It’s quite a compliment when a musician writes a song about their favorite city. There’s Frank Sinatra’s iconic tribute to the city that doesn’t sleep in “New York, New York.” Sometimes the song is an honest but not too flattering ode, such as The Standells’ love letter to Boston in “Dirty Water.” And there are even times when musicians need directions to get back to their favorite place, like when Dionne Warwick asked, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” But to hear Tim McGraw sing, “Portland, Maine, I don’t know where that is, And I don’t want to know,” is downright upsetting! So take a seat Mr. McGraw and pour yourself a beer, while I share some fun facts about one of my favorite places in Maine.
Early explorers certainly knew where in Maine, Portland was located. Bartholomew Gosnold explored the Maine coast in 1602, seeking a suitable location for a British colony and making his first landfall at Cape Elizabeth, which is just a relaxing sail from today’s Portland. A few years later in 1607 there was an attempt to establish the first permanent English settlement in the New England in the area now known as Popham Beach, which again is just a short boat ride from Portland. However, let’s just say these early inhabitants would have agreed with Tim McGraw’s lyrics of “leave your bags in the car, keep it running,” because by 1608 they were back on their ships headed for England. However, eventually brave settlers decided to stay. Today approximately 40% of all Maine residents live in the greater Portland metropolitan area.
Although Tim McGraw’s lost love moved to Portland sometime before the release of the song “Portland, Maine” in 2014, people were living in the area as early as 1633. However, even I admit it is understandable as to why McGraw was confused. That’s because before finally settling on Portland, that area had three other names. It was called Machigonne by the Algonquin Indians who first inhabited the area around Casco Bay. Then the English renamed it Casco, followed by Falmouth. Finally on July 4, 1786, the citizens of Falmouth formed a separate town in Falmouth Neck and named it Portland. In fact, Portland even served as the capital when Maine gained statehood in 1820. But that honor only lasted seven years, until the more centrally-located Augusta was officially designated the new capital in 1827. Yet the legislature used the statehouse in Portland until 1832, when the one in Augusta was finally completed. Now that I think of it, no wonder McGraw had no idea where his girlfriend was moving to in this song!
