Bangor, ME Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

In its prime, BANGOR , 120 miles northeast of Portland, was the undisputed "Lumber Capital of the World." Every winter its raucous population of "River Tigers" went upstream to brand the felled logs, which they then maneuvered down the Penobscot as the thaw came in April, reaching Bangor in time to carouse the summer away in the grog shops of Peppermint Row. Bangor exported ice to the West Indies – and got rum in return. Those days were coming to an end when, in October 1882, Oscar Wilde addressed a large crowd at the new Opera House and spoke diplomatically of "such advancement … more »