Flag of Maine

The first pine tree flag

Maine’s first official state flag was adopted in 1901. It was simple: a buff field with a green pine tree in the center and a blue five-pointed star, the North Star, in the upper corner. That flag lasted only eight years.

The 1909 flag

In 1909 the legislature replaced it with the present design: the state coat of arms on a field of blue, the same shade as the blue of the US flag. The law describes a ceremonial version embroidered in silk, with a knotted yellow silk fringe and a white-and-blue cord and tassels. A model flag is kept by the adjutant general. No individual designer is recorded.

What the arms show

The coat of arms on the flag repeats the design of the state seal adopted in 1820:

• The shield. A white pine tree, Maine’s emblem, with a moose lying at its foot.
• The farmer. On one side, a farmer, or husbandman, resting on a scythe, for agriculture.
• The sailor. On the other side, a sailor resting on an anchor, for the sea. The law says the ground beneath the shield represents sea and land.
• The North Star. Above the shield, the polar star, with a ribbon carrying the motto Dirigo, “I lead.”
• MAINE. The state’s name below the shield.

The figures on the arms have been drawn in many ways over the years. One early sketch showed a moose that looked more like a deer, and one version gave the sailor a sextant instead of an anchor. The legislature fixed the present artwork of the seal in 1919.

The 2024 vote

For years some Mainers argued that the 1901 pine tree flag was simpler and more distinctive than the coat-of-arms flag, which looks much like many other state flags. In 2023 the legislature passed a law to restore a pine tree flag, but only if voters approved it. A version based on the 1901 design, drawn by an architect from Gardiner and chosen from more than 400 entries in a 2024 state contest, went on the ballot as Question 5 on November 5, 2024. Voters rejected it, 451,366 to 358,912, about 55 to 45 percent, so the 1909 flag remains Maine’s official flag.

The merchant and marine flag

Maine has a second official flag in its law: a merchant and marine flag, white, with the word Dirigo in blue at the top, a green pine tree with a blue anchor wrapped around its trunk, and Maine in blue below.