e-ReferenceDesk's College and 50 State Learning Resource Guide

Find Online Colleges

Find Campus Colleges

State Symbols

The official state symbols represent the cultural heritage and natural treasures of each state or the entire United States

Maine Symbols

Maine Symbols

Animal, Berry, Bird, Cat, Drink, Fish, Flag, Floral Emblem, Fossil, Herb, Insect, Language of the Deaf Community, Mineral, Motto, Nicknames, Seal, Soil, Song, Tartan, Tree, Vessel

Maine State Drink

Moxie®

Adopted in 2005

People from away may not have heard of it, but Moxie was invented 130 years ago in Maine and has been in stores ever since and is now found only in Massachusetts and northern New England. The secret to its unique taste is gentian root.

Moxie was invented in 1884, making it the oldest soft drink one can still buy in America. Made only in Maine, from the waters of Lake Moxie, it has developed the catch phrase "Moxie Makes Mainers Mighty", since, like most old tonics, it was originally marketed as an elixir, mostly because it is made from gentian root.

It was concocted in the 1870s when Dr. Augustin Thompson of Union patented a nostrum that claimed to cure almost any ill, including loss of manhood, "paralysis, and softening of the brain," says an online Moxie publication.

Moxie was heavily promoted through the media of the day, including sheet music, toys and advertising. The original Moxie outsold Coca-Cola in the early 1900s.

The beverage, which is the oldest continually sold soda, is now owned by an Atlanta-based company and bottled in New Hampshire, but the affection for it continues in Maine.

State Symbols

State symbols represent things that are special to a particular state.

symbol \ˈsim-bəl\
noun

Etymology:
in sense 1, from Late Latin symbolum, from Late Greek symbolon, from Greek, token, sign; in other senses from Latin symbolum token, sign, symbol, from Greek symbolon, literally, token of identity verified by comparing its other half, from symballein to throw together, compare, from syn- + ballein to throw — more at devil
Date: 15th century

1: Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.