Maine's wild and beautiful physical environment offered famous artists and literary figures from throughout the world the opportunity to settle and thrive in Maine.

Winslow Homer (1839-1910) was one of the most famous artists. Mr. Homer came to Maine from New York to paint the ocean and coastline of Maine. He lived in Scarborough after the Civil War. He painted Maine's natural world, especially the ocean and coastal skies. His paintings are displayed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and Bowdoin College's Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine.

 Maine's physical environment also offered a place for authors to write. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote about "his town by the sea" which was Portland.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin in Brunswick, Maine which told the plight of slaves from the Southern states where slavery was legal. Many escaped slaves found their way to Maine and freedom during the late 1800's.

Elizabeth Ogilvie and Elizabeth Coatsworth wrote about life on Maine's many islands, and later in the 1900's Rachel Carson wrote about environmental concerns.
Maine became a place for many artists to settle and paint the many mountains, lakes, and miles of coast line. Artist colonies grew in Ogunquit and on Monhegan Island.
 

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