Maine State Flag

Adopted in 1909.

The state flag of Maine was Adopted by the Legislature of 1909.

The picture on Maine's blue flag is the state coat of arms, which is used on the state seal. Representing Maine's agricultural and maritime industries are a farmer on one side of the shield and a seaman on the other. The lower portion of the shield is a of water, and the upper section sky. A huge pine tree stands for Maine's forests that cover 90 percent of its land. Below the tree lies a moose, now the state animal, indigenous to the state and symbolic of Maine's reverence for wildlife. A North Star glows above the shield, as Maine was the northernmost state at the time of its adoption into the Union.

The Maine State Flag as defined by law does not exist. There are no examples of the flag that correspond to the written description of it found in the Maine Statutes.

State Flags

The flags of the US states exhibit a wide variety of regional influences and local histories, as well as widely different styles and design principles. Modern state flags date from the 1890s when states wanted to have distinctive symbols at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

flag (flag)
noun

1. a piece of cloth or bunting, often attached to a staff, with distinctive colors, patterns, or symbolic devices, used as a national or state symbol, as a signal, etc.; banner; standard; ensign