Eastport ME (Moose Island, Maine)

Eastport is a port city in Maine USA (Washington County) with population around 1300 (making it the state's least-populous). The city actually spreads over/occupies several islands, with Moose Island (Eastport archipelago's principal/largest island) being a causeway-connected to Lubec (town on mainland Maine). Besides Moose Island, part of Eastport ME are also the islands Carlow, Spectacle, Goose, and Treat, plus some smaller islets.

Eastport is the USA's easternmost city. It has total area 12,34 mi2 (32 km2), including land 3,63 mi2 (9,4 km2) and water 8,7 mi2 (22,6 km2). Downtown is on Moose Island's southeastern part, facing Canada's Deer Island (northeast) and Campobello Island (southeast).

Port Eastport (locode USEPM) features a Marina (boat/yacht berthing facility) where also dock smaller-sized cruise ships. As cruise port, Eastport ME is usually visited by luxury ships and superyachts from companies like Oceania, RSSC-Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, among others.

Like all airports, Port Eastport is also a POE (port of entry/where foreigners can lawfully enter the USA) having border security and passport-visa-checking facilities. During summer, regularly scheduled ferries directly link Eastport ME with Deer Island (New Brunswick Canada). Numerous tourists visit the city in September when it hosts the popular Maine Salmon Festival.

The area was first discovered by the Europeans in the early-17th-century (1604) when the Acadia colony (on Saint Croix Island) was founded by Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635, French navigator, soldier, cartographer, chronicler). In 16007, the British founded a settlement at Jamestown VA (current-day Calais). During the 17th-century, the region was often visited by fishermen and traders. The first permanent settlement was established in 1772 (on Moose Island). As town, Eastport was incorporated in 1798, while Lubec was incorporated in 1811.

Fast-developing on the USA-Canada border trade, by the mid-19th-century Eastport ME was ranked the USA's second-largest trading port - following only NYC New York. The town's economy was largely based on shipping trade and fishing industry, but also farm agriculture (potatoes, hay), milling (grain, carding/wool spinning), fish processing (sardine fishery- and canning factories). As city, Eastport ME was incorporated in 1893. The city's current-day economy is based mainly on commercial fishing and tourism.