Interesting Portage Facts:
Portage Lake is the second lake in the West Branch of the Fish River.
Portage Lake has a surface area of 2,471 acres, the maximum depth is 25 feet, and the average depth is 10 feet. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife manage the lake for a coldwater fishery (salmon & trout).
Birds likely to be spotted or heard: Bald Eagle, Barred Owl, Blue Birds, Harrier (Marsh Hawk), Kestrel, Osprey, Terns, Saw-Whet Owl, Snow Geese, Woodcock ...
Wildlife likely to be spotted: Black Bear, Moose, White Tail Deer, Red Fox, Weasels, Coyotes ...
Interesting plants of the area: Pitcher Plant, wild cranberries, lady slipper orchards, painted & red trillium ....
|
Cultural Heritage and Influences
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Evangeline, was published in 1847. A Maine born and educated man of letters, Longfellow was the most popular poet of his time in the country. Evangeline brought nation-wide fame - with copies found in every literate household in America in the 19th century - to the territory once known, through the 1600 and 1700s, as Acadia. That territory included Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Northern Maine. The poignant romance of the poem and its lyrical descriptions of a place nurtured a special awareness in early settlers and their descendants about scenic wilderness settings such as those in this area.
Subsequent to the poem’s publication, generations of children grew up listening to their parents quote from Evangeline. Also, the poem was required reading in all the schools from as early as the fourth grade and still is in many instances.
Many areas of the country justifiably can and do boast of outstanding scenery. However, thanks to Longfellow, none was so immortalized with such strong influence as the Territory of Acadia. Whether or not they have French Acadian in their ancestry, Evangeline is an essential ingredient in the educational diet of Northern Maine’s inhabitants. Imprinted for ever on their genetic code is a passion for and an obsession with the “Forest Primeval.”
Experts quote from varying sources as to the appropriate derivative of the word “acadia.” Several attribute it to similar words in the Micmac or Malaiseet Indian languages with varying meanings. Others refer to the Greek word “arcadia” which means “Land of happiness” or “arcady,” also Greek, which means “noble with an ideal landscape, inhabited by simple, virtuous people."
|
From Longfellow’s viewpoint, the line in Evangeline which reads “list to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy” could be said to give credence to a derivative from the Greek.
Through territorial tugs of war involving also boundary line disputes, which existed between England and France from the 1600s into the 1700s, the Territory of Acadia, as an identification of place, disappeared from use. Continued in use is the term “French Acadian” as an identification of people who are descended from that ancestry. An aggressive endeavor is currently underway, in the involved Canadian provinces and in the St. John Valley of Northern Maine to keep alive and preserve the historical and cultural heritage of French Acadians as well as to preserve that of all French Canadians and their ancestry. A replica of a French Acadian Village is located near Van Buren, Maine.
In 1760 France finally gave up its struggle of many years for the Territory of Acadia and all that was regarded as New France in North America. Maine continued as part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony until it became a state in 1820. It’s northern boundaries involved vast areas of land that once had been part of the Territory of Acadia and remained unsettled and in dispute because of England’s interest in the timber.
The bloodless Aroostook War resolved Maine’s northern boundaries by a treaty negotiated with England’s Lord Ashburton in 1842 after a march of 10,000 militia out of Bangor forged a road up through Aroostook County. They utilized, when convenient, existing roads, including those known as “corduroy” or log roads, built by early settlers in the area. The result was consolidated into what is now known as Route 11. Thus it is a fluke of geographic history that the northern part of Aroostook County is not today a part of New Brunswick, Canada.
|
Our History |
Our Homepage |
Business Directory
Calendar of Events |
Our Guestbook |
Cultural and Natural Resources
|Our Four Seasons |
E-Mail Us|
COPYRIGHT ©1998, Portage Lake & Web Impressions
Return to Connect Maine
|