site's opening as a tourist destination.[19]

See also

References
  1. "Desert of Maine: A Pseudo-desert in the Pine Tree State". Sand-boarding.com. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  2. Lear, Alex (February 24, 2020). "Sifting History's Sands". Portland Press Herald. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  3. Gould, John (September 5, 1997). "Freeport's Desert of Maine, way back when". The Times Record.
  4. "Desert of Maine". RoadsideAmerica.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2023. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  5. Dyke, A.S.; Andrews, J.T.; Clark, P.U.; England, J.H; Miller, G.H.; Shaw, J.; Veillette, J.J. (2002). "The Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum" (PDF). Quaternary Science Reviews. 21 (1–3): 9–31. Bibcode:2002QSRv...21....9D. doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00095-6. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  6. Thompson, W.B.; Crossen, K.J.; Borns, H.W., Jr.; Andersen, B.G. (1989). Anderson, W.A.; Borns, H.W., Jr. (eds.). "Glaciomarine deltas of Maine and their relation to late Pleistocene–Holocene crustal movements". Neotectonics of Maine: Studies in Seismicity, Crustal Warping, and Sea Level Change. Maine Geological Survey Bulletin (40): 43–67. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. Borns, H.W., Jr.; Doner, L.A.; Dorion, C.C.; Jacobson, G.L.; Kaplan, M.R.; Kreutz, K.J.; Lowell, T.V.; Thompson, W.B.; Weddle, T.K. (2004). Ehlers, J.E.; Gibbard, P. (eds.). "The deglaciation of Maine, U.S.A." Quaternary Glaciations — Extent and Chronology, Part II. Elsevier: 89–109. ISBN 9780080474076.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Hooke, R. Leb; Fastook, J. (2007). "Thermal conditions at the bed of the Laurentide ice sheet in Maine during deglaciation: implications for esker formation". Journal of Glaciology. 53 (183): 646–658. Bibcode:2007JGlac..53..646H. doi:10.3189/002214307784409243. S2CID 43390200. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  9. Oakley, B.A.; Boothroyd, J.C. (2012). "Reconstructed topography of southern New England prior to isostatic rebound with implications of total isostatic depression and relative sea level". Quaternary Research. 78 (1): 110–118. Bibcode:2012QuRes..78..110O. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2012.03.002. S2CID 44988057. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  10. Koester, AJ; Shakun, JD; Bierman, PR; Davis, PT; Corbett, LB; Braun, D; Zimmerman, SR (2017). "Rapid thinning of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in coastal Maine, USA, during late Heinrich Stadial 1". Quaternary Science Reviews. 163 (163): 180–192. Bibcode:2017QSRv..163..180K. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.03.005. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  11. Thompson, W.B. (2008). "Surficial geology of the Portland West quadrangle, Maine". Maine Geological Survey, Augusta, Open-File 08-16. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  12. Thompson, W.B.; Griggs, C.B.; Miller, N.G.; Nelson, R.E.; Weddle, T.K.; Kilian, T.M. (2011). "Associated terrestrial and marine fossils in the late-glacial Presumpscot Formation, southern Maine, USA, and the marine reservoir effect on radiocarbon ages". Quaternary Research. 75 (30): 552–565. Bibcode:2011QuRes..75..552T. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2011.02.002. S2CID 130282037. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  13. Retelle, M.J.; Weddle, T.K. (2001). Weddle, T.K.; Retelle, M.J. (eds.). "Deglaciation and relative sea-level chronology, Casco Bay Lowland and lower Androscoggin River valley, Maine". Deglacial History and Relative Sea-level Changes, Northern New England and Adjacent Canada. Geological Society of America Special Paper 351: 191–214. doi:10.1130/0-8137-2351-5.191. ISBN 9780813723518. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  14. McKeon, J.B. (1989). Tucker, R.D.; Marvinney, R.G. (eds.). "Later-glacial dunes, ventifacts, and wind direction in west-central Maine". Maine Geological Survey Studies in Maine Geology: Quaternary Geology, Vol. 6. Augusta, Maine Geological Survey: 89–101. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  15. "Climate in Freeport, Maine". bestplaces. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  16. Nunez, Christina. "Deserts Explained". National Geographic. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  17. Carter, C. Thacher (April 19, 2021). "Freeport's Desert of Maine to open in May with significant off-season upgrades". The Times Record. Archived from the original on January 18, 2023. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  18. LaClaire, Hannah (December 17, 2020). "Freeport council approves zoning change for Desert of Maine revitalization". The Times Record. Archived from the original on January 18, 2023. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  19. Routhier, Ray (May 30, 2022). "Desert of Maine's new owners bring the arts, education and mini golf to the Freeport attraction". Portland Press Herald. Archived from the original on January 18, 2023. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
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