By Richard Shaw<\/strong><\/p> Some days, it seems you can\u2019t go anywhere in Maine without seeing two familiar names: Dirigo and Vacationland. In their own strange way, they go together like blueberries and whipped cream.<\/p> The former, the state\u2019s official motto since 1820, appears on the state seal and has inspired school names, roadways, and even a brewery. The latter, the unofficial Pine Tree State slogan, has appeared on license plates since 1936.<\/p> How did a three-syllable Latin word some people couldn\u2019t pronounce, and a rambling nickname perhaps better suited for sunny Florida than the Pine Tree State, become part of Maine culture? Conflicting accounts lie in books, newspaper articles, and with local historians.<\/p> \u201cDirigo means \u2018I lead,\u2019\u201d explained State Archivist Christian Cotz, \u201cand is indicative of the independence and individualism Mainers appreciate and are known for. It also references our geographic location as the state farthest east (and once farthest north), and our trend-setting nature.\u201d<\/p> Maine\u2019s state seal, depicting a farmer, a fisherman, a pine tree, a moose, and a star, has been tweaked over the past 206 years, but the words Dirigo and Maine have changed little. Benjamin Vaughan, a British intellectual and political radical who settled in Hallowell in 1797, designed the seal. He also favored republican government but opposed statehood in 1820.<\/p> Vaughan\u2019s love of Latin was apparent in his choice of Dirigo, pronounced DEER-ih-go, not deer-EYE-go. Cotz explained this name proved accurate when the state\u2019s presidential race results from September often predicted who would win national elections. The saying, \u201cAs Maine goes, so goes the nation,\u201d reaffirmed the state\u2019s motto, which also translates to \u201cI direct.\u201d<\/p> Fast forward to the Great Depression, when Maine legislators and publicists were casting about for a slogan that would lift people\u2019s spirits and boost tourism beyond the word Dirigo. Thank \u2014 or possibly blame \u2014 state Rep. Frank MacKenzie of Jackman, a member of the House\u2019s Publicity Committee, for proposing a bill to place Vacationland on plates.<\/p> \u201cThat word was always on our license plates from when I was a kid to the present time,\u201d said David Bergquist, a historian and classic car enthusiast. \u201cI had a 1914 license plate, and the motto was not on it. This was probably promoted by the Chamber of Commerce in the 1930s, when auto travel became more common.\u201d<\/p> Peter Dow Bachelder\u2019s book \u201cVacationland: A History of the Maine Tourism Industry\u201d explores the origin of the word \u201cVacationland,\u201d including how it first appeared in a 1923 Maine Publicity Bureau travel guide and later ended up on license plates.<\/p> \u201cDespite the favorable outcome for the bill\u2019s supporters,\u201d Bachelder writes, \u201cthe few who had opposed its passage weren\u2019t totally willing to give up on having it repealed. The following year, Sen. Marion Martin of Hallowell submitted a measure that would remove Vacationland from all Maine license plates, although the House Publicity Committee reported unfavorably on it, effectively ending its chances for further consideration.\u201d<\/p> It appears that Vacationland is here to stay, despite failed legislation in 2019 to change it to Staycationland and, later, to Dirigo. At times, a slogan some people don\u2019t like, such as New Hampshire\u2019s \u201cLive Free or Die,\u201d can still be better than the alternative slogans being proposed.<\/p> The next time you visit Dixfield\u2019s Dirigo High School, Dirigo Pines Assisted Living in Orono, or notice Vacationland sprawled across Maine\u2019s new pine tree license plates, credit the bold souls of past centuries who made it happen. They might be surprised to see those names flourishing into the 21st century.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some days, it seems you can\u2019t go anywhere in Maine without seeing two familiar names: Dirigo and Vacationland…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,43],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-1381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experience-maine","category-history","tag-featured"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":52,"label":"Experience Maine"},{"value":43,"label":"History"}],"post_tag":[{"value":49,"label":"Featured"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mottos.png",990,604,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Amy Allen","author_link":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/author\/amy"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":52,"name":"Experience Maine","slug":"experience-maine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":52,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":47,"count":9,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":52,"category_count":9,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Experience Maine","category_nicename":"experience-maine","category_parent":47},{"term_id":43,"name":"History","slug":"history","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":43,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":43,"category_count":4,"category_description":"","cat_name":"History","category_nicename":"history","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":49,"name":"Featured","slug":"featured","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":49,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":18,"filter":"raw"}],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mottos-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mottos-600x600.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangormetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}