Why is Maine’s Aroostook County Known Simply as ‘The County’?

Do you even remember the first time you heard the phrase 'The County'?

I can't specifically say I do. I do remember the first time I visited that majestic part of the state. I was 15 years old, playing in my first cover band, back in 1989. We were playing up at Keddy's in Presque Isle. It's gone/replaced a few times over at this point, but it's quite likely that it was around that time that I first became aware of the Aroostook nickname.

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Once you hit that milestone, of referring to Aroostook only as "The County", you'll never turn back. It's like a small rite of passage in Maine, no matter what part of the state you're from. Once you hear someone else refer to it as The County for the first time, it becomes a part of you.

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But why is Aroostook County referred to in this manner?

One could debate how long it's been called "The County", but it was officially incorporated in 1839. Pieces of Penobscot and Washington Counties were basically broken off to make Aroostook. Over the next several years, it grew even more in size, even taking up parts of Piscataquis County.

The area we now know, has been permanent since 1903. At that point, Aroostook County became the largest county east of the Mississippi River. It's so big, you can literally fit all of Connecticut and Rhode Island inside it. Only one county makes an argument for being larger in Minnesota, but it includes a lake. If it's strictly land area we're talking about, then The County takes the top spot.

Size matters...

Because of the huge area that Aroostook County covers, over time it's simply started to be known as The County. It's just so darned big, that to refer to it as much else would be silly. Even nationwide, it's huge. It's the 31st largest county in the entire country. Stacked up against the big states like California and Texas, that's pretty impressive.

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Look, Maine is actually huge. Sure, there are bigger states out there, but Maine is one of the largest under-the-radar states, size-wise. It takes almost 6 hours to travel north to south in Maine. So yeah... We should only ever refer to Aroostook as The County. It's the only title that gives full justice this amazing patch of God's Country. Or County, in this case...