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BELGRADE — Maine has officially advertised itself as “Vacationland” since 1916. Before then it was touted as “The Nation’s Playground” and “Sportsmen’s Paradise.” Today the business of tourism and recreation plays host to more than 36 million visitors who spend more than $6 billion each year, by far Maine’s biggest industry.
Maine has been a preeminent destination for rusticators, tourists, vacationers and recreational and arts enthusiasts of all stripes and seasons for nearly two centuries.
How did Maine become a vacation mecca? What were the milestones? Who were the key actors? What did they do and where did they do it? That is the subject of “Inventing Vacationland,” a PowerPoint slideshow and talk by Scott Andrews, a longtime journalist with a lifetime connection to various facets of Maine’s vacation and tourism industry.
The talk will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the 7 Lakes Alliance, Main Street, Belgrade Lakes.
The talk will begin with pioneer tourists such as Henry David Thoreau and artists of the Hudson River School. The principal focus will be in the development of transportation, accommodations and activities in the period following the Civil War and continuing to the present. The creation of Maine’s major parks and preserves will also be a major topic.
Andrews earned a B.A. in history from the University of Chicago, and an M.B.A. from Chicago Booth School of Business and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics. He has been involved in the Maine tourism industry since his teenage years, when he worked at his family’s campground in Oxford County. A longtime journalist, Andrews has written many hundreds of articles on recreation, the arts and the industry of tourism for a variety of local and national publications.
PHOTO: A postcard depicting The Belgrade hotel, which burned down in 1956. (Belgrade Historical Society photo)
