Maine

flag of Maine
The Pine Tree State
Admitted March 15, 1820

The Maine state flag follows a common pattern for U.S. state flags, featuring the coat of arms on a field of blue.

It wasn’t always this way, though. The first official flag was a simple and graphic design featuring a pine tree. It has proven very popular over the years and many campaigns have tried to revert the flag back to the original design with no success (yet).

The current version of the flag was adopted February 23, 1909.

Composition

The Maine flag features a field of blue charged with the state coat of arms, centered.

In the 2001 North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) flag survey of United States and Canada flags, the flag of Maine was ranked 60th out of 72.

flag of Maine

Iconography

  • five-pointed star surrouned by radiating beams, “Dirigo” on a banner

    North Star

    a guiding light, navigation, leadership

  • a farmer with scythe

    farmer

    rich agricultural tradition

  • a sailor with an anchor

    sailor

    Maine’s long coastline, fishing, shipbuilding

  • a moose lies in front of a pine tree

    pine tree

    New England, regional flora and fauna

Coat of Arms

The Maine coat of arms (and state seal) have remained relatively unchanged since adoption in 1820. It was formally standardized in 1919 to reduce small variations.

the Maine coat of arms

Colors

The Maine flag uses the same blue of the U.S. national flag.

Maine statute does not provide Cable or Pantone values for the colors of the coat of arms.The hex values here are approximations.
Blue
#002147
Cable No. 70075 Old Glory Blue
PMS 282c
Gold
#ffe84f
Red
#ff163c
Light blue
#9ed9ff
Pine
#3e6f3e
Green
#36e218
Brown
#6f513e

Construction

Maine statute specifies the dimensions of the flag in feet and inches.

The flag should have a fly of 5 feet, 6 inches and a hoist of 4 feet, 4 inches.

The coat of arms should be embroidered on a flag of silk and can be trimmed with knotted yellow fringe measuring 2 1/2 inches wide.

Pike

The flag should be flown on a 9 foot pike (flagple) with a tassled cord 8 feet 6 inches in length attached to the spearhead. The cord should be made of white and blue silk strands.

construction sheet for the flag of Maine

Previous iteration

The 1901 version of the Maine flag featured a green pine tree and a blue five-pointed star on a field of buff.

Two attempts in the 1990’s failed to bring back the original flag. In the last few years, though, private companies have begun manufacturing and selling a similar version resulting in increased popularity and new calls to change the flag once again.

1901 version of the Maine flag

Sources